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August 3, 2025 10:51
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Batch script for automated photogrammetry tracking workflow
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| :: ================================================================ | |
| :: BATCH SCRIPT FOR AUTOMATED PHOTOGRAMMETRY TRACKING WORKFLOW | |
| :: By polyfjord - https://youtube.com/polyfjord | |
| :: ================================================================ | |
| :: USAGE | |
| :: • Double-click this .bat or run it from a command prompt. | |
| :: • Frames are extracted, features matched, and a sparse | |
| :: reconstruction is produced automatically. | |
| :: • Videos that have already been processed are skipped on | |
| :: subsequent runs. | |
| :: | |
| :: PURPOSE | |
| :: This is a fully automated photogrammetry tracker for turning | |
| :: videos into COLMAP sparse models with robust error handling, | |
| :: clean directory setup, and clear ✖ / ✔ logging. | |
| :: | |
| :: FOLDER LAYOUT (all folders sit side-by-side): | |
| :: 01 COLMAP – Download the latest release from | |
| :: https://github.com/colmap/colmap | |
| :: and place colmap.bat (plus its dlls) here. | |
| :: | |
| :: 02 VIDEOS – Put your input video files (.mp4, .mov, …) here. | |
| :: All framerates and aspect ratios are supported. | |
| :: | |
| :: 03 FFMPEG – Drop a **static build** of FFmpeg | |
| :: (either ffmpeg.exe or bin\ffmpeg.exe) here. | |
| :: | |
| :: 04 SCENES – The script creates one sub-folder per video | |
| :: containing extracted frames, the COLMAP | |
| :: database, sparse model, and TXT export. | |
| :: | |
| :: 05 SCRIPTS – This batch file lives here. | |
| :: | |
| :: ================================================================ | |
| @echo off | |
| :: ---------- Resolve top-level folder (one up from this .bat) ----- | |
| pushd "%~dp0\.." >nul | |
| set "TOP=%cd%" | |
| popd >nul | |
| :: ---------- Key paths ------------------------------------------- | |
| set "COLMAP_DIR=%TOP%\01 COLMAP" | |
| set "VIDEOS_DIR=%TOP%\02 VIDEOS" | |
| set "FFMPEG_DIR=%TOP%\03 FFMPEG" | |
| set "SCENES_DIR=%TOP%\04 SCENES" | |
| :: ---------- Locate ffmpeg.exe ----------------------------------- | |
| if exist "%FFMPEG_DIR%\ffmpeg.exe" ( | |
| set "FFMPEG=%FFMPEG_DIR%\ffmpeg.exe" | |
| ) else if exist "%FFMPEG_DIR%\bin\ffmpeg.exe" ( | |
| set "FFMPEG=%FFMPEG_DIR%\bin\ffmpeg.exe" | |
| ) else ( | |
| echo [ERROR] ffmpeg.exe not found inside "%FFMPEG_DIR%". | |
| pause & goto :eof | |
| ) | |
| :: ---------- Locate colmap.exe (skip the .bat) -------------------- | |
| if exist "%COLMAP_DIR%\colmap.exe" ( | |
| set "COLMAP=%COLMAP_DIR%\colmap.exe" | |
| ) else if exist "%COLMAP_DIR%\bin\colmap.exe" ( | |
| set "COLMAP=%COLMAP_DIR%\bin\colmap.exe" | |
| ) else ( | |
| echo [ERROR] colmap.exe not found inside "%COLMAP_DIR%". | |
| pause & goto :eof | |
| ) | |
| :: ---------- Put COLMAP’s dll folder(s) on PATH ------------------- | |
| set "PATH=%COLMAP_DIR%;%COLMAP_DIR%\bin;%PATH%" | |
| :: ---------- Ensure required folders exist ------------------------ | |
| if not exist "%VIDEOS_DIR%" ( | |
| echo [ERROR] Input folder "%VIDEOS_DIR%" missing. | |
| pause & goto :eof | |
| ) | |
| if not exist "%SCENES_DIR%" mkdir "%SCENES_DIR%" | |
| :: ---------- Count videos for progress bar ------------------------ | |
| for /f %%C in ('dir /b /a-d "%VIDEOS_DIR%\*" ^| find /c /v ""') do set "TOTAL=%%C" | |
| if "%TOTAL%"=="0" ( | |
| echo [INFO] No video files found in "%VIDEOS_DIR%". | |
| pause & goto :eof | |
| ) | |
| echo ============================================================== | |
| echo Starting COLMAP on %TOTAL% video(s) … | |
| echo ============================================================== | |
| setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion | |
| set /a IDX=0 | |
| for %%V in ("%VIDEOS_DIR%\*.*") do ( | |
| if exist "%%~fV" ( | |
| set /a IDX+=1 | |
| call :PROCESS_VIDEO "%%~fV" "!IDX!" "%TOTAL%" | |
| ) | |
| ) | |
| echo -------------------------------------------------------------- | |
| echo All jobs finished – results are in "%SCENES_DIR%". | |
| echo -------------------------------------------------------------- | |
| pause | |
| goto :eof | |
| :PROCESS_VIDEO | |
| :: ---------------------------------------------------------------- | |
| :: %1 = full path to video %2 = current index %3 = total | |
| :: ---------------------------------------------------------------- | |
| setlocal | |
| set "VIDEO=%~1" | |
| set "NUM=%~2" | |
| set "TOT=%~3" | |
| for %%I in ("%VIDEO%") do ( | |
| set "BASE=%%~nI" | |
| set "EXT=%%~xI" | |
| ) | |
| echo. | |
| echo [!NUM!/!TOT!] === Processing "!BASE!!EXT!" === | |
| :: -------- Directory layout for this scene ----------------------- | |
| set "SCENE=%SCENES_DIR%\!BASE!" | |
| set "IMG_DIR=!SCENE!\images" | |
| set "SPARSE_DIR=!SCENE!\sparse" | |
| :: -------- Skip if already reconstructed ------------------------- | |
| if exist "!SCENE!" ( | |
| echo ↻ Skipping "!BASE!" – already reconstructed. | |
| goto :END | |
| ) | |
| :: Clean slate ---------------------------------------------------- | |
| mkdir "!IMG_DIR!" >nul | |
| mkdir "!SPARSE_DIR!" >nul | |
| :: -------- 1) Extract every frame -------------------------------- | |
| echo [1/4] Extracting frames … | |
| "%FFMPEG%" -loglevel error -stats -i "!VIDEO!" -qscale:v 2 ^ | |
| "!IMG_DIR!\frame_%%06d.jpg" | |
| if errorlevel 1 ( | |
| echo ✖ FFmpeg failed – skipping "!BASE!". | |
| goto :END | |
| ) | |
| :: Check at least one frame exists | |
| dir /b "!IMG_DIR!\*.jpg" >nul 2>&1 || ( | |
| echo ✖ No frames extracted – skipping "!BASE!". | |
| goto :END | |
| ) | |
| :: -------- 2) Feature extraction --------------------------------- | |
| echo [2/4] COLMAP feature_extractor … | |
| "%COLMAP%" feature_extractor ^ | |
| --database_path "!SCENE!\database.db" ^ | |
| --image_path "!IMG_DIR!" ^ | |
| --ImageReader.single_camera 1 ^ | |
| --SiftExtraction.use_gpu 1 ^ | |
| --SiftExtraction.max_image_size 4096 | |
| if errorlevel 1 ( | |
| echo ✖ feature_extractor failed – skipping "!BASE!". | |
| goto :END | |
| ) | |
| :: -------- 3) Sequential matching -------------------------------- | |
| echo [3/4] COLMAP sequential_matcher … | |
| "%COLMAP%" sequential_matcher ^ | |
| --database_path "!SCENE!\database.db" ^ | |
| --SequentialMatching.overlap 15 | |
| if errorlevel 1 ( | |
| echo ✖ sequential_matcher failed – skipping "!BASE!". | |
| goto :END | |
| ) | |
| :: -------- 4) Sparse reconstruction ------------------------------ | |
| echo [4/4] COLMAP mapper … | |
| "%COLMAP%" mapper ^ | |
| --database_path "!SCENE!\database.db" ^ | |
| --image_path "!IMG_DIR!" ^ | |
| --output_path "!SPARSE_DIR!" ^ | |
| --Mapper.num_threads %NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS% | |
| if errorlevel 1 ( | |
| echo ✖ mapper failed – skipping "!BASE!". | |
| goto :END | |
| ) | |
| :: -------- Export best model to TXT ------------------------------ | |
| if exist "!SPARSE_DIR!\0" ( | |
| "%COLMAP%" model_converter ^ | |
| --input_path "!SPARSE_DIR!\0" ^ | |
| --output_path "!SPARSE_DIR!" ^ | |
| --output_type TXT >nul | |
| ) | |
| echo ✔ Finished "!BASE!" (!NUM!/!TOT!) | |
| :END | |
| endlocal & goto :eof |
For some reason ffmpeg was incorrectly detecting the video framerate for me.
It was extrating the images at 120 fps but my video was recorded at 30 (which means each frame was repeated 4 times). So I had to manually set the -fpsmax:v 30 flag (which was my framerate). This reduced the processing time by 75% already.
But if the video moves slow enough (which was my case) the software is capable of extrating good enough information with a much less framerate.
I successfully processed a (4k, 65 second) video in 5 minutes by setting the FPS down to 3.
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I think I've fixed it, apparently related to a colmap update. If anyone else has this open batch_reconstruct.bat in any editing program, and change
to
SiftExtraction still exists for the image size i presume as if i switch that to FeatureExtraction aswell it breaks again. I'll update if that was the solution.
EDIT: this was the solution