I want to model an old axe from the 17th century, to print models that can be used in a blacksmithing course.
I’ve come across the photogrammetry guide from Prusa, using Meshroom. I think it’s a perfect solution, not taking too much time doing the detailed modelling.
The problem is - I just sold my gaming machine, to buy a new 3d printer! Meshroom is based on Nvidia CUDA. So - I want to rent a virtual desktop for a few days - but the virtual computing world is really a confusing place.
Soo - my question: does anyone know of a virtual desktop service with juicy GPU options, that can be rented on a short time basis (a day or two)??
Virtual computers does not have big GPU dedicated like you can do on gaming rigs or rendering rigs.
The only way to access beefier hardware is with remote desktop to the actual computer itself.
I would be surprised if you couldn’t find someone on a 3D printing redit or FB group that would be willing to help you in exchange for keeping a copy of the file. Maybe …
You’re all correct, the question is - what is the most convenient solution. I just realized that my brother has a beefy water cooled 1080ti. Perfect for the task. I let him choose between giving me a remote user login or setting up the program himself. In return I’d print/machine any model he’d make himself. He is super careful with his home servers, since his house is fully automated and has solar panels and everything, so I doubt that he’ll let me in…
Surprisingly, I’m working on AWS Workspaces right now. Some of their beefier stuff has a cost, but you pay by the hour. You can create a AWS login for free for 30 days. You would end up with a bill for any work you did inside the workspace. A workspace is basically a VM that you have RDP-like access to using an AWS client. We’re using it at work to provide development workstations to some of our WFH users during this crisis.
Aws workspaces with gpu is magnitude more expensive per month then without. 2 month will cost as pretty good notebook with discrete gpu.
Hourly pricing also not too cheap imho. https://aws.amazon.com/workspaces/pricing/
Thanks for that link. I was trying to find that earlier but hadn’t saved it yet.
I spent all day Friday at work setting up workspaces for some new users that got hired right before this all started. Our IT department can’t get them their laptops, so we set them up with workspaces so they can do work until we can get laptops to them.
I had forgotten how expensive the GPU accelerated workspace was.
Be noted that if you use Windows provided by Amazon it is Windows Server 2016 Datacenter edition.
It may have issues with your software. As example, biggest issue is that Docker for Windows doesn’t work in workspaces
Ugh. True enough. That’s the problem with doing stuff through work. I guess our enterprise license is already tied to it somewhere else in the setup. I do Linux. The windows team handles the rest of that. I just remember seeing it as an option while I was playing with it.
My brother took the bait. Now we’ve tried to generate the model several times. The last try took maybe 30 hours using a water cooled gtx 1080ti with 11gb vram! We’ve tried two different room/background setups and taken at least 300 photos. The last try turned out suuuper detailed, but only on one side. I think the problem is lighting and background - not the amount of processing. We’ll try again, outdoors on an overcast day. Here are a few of the outcomes so far
Hrmmm… sounds like you need a platform that has a rigid post through the middle, but then has a rotating collar on it that you could rig a camera mount to… Got an old bicycle? Take off the front wheel, affix it to something reasonably sturdy, fix a platform on top, then strap your camera to the tire. Take a photo, rotate, repeat. If you want to, do it again, but put your camera on something to put it a little higher, so it’s a set of slightly different angles. That way, the lighting is consistent, the camera angle is (hopefully) consistent, and the object scale in-frame is consistent. All assuming you placed the object in the center of the wheel, and pointed the camera at the center of the wheel as well…
My plan is to mount it on a pole yes. With snow everywhere, I think the lighting actually would be perfect. Glad that the snow can have a positive meaning, for a change!
Now - finding a sort of wheel like contraption is a challenge!! Thanks for great ideas, getting a even circular motion around the object seems crucial. I think it’ll be easier outdoors, with more space to move. Can move closer and increase aperture as well.
I know, but Meshroom is based on modelling the 3d shape with an object that is still, by rotating the camera around at all different angels. Perhaps there is a suitable printed solution that lets the object stand still, while moving the camera - mounted on an arm.
how does Meshroom know whether the object was spun or the camera was moved? All it’s doing is stitching together the photographs and using interpolation to calculate point-distance from the camera.
