Polycam is a super-convenient phone-based photogrammetry application that I used to create simple models for use in Blender. See their Blender help page.
More Polycam tutorials.
I have some reasonable captures and want to make the most of them, maybe even start sharing them. Before I do, I want to ensure that I'm setting them up properly. So here's today's revision:
The Best Workflow for Polycam Captures
1. Set up the model to be the best it can be. Consider in-app tools such as remeshing. Do any cropping or cleanup on the capture.
2. Export using the Glb format (GL Transmission Format Library). It works well and stores the texture information in the Blender file, so you don't need to hunt it down. Consider unpacking the stuff if you make changes, though.
3. Import into Blender
4. Review the object's mesh quality. Make sure you have statistics enabled.
a) Are there artefacts or errors in the mesh? There could be capture errors that leave elements of the model misformed or missing. You can use additive modelling in Blender to boolean your own parts.
b) Are there holes in the mesh? Try using the Gridfill tool to repair the hole.
When you do repairs, don't forget to unwrap the new faces and match them to the existing UV map.
UV Unwrapping Methods
- Smart UV Project: Automatic unwrapping for complex shapes
- Unwrap: Standard unwrapping based on seams
- Cube/Cylinder/Sphere Projection: For primitive-like shapes
- Project from View: Projects from the current camera angle
UV Editing Tips
- Use the UV Editor workspace for detailed adjustments
- Pin important UV vertices to prevent distortion
- Check for texture stretching in the viewport
- Test render frequently to verify appearance
For the absolute best results with a model that requires extraordinarily high quality, consider retopologising with Retopoflow. It's a lot of work, but you can turn a complex capture that would be extremely hard to create by hand into a model fit for any purpose.
