3D Capture: Facades
For a complete 3D model, the whole house must be captured seamlessly: roof, edges and facades with no gaps in between. The roof flight alone is not enough. For the facades you fly the 45° orbit closer to the building (it replaces the wider orbit from the roof flight) and add a horizontal facade orbit. All layers must overlap with the roof images and with each other.
This guide complements the drone-imaging basics. Fly the normal nadir roof flight first, then the facade orbit. For drone, pre-flight and weather see the Capturing drone images guide.
3D model with facades in a few minutes
Video coming soon
Why the whole house must be captured seamlessly
The nadir images (camera pointing straight down) show the roof surfaces perfectly but barely see the facades. For a 3D model with facades you photograph the walls in addition. What matters is not only that you take facade images, but that no gap remains between any of the shots. Picture the whole house being captured as if inside a closed sphere: from above (nadir), at an angle (45° orbit) and horizontally (facade orbit). If these layers do not overlap cleanly, the walls stay full of holes or distorted.
The flight: three layers, continuous overlap
The model is built from three capture layers (nadir, 45° orbit, facade orbit). The 70-80 % overlap must hold not only within each pass, but also between the layers. The trick for maximum overlap: fly the 45° orbit and the facade orbits at the same distance from the house, so only at different heights and camera angles, but similarly close. How close depends on the space around the house (hedges, trees, neighbouring buildings) and determines how much of the house is on each image. To keep the spacing even, fly in cruise control or steadily by hand.
- Nadir
- Gimbal −90°, one overview image of the whole house plus closer, overlapping shots
- Distance to the house
- As equal as possible for the 45° orbit and the facade orbits, depending on the space (hedges, trees, neighbours); it determines how much of the house is in frame
- 45° orbit (bridge)
- Gimbal −45°, so that ground up to mid-roof is in frame; replaces the wider orbit from the roof flight
- Facade orbit
- Gimbal ~0° horizontal (as flat as possible), lower heights, same distance
- Overlap
- 70-80 %, including between the layers
- Flight mode
- Cruise control or steady manual flying
- Height rings
- 1 facade ring for low buildings, 2 rings from about 2 storeys
Step by step
- Nadir shots, denser than for the 2D-only flight: first one nadir image of the whole house (gimbal −90°, this sets the flight altitude), then further, closer nadir shots that overlap.
- 45° orbit closer to the building: gimbal −45°, positioned so that ground up to mid-roof is in frame. This orbit replaces the wider one from the roof-flight guide. The distance depends on the space around the house (hedges, trees, neighbouring buildings) and determines how much of the house is in frame. This layer is the bridge between roof and facade and must overlap the nadir images.
- Facade orbits below, at the same distance from the house: gimbal ~0° horizontal, ideally at the same distance as the 45° orbit (just lower), once around the building. This gives the most overlap between the 45° orbit and the facade orbit. The topmost facade ring must overlap the 45° orbit.
- Trigger every few metres (70-80 %), slower at the corners, in cruise control or steadily by hand.
- For tall buildings, a second facade ring at a different height, overlapping as well.
Important: no gap between the layers. The overlap must be continuous, from nadir to 45° orbit and from 45° orbit to facade orbit. Sparse or blurred images lead to holes in the 3D model.
How many images in total?
Nadir images (roof) and orbit images (facades) count together. The total budget is at most 300 images per measurement.
- Single-family houseRoof 30-50 + facades 30-50 = ~60-100
- Apartment buildingRoof 50-80 + facades 50-90 = ~100-170
- Large building / hallup to ~300 total (roof + 1-2 rings)
Better a few more facade images with good overlap than too few. But stay under 300 in total.
What to watch out for
Even lighting
Overcast sky is ideal. Hard cast shadows and glaring sun on one facade make reconstruction harder.
No motion blur
Fly slowly, stabilise briefly when releasing. Blurry images are unusable for 3D reconstruction.
Glass and obstacles
Large glass facades reconstruct poorly. More viewing angles help. Trees and neighbouring buildings limit the radius; vary it where needed but keep the facade in frame.
Quick checklist for 3D
- Nadir dense: overview image of the whole house plus closer, overlapping shots.
- 45° orbit closer to the building (ground up to mid-roof), replaces the wider orbit.
- 45° orbit and facade orbits at the same distance from the house, only at different heights.
- Distance depending on the space (hedges, trees, neighbouring buildings).
- Facade orbit ~0° horizontal, overlaps the 45° orbit.
- 70-80 % overlap, including between the layers.
- Cruise control or steady by hand, no blur.
- 1 facade ring low, 2 rings from about 2 storeys.
- Under 300 images in total (roof + facades).
- On upload, choose a 3D mode: 3D Classic, or 3D Alternative if needed.
Next step
Upload images
Once the roof and facade images are in the bag, it's time to upload.