Photogrammetry and surveying from drone photos: point cloud, textured mesh, orthophoto and terrain model — computed, measured and exported on your own PC. Fully offline, perpetual license.
From a folder of photos to a CAD-ready result
Most photogrammetry programs stop at the colored model. FlightLab Reality takes the job to the end: to the cleaned and classified point cloud, to the terrain model as LandXML, to the DXF drawing for the planning office and to the textured model for PV planning — including an accuracy report that can go in the file. No cloud account, no subscription, no upload: your flight never leaves your PC.
Camera drones with GPS; for DJI the camera's factory calibration is used · with an RTK fixed solution, camera positions accurate to the centimeter · without RTK, checkpoints or the scale check prove the scale
Download the free trial
14 days, full functionality. Compute, measure, export, report — nothing is locked. No sign-up, no email address, no payment details. After 14 days the program waits for your key; your projects are kept and open again with all their measurements once activated.
260 MB · Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit)
Tip for buying later: the device ID is shown in the program — click “Trial — … days left” at the top, then Copy. Have it ready when you order and enter it in the field next to the product — the key then arrives by email automatically right after payment.
What you do with it
- Point cloud, mesh, orthophoto and terrain model from your aerial photos — the mesh with the photos as texture.
- Compute only what matters. Outline the area on the overview image before you start — while you draw, it already shows how many photos remain and how much computing time that saves.
- Measure, clean, classify — distances, areas, volumes, profiles, polylines; remove stray points; separate ground, vegetation and buildings; compare two flights. All in one program.
- Prove your accuracy — ground control points and checkpoints from CSV, an accuracy report for the file, and a scale check that needs no GNSS rover.
- Straight to CAD and GIS — LAS, LAZ, E57, PLY, OBJ, textured OBJ, DXF, LandXML, GeoTIFF, CSV, in the official coordinate system of your choice.
- Meters or feet — lengths, areas and volumes can be displayed and exported in meters, international feet or US survey feet (volumes then in cubic yards); the model itself is always computed in meters.
- Fully offline — no cloud account, no telemetry, nothing about you or your projects leaves your PC. Activation works offline too. The program asks the outside world one thing only: whether a newer version exists — once at startup in the background, and when you click Check for updates. Without internet it stays silent.
- English and German — interface and help; the CSV suits English Excel as well as German.
How it works
- Load the photos. Pick the photo folder; subfolders are read too. Position, flight altitude and camera data come from the EXIF, for DJI also the factory calibration; how many photos had an RTK fixed solution is shown right away. Skipped photos are listed with the reason, for example the thermal images of a second sensor.
- Outline the area. From the photos and their position data an overview image appears in seconds — without reconstruction. You see where the flight has gaps, and you outline the site you need. Only this area is computed densely; the bundle adjustment still runs over all images. If you don't want to limit it, compute everything and crop in the model later.
- Compute. In the layer list, click Compute next to “Point cloud”. The sheet behind it has three steps — coordinate system, define the area, choose the products (point cloud, mesh, texture, elevation model, orthophoto) — and below them the quality level as a card: Fast, Standard, High, Maximum or Full size, each with the expected point spacing and the duration for this project; Full size appears only if Maximum stays below the full image size on your graphics card. Start computation runs it. The compute window shows every step with progress and estimated duration; you can pause and continue later without starting over.
- Measure, clean, classify. Click a layer, the tools for it appear on the right. As soon as the point cloud is there, you can measure distances, areas and volumes while the rest is still computing.
- Export. Every result via the arrow next to its layer, every saved measurement via the arrow next to its entry.
The layer list on the left is the navigation. It shows what belongs to the project, in the order it is created: Photos, Point cloud, Point cloud (edited), Mesh, Orthophoto, Contour lines. Cleaning and classifying write to the working copy “Point cloud (edited)”, never to the original.
The quality levels
| Fast | 800 pixels — a preview model in minutes to check coverage; not for measuring |
| Standard | 1,600 pixels — the normal case; measured on a roof from 17 m (56 ft) flight altitude 1.3 cm (0.5 in) point spacing, from 25 m (82 ft) 5.6 cm (2.2 in) |
| High | 2,800 pixels — the point spacing is halved (measured: 3.0 instead of 5.6 cm), the dense steps take about twice as long |
| Maximum | as large as your graphics card can handle, up to the full size of the photos — the finest point spacing your graphics card allows, at a multiple of the computing time; on 8 GB with 50-megapixel photos that is 4,000 instead of 8,192 pixels, the full size would need about 30 GB |
| Full size | the full size of the photos, computed in tiles — on any graphics card, but the longest: on 8 GB about six times a full-size run in one piece, with 23 photos overnight; the card appears only if Maximum stays below the full size on your PC, ideally after a run in Standard or High |
Each card shows the expected point spacing and the duration for your project; the duration learns from the runs on your PC, separately per level. Before starting, the program works out how much graphics memory the level needs — anything that does not fit your card does not start at all; if the card does run out of memory, the step stops and the message suggests the lower level. You can recompute a finished project at a higher level from the “Point cloud” layer with Compute in high quality (from High on: Compute in maximum quality) — which one, you choose after the click; features and alignment stay, saved measurements are re-evaluated on the new model. Compute new datasets on Fast first: the preview model shows whether the flight is any good before the long run begins.
The tools
| Point | Easting, northing and elevation in the chosen coordinate system |
| Distance | Slope distance, horizontal distance, height difference and slope in degrees and percent |
| Area | Footprint and true area on the sloped surface, slope, aspect, flatness check — with cut-outs that are subtracted; when you save, each cut-out counts toward the area whose outline it lies in |
| Volume | Fill, cut and difference against a reference plane; cells without a measured point are reported, not estimated |
| Footprint | For stockpiles on a slope: trace the footprint of the heap, and the reference plane for the volume is derived from it |
| Read slope | When the footprint is hidden: draw a line from the top to the bottom of the slope, and slope and aspect of the reference plane follow from it |
| Polyline | A line that lays itself onto the terrain — embankment edges, alignments. If a mesh exists, it follows it with a point every 5 cm (2 inches); without a mesh it lies on the elevation grid of the point cloud at the set grid size (default 25 cm / 10 inches) |
| Profile | Elevation section along a drawn line, station spacing freely selectable — computed on the terrain model from the ground class, so it requires classification (it runs along when the elevation model is checked at compute time) |
| Check | Re-measure an edge of known length: deviation in the chosen unit and in percent. The check alone changes nothing; the Calibrate button adjusts the scale if you want, Remove calibration restores it |
| Compare | Set two flights of the same site against each other (“Compare models …” on the Point cloud layer) — a saved measurement of this project against the one from another: volumes, areas, lengths |
| Ground control points and checkpoints | Load from CSV — from the GNSS rover, the total station or the client's table — and pick them in the model. The accuracy report lists the deviations at both separately; checkpoints provide the independent proof |
| Clean | Outlier filter, elevation cut, manual selection with a freely drawn outline; every manual step can be undone individually, up to twenty in a row, even across a restart — the computed cloud stays untouched |
| Classify | Ground, vegetation and buildings per ASPRS — the basis for terrain model, contour lines and profile; show and hide classes or remove them class by class |
Measuring happens on the Point cloud layer, the profile on the terrain model — all in the chosen coordinate system. Above the tools you choose what a click snaps to: Mesh, Points, Corner or Free. Mesh hits the surface between the measured points — on flat surfaces more accurate than any single point, because the mesh averages out the noise. Points snaps to the nearest measured point — the right choice at edges like eaves, ridge and hips, where the mesh rounds, and the default without a mesh; Corner places the point on the intersection of the two nearest roof edges — ridge, hip, eaves, rake or wall — computed from the point cloud, a click within 25 cm (10 inches) of the corner is enough; Free places the point where it is, even where nothing was measured. Placed points can be moved and removed afterwards.
Measurements are saved by name — what is saved are the points, not the result, so the same measurement gives a current result after a clean-up or a recomputation at a higher level. Checked measurements stay in the view — areas and volumes hatched, distances, profiles and polylines as lines — with their name and main figure, for areas also the slope, polylines with the name only. The label stays the same size at every zoom and moves out of the way when you place a cut-out under it; the checkbox is saved with the project, and the figures are the same as in CSV, DXF and the report.
The scale check — proof without a GNSS rover
You know the true length of an edge in the picture — a measured eaves line, a shipping container, the distance between two markings. You measure this distance with Check and enter the known length; the deviation is shown in the chosen unit and in percent. The check alone changes nothing about the model — it is an independent proof. Only the Calibrate button adjusts the scale; after that all measurements, the report and the exports carry the factor. For flights with an RTK fixed solution the check is not needed: the scale then comes from the surveyed camera positions. For smaller jobs, where surveying checkpoints does not pay off, the check is often the only solid evidence for the file.
Accuracy you can prove
The accuracy report is created at the push of a button as an HTML file. It states the ground resolution in centimeters per pixel, the residuals at the camera positions and the deviations at ground control points and checkpoints, listed separately. The report says explicitly what its figures prove and what they don't: without checkpoints it proves internal consistency, not positional correctness. A systematic height offset — in Austria typically about 45 meters between ellipsoidal and orthometric height — is reported separately from the scatter, because that is a datum error, not a measurement error.
What comes out
| Point cloud | LAS, LAZ, E57, PLY |
| Mesh | OBJ, mesh PLY, textured OBJ package (OBJ, material file, texture image, location file) |
| Orthophoto, elevation model | GeoTIFF — for QGIS, ArcGIS and earthwork calculators |
| Contour lines | DXF — interval freely selectable, every fifth as a labeled index contour |
| Terrain surface | LandXML (TIN) — computable, for Civil 3D and Card/1 |
| Measurements and polylines | CSV for Excel; DXF for CAD — on their own layers, with the measured values as labels and a .prj file for the reference system |
| Accuracy report | HTML — opens without extra software, Ctrl+P makes a PDF for the file |
The terrain model is derived from the ground class and goes out as an elevation model in GeoTIFF or as a terrain surface in LandXML. The textured OBJ is the format for PV planning: alongside the model file, a material file, a texture image and a location file are written so that the building sits in the right place in PV*SOL. The CSV follows the selected language — separator, decimal mark and column headers suit English Excel as well as German. You choose the coordinate system at compute time: automatically the matching UTM zone, MGI Austria GK M28, M31 and M34, ETRS89/UTM 32N and 33N, CH1903+/LV95, or any other national system via its EPSG code — the plain-text name appears as soon as you type the number.
Your data stays in house
FlightLab Reality computes exclusively on your own PC and transmits nothing about you and nothing from your projects — no telemetry, no map services, no activation over the network. Even the map background comes from your own photos, not from a third-party server that would learn where you work. The only outbound request is the check for a newer version: once at startup in the background and when you click Check for updates in the “About FlightLab” window; what is transmitted is the software's version number and what every internet request carries anyway. If a newer version exists, Update available appears at the top; Download saves the setup to your “Downloads” folder, the program checks its size and the publisher's signature, and Install now starts the setup, which installs over the existing version — projects, activation and settings are kept. For sensitive sites, for public authorities and for everyone who is not allowed to upload their data to third-party servers, that is the prerequisite.
What FlightLab Reality does not do
FlightLab Reality processes no LiDAR data and evaluates no multispectral images. Repairing meshes — filling holes, flattening surfaces — is not part of it either: the mesh is computed from the dense point cloud and not post-processed; cleaning and classifying are done on the point cloud, and measuring is done on the mesh or on the points — both as computed. And photogrammetry measures only what the camera saw: under dense vegetation and under structures, terrain model and contour lines stay empty rather than estimated.
Reality or Roof?
If you only measure roofs — roof areas on the slope, edge lengths, pitch and the textured model for PV planning — and get by with at most 500 photos per project, FlightLab Roof is the right choice. FlightLab Reality is the version without an image limit for surveying, construction and planning: ground control points, classification into ground, vegetation and buildings, terrain model, orthophoto, contour lines, volumes, profile, the comparison of two flights, LandXML and the accuracy report.
System requirements
| Operating system | Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit |
| Graphics card | NVIDIA with CUDA, at least 8 GB of graphics memory (16 GB recommended), GeForce GTX 10xx or newer. Without an NVIDIA card the program does not compute — AMD and Intel graphics are not supported. |
| Memory | 32 GB |
| Storage | SSD with plenty of free space — the intermediate results of one flight quickly take tens of gigabytes; 500 GB free is recommended |
| Internet | not required — not even for activation |
The program checks the graphics card and the compute core at startup and tells you whether they are sufficient.
License and activation
| License type | Purchase license, perpetual, one workstation |
| Price | one-time payment — the price shown above applies, no subscription |
| Subscription | none |
| Trial | 14 days, full functionality |
| Activation | Enter the device ID in the field next to the product when you buy — the key arrives by email automatically right after payment. The ID is shown in the program: click the trial notice at the top, then Copy. If you don't have it at hand when ordering, leave the field empty, get the instructions by email and send it to roof@flightlab.at afterwards; the key arrives the same way. It is applied offline, without internet. |
| Change of computer | free once per year — for a defect, a new machine or any other reason. A short message with the new device ID to roof@flightlab.at, and the new key comes back. |
| Language | English and German — inquiries in English are answered in English |
The license covers one workstation and is tied to the device. If the computer breaks or is replaced, you get a new key free once per year — so the license stays bound to one workstation and does not keep wandering between several machines. The mailbox roof@flightlab.at serves both editions of FlightLab. The program transmits nothing about you — activation works offline too; the only outbound request is the check for a newer version, at startup and on click.
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