Warning:This article refers to the command line interface (CLI) and not to the newest version of PIX4Dengine SDK.
We highly recommend migrating to the PIX4Dengine SDK. To get access to the latest documentation please visit PIX4Dengine Server SDK.
The purpose of this documentation is to introduce the fundamentals of command line processing with PIX4Dengine Server in standard environments. This article will cover basic and advanced project creation methods and the various ways you can run specific steps of the project process.
Important: To follow this article, you will need:
- An installed version of PIX4Dengine. See instructions to install PIX4Dmapper on Windows and on Linux.
- Imagery to process. Example projects are available for download.
Other Notes:
- If you are having issues with the command line not recognizing directories or file paths, try enclosing the parameters in quotes like so: "<path_to_project_images>", this will allow most command line functions to process inputs with spaces in them.
- In order to use "pix4dmapper" as a system command, you will need to add the PIX4Dmapper application binary to your system path. If you do not wish to add PIX4Dmapper to your system path, you may replace "pix4dmapper" in the following examples with "C:\Program Files\Pix4Dmapper\pix4dmapper.exe" or the equivalent install location.
1. Creating a project using the default methods.
The following command creates a new project (-n) without launching the GUI (-c) using images from the image directory.
pix4dmapper -c -n --image-dir <path_to_project_images> <path_to_desired_project_directory/projectname.p4d> This command should cause a command console or terminal console to create a .p4d file and project file structure in the folder indicated by <path to desired project directory>
2. Creating a project using a template
pix4dmapper -c -n --image-dir <path_to_project_images> --template <template_arg> <path_to desired_project_directory/projectname.p4d>
Template <arg> can be:
<template_name>: Use --template-list to display the list of pre-defined templates.
<template_file>: Path to a custom template .tmpl file. The custom template file can be generated either by using the user interface or by manually creating the file: How to create a Processing Options Template .tmpl File.
Once you have a project created and a path to a .p4d project file you can initiate processing.
The flag to run all three steps of processing is "-r"
pix4dmapper -r -c <path_to_desired_project_directory/projectname.p4d> Each of PIX4Dmapper's main processing steps can be run individually on a project or in combination with other steps. The following flags represent each step: -i for initial (Step 1), -d for dense (Step 2), -o for ortho (Step 3)
pix4dmapper -i -c <path_to_desired_project_directory/projectname.p4d>pix4dmapper -d -c <path_to_desired_project_directory/projectname.p4d>pix4dmapper -o -c <path_to_desired_project_directory/projectname.p4d>pix4dmapper -i -d -c <path_to_desired_project_directory/projectname.p4d> pix4dmapper -i -o -c <path_to_desired_project_directory/projectname.p4d> For a full listing of commands, use pix4dmapper -h or see this article: How to use the command line.
Information: The project outputs are stored in a folder next to the .p4d file. For more information on the project folder structure: Project Folder Structure.
Look into more advanced features of the command line here: How to use the command line
Check out how to install PIX4Dengine Server on AWS EC2: How to use PIX4Dmapper on the Cloud with Amazon AWS EC2 Services