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Video Requirements

What your input videos must look like for successful 3DGS reconstruction.


Camera Setup

Validated Hardware

Property Specification
Camera Google Pixel 6a
Resolution 3840 × 2160 (4K UHD)
Recording frame rate 60 fps
Format MP4 (H.264)
Duration ~60 seconds per video
File size ~2 GB per video

📸 Screenshot to capture

Take a photo of your actual camera and greenhouse setup — show the camera position relative to the plant.

Google Pixel 6a mounted on tripod recording tomato plant in greenhouse Camera mounted on stable tripod at fixed height, ~1.0–1.5 m from plant. Tripod is essential — any movement causes blur.


Capture Protocol

Step 1: Camera Position

The camera is fixed at one position — the plant rotates into view via orbital movement of the operator walking slowly around the plant.

Condition 1 vs Condition 2

Our dataset uses Condition 1: single fixed viewpoint. We tested multiple viewpoints and Condition 1 achieved the best PSNR (23.71 dB) because consistent framing yields better temporal comparisons.

      [CAMERA]
          |
    ~1.2m distance
          |
      🌱 PLANT

Step 2: Lighting Requirements

Condition Status Why
Capture time: 12:00–13:00 JST ✅ Required Consistent natural light, minimal shadows
Overcast sky ✅ Preferred Diffuse lighting = fewer specular reflections
Direct harsh sunlight ⚠️ Avoid Creates extreme shadows that confuse COLMAP
Artificial lighting only ⚠️ Avoid Color temperature mismatch between dates

📸 Screenshot to capture

Take a photo of the greenhouse interior showing lighting conditions at capture time.

Greenhouse interior showing diffuse natural lighting through glass panels Ideal greenhouse lighting: diffuse, even illumination. Harsh shadows on the plant will reduce COLMAP feature matching quality.


Good vs Bad Video Examples

Frame Quality Checklist

📸 Screenshot to capture

Extract one representative frame from a good video and one from a bad video for comparison.

Good frame: sharp 4K plant image with clear leaf detail vs bad frame with motion blur Left: Good frame — sharp, well-lit, plant fully in frame. Right: Bad frame — motion blur from camera shake will cause COLMAP feature detection to fail.

  • Sharp leaf edges (no motion blur)
  • Plant fully visible in frame
  • Even lighting, no overexposed areas
  • Consistent background (no people walking through)
  • Motion blur (tripod moved, or handheld)
  • Plant partially out of frame
  • Overexposed/underexposed
  • Foreground obstruction

Pre-Capture Checklist

Before every recording session:

  • Camera battery > 50%
  • Storage: > 5 GB free on device
  • Tripod: fully locked, no wobble
  • Time: 12:00–13:00 JST
  • Plant: fully in frame, no clipping at edges
  • Focus: locked on plant (disable auto-focus)
  • Stabilization: OFF (optical stabilization introduces warping)
  • Duration: record for full 60 seconds minimum

Environmental Metadata (Important for Research)

For time-series analysis, record these values at each capture date:

Variable How to Measure Why It Matters
Temperature (°C) Greenhouse sensor Correlates with PSNR
Humidity (%) Greenhouse sensor Strongest negative PSNR correlation (r = -0.68)
Solar radiation (W/m²) Pyranometer Radiation > 100 W/m² → lower PSNR
CO₂ (ppm) CO₂ sensor Secondary growth factor

📸 Screenshot to capture

Screenshot your greenhouse sensor dashboard or data logger at each capture time.

Greenhouse sensor dashboard showing temperature humidity CO2 and radiation readings Log all environmental variables at each capture. Humidity and radiation have the strongest correlation with reconstruction quality.

Environmental correlations chart showing r values for each variable vs PSNR Environmental correlation analysis: humidity shows the strongest negative correlation (r = -0.68) — high humidity reduces PSNR by increasing foliage reflectance variance


Dataset Summary

Our validated dataset used in this research:

Property Value
Total recording days 49 days
Usable capture dates 22
Excluded dates 28 (poor conditions, equipment issues)
Video duration ~60 seconds each
Plant species Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum)
Growth stage Seedling → mature plant
Capture location Happy Quality greenhouse, Fukuroi city, Shizuoka

Next Step

→ Frame Extraction