Batch script for automated photogrammetry tracking workflow

batch_reconstruct.bat

:: ================================================================
::  BATCH SCRIPT FOR AUTOMATED PHOTOGRAMMETRY TRACKING WORKFLOW
::  By polyfjord - https://youtube.com/polyfjord
:: ================================================================
::  USAGE
::    • Double-click this .bat or run it from a command prompt.  
::    • Frames are extracted, features matched, and a sparse
::      reconstruction is produced automatically.  
::    • Videos that have already been processed are skipped on
::      subsequent runs.
::
::  PURPOSE
::    This is a fully automated photogrammetry tracker for turning
::    videos into COLMAP sparse models with robust error handling,
::    clean directory setup, and clear ✖ / ✔ logging.
::
::  FOLDER LAYOUT (all folders sit side-by-side):
::    01 COLMAP   – Download the latest release from
::                   https://github.com/colmap/colmap
::                   and place colmap.bat (plus its dlls) here.
::
::    02 VIDEOS   – Put your input video files (.mp4, .mov, …) here.
::                   All framerates and aspect ratios are supported.
::
::    03 FFMPEG   – Drop a **static build** of FFmpeg
::                   (either ffmpeg.exe or bin\ffmpeg.exe) here.
::
::    04 SCENES   – The script creates one sub-folder per video
::                   containing extracted frames, the COLMAP
::                   database, sparse model, and TXT export.
::
::    05 SCRIPTS  – This batch file lives here.
::
:: ================================================================
@echo off

:: ---------- Resolve top-level folder (one up from this .bat) -----
pushd "%~dp0\.." >nul
set "TOP=%cd%"
popd >nul

:: ---------- Key paths -------------------------------------------
set "COLMAP_DIR=%TOP%\01 COLMAP"
set "VIDEOS_DIR=%TOP%\02 VIDEOS"
set "FFMPEG_DIR=%TOP%\03 FFMPEG"
set "SCENES_DIR=%TOP%\04 SCENES"

:: ---------- Locate ffmpeg.exe -----------------------------------
if exist "%FFMPEG_DIR%\ffmpeg.exe" (
    set "FFMPEG=%FFMPEG_DIR%\ffmpeg.exe"
) else if exist "%FFMPEG_DIR%\bin\ffmpeg.exe" (
    set "FFMPEG=%FFMPEG_DIR%\bin\ffmpeg.exe"
) else (
    echo [ERROR] ffmpeg.exe not found inside "%FFMPEG_DIR%".
    pause & goto :eof
)

:: ---------- Locate colmap.exe (skip the .bat) --------------------
if exist "%COLMAP_DIR%\colmap.exe" (
    set "COLMAP=%COLMAP_DIR%\colmap.exe"
) else if exist "%COLMAP_DIR%\bin\colmap.exe" (
    set "COLMAP=%COLMAP_DIR%\bin\colmap.exe"
) else (
    echo [ERROR] colmap.exe not found inside "%COLMAP_DIR%".
    pause & goto :eof
)

:: ---------- Put COLMAP’s dll folder(s) on PATH -------------------
set "PATH=%COLMAP_DIR%;%COLMAP_DIR%\bin;%PATH%"

:: ---------- Ensure required folders exist ------------------------
if not exist "%VIDEOS_DIR%" (
    echo [ERROR] Input folder "%VIDEOS_DIR%" missing.
    pause & goto :eof
)
if not exist "%SCENES_DIR%" mkdir "%SCENES_DIR%"

:: ---------- Count videos for progress bar ------------------------
for /f %%C in ('dir /b /a-d "%VIDEOS_DIR%\*" ^| find /c /v ""') do set "TOTAL=%%C"
if "%TOTAL%"=="0" (
    echo [INFO] No video files found in "%VIDEOS_DIR%".
    pause & goto :eof
)

echo ==============================================================
echo  Starting COLMAP on %TOTAL% video(s) …
echo ==============================================================

setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
set /a IDX=0

for %%V in ("%VIDEOS_DIR%\*.*") do (
    if exist "%%~fV" (
        set /a IDX+=1
        call :PROCESS_VIDEO "%%~fV" "!IDX!" "%TOTAL%"
    )
)

echo --------------------------------------------------------------
echo  All jobs finished – results are in "%SCENES_DIR%".
echo --------------------------------------------------------------
pause
goto :eof


:PROCESS_VIDEO
:: ----------------------------------------------------------------
::  %1 = full path to video   %2 = current index   %3 = total
:: ----------------------------------------------------------------
setlocal
set "VIDEO=%~1"
set "NUM=%~2"
set "TOT=%~3"

for %%I in ("%VIDEO%") do (
    set "BASE=%%~nI"
    set "EXT=%%~xI"
)

echo.
echo [!NUM!/!TOT!] === Processing "!BASE!!EXT!" ===

:: -------- Directory layout for this scene -----------------------
set "SCENE=%SCENES_DIR%\!BASE!"
set "IMG_DIR=!SCENE!\images"
set "SPARSE_DIR=!SCENE!\sparse"

:: -------- Skip if already reconstructed -------------------------
if exist "!SCENE!" (
    echo        ↻ Skipping "!BASE!" – already reconstructed.
    goto :END
)

:: Clean slate ----------------------------------------------------
mkdir "!IMG_DIR!"   >nul
mkdir "!SPARSE_DIR!" >nul

:: -------- 1) Extract every frame --------------------------------
echo        [1/4] Extracting frames …
"%FFMPEG%" -loglevel error -stats -i "!VIDEO!" -qscale:v 2 ^
    "!IMG_DIR!\frame_%%06d.jpg"
if errorlevel 1 (
    echo        ✖ FFmpeg failed – skipping "!BASE!".
    goto :END
)

:: Check at least one frame exists
dir /b "!IMG_DIR!\*.jpg" >nul 2>&1 || (
    echo        ✖ No frames extracted – skipping "!BASE!".
    goto :END
)

:: -------- 2) Feature extraction ---------------------------------
echo        [2/4] COLMAP feature_extractor …
"%COLMAP%" feature_extractor ^
    --database_path "!SCENE!\database.db" ^
    --image_path    "!IMG_DIR!" ^
    --ImageReader.single_camera 1 ^
    --SiftExtraction.use_gpu 1 ^
    --SiftExtraction.max_image_size 4096
if errorlevel 1 (
    echo        ✖ feature_extractor failed – skipping "!BASE!".
    goto :END
)

:: -------- 3) Sequential matching --------------------------------
echo        [3/4] COLMAP sequential_matcher …
"%COLMAP%" sequential_matcher ^
    --database_path "!SCENE!\database.db" ^
    --SequentialMatching.overlap 15
if errorlevel 1 (
    echo        ✖ sequential_matcher failed – skipping "!BASE!".
    goto :END
)

:: -------- 4) Sparse reconstruction ------------------------------
echo        [4/4] COLMAP mapper …
"%COLMAP%" mapper ^
    --database_path "!SCENE!\database.db" ^
    --image_path    "!IMG_DIR!" ^
    --output_path   "!SPARSE_DIR!" ^
    --Mapper.num_threads %NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS%
if errorlevel 1 (
    echo        ✖ mapper failed – skipping "!BASE!".
    goto :END
)

:: -------- Export best model to TXT ------------------------------
if exist "!SPARSE_DIR!\0" (
    "%COLMAP%" model_converter ^
        --input_path  "!SPARSE_DIR!\0" ^
        --output_path "!SPARSE_DIR!" ^
        --output_type TXT >nul
)

echo        ✔ Finished "!BASE!"  (!NUM!/!TOT!)

:END
endlocal & goto :eof

Hey, this is really cool!
Thank you very much for the idea and work. Since I am a Linux user I can't use this script and have begun to change it to a POSIX compatible format.
Tomorrow I'll test out my progress and adjust the script as necessary.

If you are interested, I have also made it publically available:
https://codeberg.org/Wolkensteine/Polyfjord-COLMAP-Workflow
Don't trust random peoples code on the internet, so execute on your own risk.

Greetings
Wolke

I have tried almost everything to fix it and cannot get it fixed.
Import to blender from the workplace folder does not work, but manually going into the latest sparse folder does work, but that only imports the cameras and point cloud, the images are not imported and I cannot seem to get the images imported

The Docker instance can be built and run (pure CPU, no GPU) against a vanilla ubuntu

FROM ubuntu:${UBUNTU_VERSION} 

but you will need to add sqlite3 to the apt-get install of the FROM ubuntu:${UBUNTU_VERSION} AS runtime

If running the Docker version of the above batch in a headless linux, you may need the following so Qt runs full headless:

export QT_QPA_PLATFORM=offscreen 

and to avoid gl-context failures on Feature Extractor and Matcher if you are running pure software with no Docker nvidia runtime, disable their GPU modes via their respective options

$COLMAP feature_extractor --FeatureExtraction.use_gpu 0

$COLMAP sequential_matcher --FeatureMatching.use_gpu 0

I'm having a problem with the Qt platform plugin, getting this error:

[2/4] COLMAP feature_extractor ...

qt.qpa.plugin: COuld not find the Qt platform plugin "windows" in ""
This application failed to start because no Qt platform plugin could be initialized. Reinstalling the application may fix this problem.

I'm also getting this for step 3/4.

Is there a prerequisite I need to install before I can run this?

Qt プラットフォーム プラグインに問題があり、次のエラーが発生します。

[2/4] COLMAP 特徴抽出器 ...

qt.qpa.plugin: 「」内にQtプラットフォームプラグイン「windows」が見つかりませんでした。Qt プラットフォームプラグインを初期化できなかったため、このアプリケーションの起動に失敗しました。アプリケーションを再インストールすると、この問題が解決する可能性があります。

ステップ3/4でもこれを取得しています。

これを実行する前にインストールする必要がある前提条件はありますか?

In my case, adding an environment variable worked.
Variable Name: QT_QPA_PLATFORM_PLUGIN_PATH
Value: {omitted}\Automated Tracker\01 COLMAP\plugins\platforms

This is machine translated.

I'm having a problem with the Qt platform plugin, getting this error:

[2/4] COLMAP feature_extractor ...

qt.qpa.plugin: COuld not find the Qt platform plugin "windows" in "" This application failed to start because no Qt platform plugin could be initialized. Reinstalling the application may fix this problem.

I'm also getting this for step 3/4.

Is there a prerequisite I need to install before I can run this?

I had the same issue, added the following line to the script after line 70 (After the "Put COLMAP’s dll folder(s) on PATH"):

set "QT_PLUGIN_PATH=%COLMAP_DIR%\plugins"

This resolved the qt issue for me, it was suggested in the colmap issues: colmap/colmap#475