As a photogrammetric software, Terrain Creator is a memory, CPU, and graphics intensive program. You will need a higher performance computer in order to process photogrammetry in a timely manner. However, that doesn't mean you need to spend a fortune on a "Survey Beast" workstation. Terrain Creator is optimized for processing photogrammetry, and you can get by with a decently priced off-the-shelf computer (cost between $1,300 to $1,500). We'll share our standard configuration with you and some real-world examples to give a benchmark of performance you can expect.
Overview
Standard Configuration
Dell XPS 8950
- Operating System: Windows 10 or 11 is required
- Operating System Architecture: 64 bit
- CPU: 12 core Intel i7-12700, 2.1 GHz
- RAM: 16 GB
- GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti
This configuration will give you very reasonable processing time for most projects. You can see real-world examples of this computer's capability in the Example Project Site tables below. This computer configuration cost $1,273 USD without tax (purchased in 2023).
How do I choose?
There are many variables to consider what you need, and it really depends on your project. If you regularly have large projects that include thousands of photos at high resolution, you need a really powerful machine to cut down a project's processing time. If you regularly work on projects that have between a few hundred photos and 1,500 photos per project, you can make do with a lower spec computer, but projects may take a little longer to process. You can always start with the computer you have, and if it takes too long, then you will need to purchase a computer with faster CPU and GPU, and more RAM.
Real World Examples
Just to show that you don't need a special computer to effectively use Terrain Creator, here at Virtual Surveyor we've flown some different drones with different cameras over a couple of project sites. Then, we tested the processing time with the drone photos for each flight in Terrain Creator using two different off-the-shelf Dell computers (one computer is 4-5 years older than the other).
Example Project Site #1
| Dell XPS 8930 CPU: Intel Core i7-8700 (6 Cores), 3.20 GHz RAM: 16 GB GPU1: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti | Drone: | M3E | Zenmuse P1 |
| Area of Project Site: | 20 acres / 8 hectares | ||
| Flying Height: | 85 ft / 25 m | 200 ft / 60 m | |
| Camera Resolution: | 20 MP | 45 MP | |
| Number of Photos: | 442 | 272 | |
| Processing Time: | 50 min | 2 hrs 33 min | |
| Dell XPS 8950 CPU: 12th Gen Intel Core i7-12700 (12 cores), 2.1 GHz RAM: 16 GB GPU1: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti | Drone: | M3E | Zenmuse P1 |
| Area of Project Site: | 20 acres / 8 hectares | ||
| Flying Height: | 85 ft / 25 m | 200 ft / 60 m | |
| Camera Resolution: | 20 MP | 45 MP | |
| Number of Photos: | 442 | 272 | |
| Processing Time: | 25 min | 42 min | |
Example Project Site #2
| Dell XPS 8930 CPU: Intel Core i7-8700 (6 Cores), 3.20 GHz RAM: 16 GB GPU1: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti | Drone: | Quantum Systems |
| Area of Project Site: | 325 acres / 132 hectares | |
| Camera Resolution: | 42 MP | |
| Number of Photos: | 1201 | |
| Processing Time: | 9 hrs 59 min |
| Dell XPS 8950 CPU: 12th Gen Intel Core i7-12700 (12 cores), 2.1 GHz RAM: 16 GB GPU1: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti | Drone: | Quantum Systems |
| Area of Project Site: | 325 acres / 132 hectares | |
| Camera Resolution: | 42 MP | |
| Number of Photos: | 1201 | |
| Processing Time: | 2 hrs 29 min |
Hardware Issues with I9-13900K/14900K Series CPUs
There are known hardware issues with Intel I9-13900K and I9-14900K series CPUs. They have an overclocking/overheating problem with the processors that causes high performance programs to crash. This is a hardware problem, not a software problem. We recommend you avoid using these CPUs to process your photogrammetry.