MVE

Spec sheet

Purpose

MVE is an end-to-end pipeline for image-based geometry reconstruction, including Structure-from-Motion, Multi-View Stereo, and surface reconstruction.Read 11 Oct 2026 · github.com

Platforms

The wiki says MVE runs on Linux, MacOS X, and Windows.Read 11 Oct 2026 · github.com

Integrations

The makescene application can import data from Bundler, VisualSfM, and OpenMVG.Read 11 Oct 2026 · github.com

License

The wiki says source files are distributed under the BSD 3-Clause License unless a source file states otherwise.Read 11 Oct 2026 · github.com

Build requirements

Building requires libjpeg, libpng, and libtiff; OpenGL is used by the ogl library and UMVE also requires Qt 5.Read 11 Oct 2026 · github.com

Dependencies

The repository lists libjpeg, libpng, libtiff, and OpenGL as build requirements, plus Qt 5 for UMVE.Read 10 Oct 2026 · github.com

Desktop interface

UMVE is a Qt-based application for inspecting scenes and 3D structure, managing views and image embeddings, rendering triangle meshes, and triangulating depth maps.Read 11 Oct 2026 · github.com

Development status

The project was developed by Michael Goesele's research group at TU Darmstadt.Read 10 Oct 2026 · github.com

External imports

The makescene application can import from Bundler, VisualSfM, and OpenMVG.Read 10 Oct 2026 · github.com

File formats

Image tools support PNG, JPG, TIFF, PFM, and PPM; mesh tools support OFF, PLY, and PBRT.Read 11 Oct 2026 · github.com

Image formats

Image tools support PNG, JPG, TIFF, PFM, and PPM files.Read 10 Oct 2026 · github.com

Intended use

The project aims to ease work with multi-view datasets and support development of algorithms based on multiple views.Read 11 Oct 2026 · github.com

License caveat

The license file warns that the sfm library's SIFT and SURF algorithms may be patented in some countries or otherwise limited in use.Read 11 Oct 2026 · github.com

Maintenance

The README says MVE is currently in maintenance mode and new features are rarely added.Read 11 Oct 2026 · github.com

Mesh formats

Mesh tools support OFF, PLY, and PBRT files.Read 10 Oct 2026 · github.com

Reconstruction tools

Its pipeline includes tools to create a dataset from photos, estimate camera parameters, reconstruct dense depth maps, and create a surface mesh.Read 11 Oct 2026 · github.com

Scene API

MVE provides an API for managing scenes made up of views with camera parameters, images, and other data.Read 11 Oct 2026 · github.com

Scene management

Its API manages scenes made of views containing camera parameters, images, and generic data.Read 10 Oct 2026 · github.com

Support and documentation

The project directs users to its GitHub wiki for documentation, including user and developer guides.Read 11 Oct 2026 · github.com

Where Specifiction places it

• Photogrammetry Software#26 of 347.2