Lifeboat Foundation

👋👋 ✍️ Fabio Remondino et al.

This paper presents a critical analysis of image-based 3D reconstruction using neural radiance fields (NeRFs), with a focus on quantitative comparisons with respect to traditional photogrammetry. The aim is, therefore, to objectively evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of NeRFs and provide insights into their applicability to different real-life scenarios, from small objects to heritage and industrial scenes. After a comprehensive overview of photogrammetry and NeRF methods, highlighting their respective advantages and disadvantages, various NeRF methods are compared using diverse objects with varying sizes and surface characteristics, including texture-less, metallic, translucent, and transparent surfaces. We evaluated the quality of the resulting 3D reconstructions using multiple criteria, such as noise level, geometric accuracy, and the number of required images (i.e.