DEEP-IMAGE-MATCHING
| SIFT | DISK | IMAGES ORIENTATION | DENSE WITH ROMA |
|---|---|---|---|
| SIFT | SUPERGLUE |
|---|---|
Multivew matcher for SfM software. Support both deep-learning based and hand-crafted local features and matchers and export keypoints and matches directly in a COLMAP database or to Agisoft Metashape by importing the reconstruction in Bundler format. Now, it supports both OpenMVG and MicMac. Feel free to collaborate!
For how to use DIM, check the Documentation (updated for the master branch).
Please, note that deep-image-matching is under active development and it is still in an experimental stage. If you find any bug, please open an issue. For the licence of individual local features and matchers please refer to the authors' original projects.
Key features:
- Multiview
- Large format images
- SOTA deep-learning and hand-crafted features
- Support for image rotations
- Compatibility with several SfM software
- Support image retrieval with deep-learning local features
- Graph-based clustering
- Run SfM directly in DIM (pycolmap, openmvg, etc)
Supported Extractors
| Algorithm | Year | Paper link | Github link | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RIPE | 2025 | link | link | supported |
| RDD sparse | 2025 | link | link | supported |
| LiftFeat | 2025 | link | link | supported |
| XFeat | 2024 | link | link | supported |
| DeDoDe | 2024 | link | link | only GPU |
| ALIKED | 2023 | link | link | supported |
| SRIF | 2023 | link | link | supported |
| DISK | 2020 | link | link | supported |
| KeyNet | 2019 | link | link | supported |
| SuperPoint | 2018 | link | link | supported |
| Superpoint open | 2018 | link | link | supported |
| HardNet | 2017 | link | link | supported |
| ORB | 2011 | link | link | from OpenCV |
| SIFT | 2004 | link | link | from OpenCV |
Supported Matchers
| Algorithm | Year | Paper link | Github link | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LightGlue | 2023 | link | link | with SuperPoint, DISK, and ALIKED |
| LighterGlue | 2023 | link | link | with XFeat |
| RoMa | 2023 | link | link | supported |
| SE2-LoFTR | 2022 | link | link | no tiling and only GPU |
| LoFTR | 2021 | link | link | only GPU |
| SuperGlue | 2020 | link | link | with SuperPoint |
| Nearest Neighbor | - | - | - | from KORNIA |
Supported SfM software
| COLMAP | | OpenMVG | | MICMAC | | Agisoft Metashape | | Software that supports bundler format |
Colab demo and notebooks
Want to run on a sample dataset?
DIM can also be utilized as a library instead of being executed through the Command Line Interface (refer to the Usage Instructions).
For quick examples, see:
demo.py- Simple script demonstrating the basic workflowdemo.ipynb- Interactive notebook version of the demonotebooks/sfm_pipeline.ipynb- Complete SfM pipeline with detailed explanations
Local Installation
For installing deep-image-matching, we recommend using uv for fast and reliable package management:
curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh
# Create and activate a virtual environment
uv venv --python 3.9
source .venv/bin/activate # On Windows: .venv\Scripts\activate
Then, you can install deep-image-matching using uv:
This command will install the package in editable mode, allowing you to modify the source code and see changes immediately without needing to reinstall. If you want to use deep-image-matching as a non-editable library, you can also install it without the -e flag.
This will also install pycolmap as a dependency, which is required for running the 3D reconstruction.
If you have any issues with pycolmap, you can manually install it following the official instructions here.
To verify that deep-image-matching is correctly installed, you can try to import the package in a Python shell:
To test most of the functionality, run the tests to check if deep-image-matching is correctly installed, run:
For more information, check the documentation.
Why uv?
This project has migrated from conda/pip to uv for dependency management. Benefits include:
- Faster installation: uv is significantly faster than pip for dependency resolution and installation
- Better dependency resolution: More reliable resolution of complex dependency trees
- Lockfile support:
uv.lockensures reproducible installations across different environments - Integrated tooling: Built-in support for virtual environments, Python version management, and project building
- Cross-platform consistency: Better support for different operating systems and architectures
Conda/pip installation
If you have any issue with uv, you prefer to have a global installation of DIM, or you have any other problem with the installation, you can use conda/manba to create an environment and install DIM from source using pip:
cd deep-image-matching
conda create -n deep-image-matching python=3.9
conda activate deep-image-matching
pip install -e .
Docker Installation
For Docker installation, see the Docker Installation section in the documentation.
Usage instructions
Quick start with the demo
For a quick start, check out the demo.py script or demo.ipynb notebook that demonstrate basic usage with the example dataset:
The demo runs the complete pipeline from feature extraction to 3D reconstruction using the provided example dataset.
A similar demo example is also available as a notebook in demo.ipynb.
Command Line Interface
Use the following command to see all the available options from the CLI:
For example, to run the matching with SuperPoint and LightGlue on the example_cyprus dataset:
The --dir parameter defines the processing directory, where all the results will be saved. This directory must contain a subfolder named images with all the images to be processed.
Library usage
Deep-image-matching can also be used as a Python library. For a comprehensive example showing the complete SfM pipeline, see notebooks/sfm_pipeline.ipynb.
For detailed usage instructions and configurations, refer to the documentation.
Advanced usage
For advanced usage, please refer to the documentation and/or check the scripts directory.
Merging databases with different local features
To run the matching with different local features and/or matchers and marging together the results, you can use scripts in the ./scripts directory for merging the COLMAP databases.
python ./join_databases.py --input path/to/dir/with/databases --output path/to/output/dir
Exporting the solution to Metashape
Suggested solution:
- It is now possible to run SfM directly in Metashape using 2D observations extracted in DIM. You can use the script
export_to_bundler.pyfrom the scripts folder. It will create a fake bundler file. Then in Metashape import all the images you need, import camera poses using the bundler file, select all images and reset the alignment. Finally right click, align selected cameras (see issue).
Other solutions:
-
To export the solution to Metashape, you can export the COLMAP database to Bundler format and then import it into Metashape. This can be done from Metashape GUI, by first importing the images and then use the function
Import Cameras(File -> Import -> Import Cameras) to select Bundler file (e.g., bundler.out) and the image list file (e.g., bundler_list.txt). -
Alternatevely, you can use the
export_to_metashape.pyscript to automatically create a Metashape project from a reconstruction saved in Bundler format. The scriptexport_to_metashape.pytakes as input the solution in Bundler format and the images and it exports the solution to Metashape. It requires to install Metashape as a Python module in your environment and to have a valid license. Please, refer to the instructions at https://github.com/franioli/metashape.
How to contribute
Any contribution to this repo is really welcome! If you want to contribute to the project, please, check the contributing guidelines.
To Do List
See the TODO list for the list of features and improvements that are planned for the future.
References
If you find the repository useful for your work consider citing the papers:
AUTHOR = {Morelli, L. and Ioli, F. and Maiwald, F. and Mazzacca, G. and Menna, F. and Remondino, F.},
TITLE = {DEEP-IMAGE-MATCHING: A TOOLBOX FOR MULTIVIEW IMAGE MATCHING OF COMPLEX SCENARIOS},
JOURNAL = {The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences},
VOLUME = {XLVIII-2/W4-2024},
YEAR = {2024},
PAGES = {309--316},
DOI = {10.5194/isprs-archives-XLVIII-2-W4-2024-309-2024}
}
title={PHOTOGRAMMETRY NOW AND THEN--FROM HAND-CRAFTED TO DEEP-LEARNING TIE POINTS--},
author={Morelli, Luca and Bellavia, Fabio and Menna, Fabio and Remondino, Fabio},
journal={The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences},
volume={48},
pages={163--170},
year={2022},
publisher={Copernicus GmbH}
}
title={Deep Learning Low-cost Photogrammetry for 4D Short-term Glacier
Dynamics Monitoring},
author={Ioli, Francesco and Dematteis, Nicolo and Giordan, Daniele and Nex, Francesco and Pinto Livio},
journal={PFG - Journal of Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Geoinformation Science},
year={2024},
DOI = {10.1007/s41064-023-00272-w}
}
Depending on the options used, consider citing the corresponding work of: