Installation¶

Desktop application¶

No Python needed: the button downloads the latest build for your system (macOS: the dmg; Windows: the zip for 64 bit, or for ARM when the browser reports an ARM machine); the arrow lists every build.

Download

All the builds are on the releases page. If the application is useful to you, support the project on PayPal: it is the work of one person.

System	File
macOS 15 or newer, Apple Silicon	`PyArchInit-Photogrammetry-<version>-macos-arm64.dmg`	open it and drag the app to Applications
Windows 10/11, 64 bit	`PyArchInit-Photogrammetry-<version>-windows-x64.zip`	unzip, run `PyArchInit Photogrammetry.exe`
Windows 11 on ARM (Snapdragon, ARM64 virtual machines)	`PyArchInit-Photogrammetry-<version>-windows-arm64.zip`	native build (from 1.1.0; the 3D view uses the software renderer); the x64 zip also runs, under emulation

The builds are not signed. On macOS right-click the app > Open the first time (or xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine "/Applications/PyArchInit Photogrammetry.app"); on Windows choose More info > Run anyway. The application looks for new versions at start (at most once a day) and, on macOS, installs them and restarts.

The window opens on a start page with Nuovo progetto, Apri progetto and Progetto demo (the tutorials start there). The interface is in Italian or English (Vista > Lingua / Language). If PyArchInit 5 is installed (~/pyarchinit_5), the application connects to its database at start.

With pip¶

Python 3.10-3.12, in a virtual environment of its own (not Anaconda's base). With uv:

uv venv --seed --python 3.12 ~/venvs/ppg && source ~/venvs/ppg/bin/activate
uv pip install "pyarchinit-photogrammetry[all]"

or with the standard tools:

python3 -m venv ~/venvs/ppg && source ~/venvs/ppg/bin/activate   # Windows: ~\venvs\ppg\Scripts\activate
pip install -U pip && pip install "pyarchinit-photogrammetry[all]"

[all] brings the mesh (Open3D), IFC, PostgreSQL, the desktop interface, E57 scans and Munsell colours; [sam] adds Segment Anything 2.1 (PyTorch). The native core in Rust (depth maps and orthophotos several times faster) is built from the source (below); the desktop applications include it.

ppg doctor                       # checks the environment and says what to fix
ppg demo ~/ppg_demo --process    # the demo projects, processed
ppg-gui ~/ppg_demo/scavo.ppg     # the window on the demo trench

Linux¶

On a server without a display Open3D needs the EGL/GL libraries (sudo apt-get install libegl1 libgl1 libgomp1); writing into a PyArchInit SQLite database needs SpatiaLite (sudo apt-get install libsqlite3-mod-spatialite).

On ARM (aarch64) pycolmap and Open3D publish no wheels: install those attached to the release for your Python first, then the package:

pip install pycolmap-*-cp312-*aarch64.whl open3d-*-cp312-*aarch64.whl
sudo apt-get install libxerces-c-dev       # for the E57 support of [all]
pip install "pyarchinit-photogrammetry[all]"

macOS and Windows¶

SpatiaLite is found in QGIS, Homebrew (brew install libspatialite) or MacPorts; otherwise set SPATIALITE_LIBRARY_PATH to mod_spatialite. A global ppg/ppg-gui without activating anything: uv tool install "pyarchinit-photogrammetry[all]".

From the source¶

git clone https://github.com/enzococca/pyarchinit-photogrammetry
cd pyarchinit-photogrammetry
uv venv --seed --python 3.12 .venv && source .venv/bin/activate
uv pip install -e ".[all,dev]"
uv pip install ./native        # optional: the native core (needs a Rust toolchain)
pytest -q

When something does not work¶

ppg doctor (in the window: Aiuto > Diagnostica ambiente) lists versions and known problems.
The log of the window: Aiuto > Apri cartella dei log.
ppg-gui does nothing: an older copy installed in another Python comes first on PATH (which ppg-gui must point inside the environment).
More in Packaging and in the README.