idirectships/splat-azur-001

Azurite Specimen (azur-001) — Gaussian Splat

Azurite specimen from Morenci, AZ (Phelps Dodge / Freeport-McMoRan mine) reconstructed using Gaussian Splatting. DSLR capture with dark matte background achieved excellent COLMAP registration (51/51 frames).

Specimen Details

• Mineral: Azurite
• Location: Morenci, AZ (Phelps Dodge / Freeport-McMoRan mine)
• Listed on: Borussia Minerals

Capture Method

• Device: DSLR
• Total frames: 51 (crystal-cropped session)
• Background: Dark matte — excellent for COLMAP
• COLMAP registration: 51/51 frames (100%)
• Coverage: Multiple orbits, good registration throughout

Directory Structure

images_jpg/         — original JPG captures
images_nobg/        — background-removed images (primary COLMAP input)
images_processed/   — processed variants
  crystal-cropped-7k.ply   — 7,000 iteration PLY (87MB)
  crystal-cropped-15k.ply  — 15,000 iteration PLY (79MB)
images_heic/        — original HEIC captures
colmap_db/          — COLMAP database (raw)
colmap_db_nobg/     — COLMAP database (no-background input)
colmap_db_raw/      — COLMAP database (raw input)
colmap_ws/          — COLMAP workspace
colmap_ws_nobg/     — COLMAP workspace (no-background)
colmap_ws_raw/      — COLMAP workspace (raw)
runs/
  v1-macbook-7k/
    output.ply      — 7,000 iteration Gaussian Splat
  2026-03-19-15000-Drus-MacBook-Pro/
    output.ply      — 15,000 iteration Gaussian Splat
colmap-raw-mapper.log
colmap-raw.log
pipeline.log
notes.md
image-report.json

PLY Iterations

Run	Iterations	Node	Size	Notes
images_processed/crystal-cropped-7k.ply	7,000	GUS	87MB	First run, downscale 2
images_processed/crystal-cropped-15k.ply	15,000	GUS	79MB	Batch run, downscale 2, best run
runs/v1-macbook-7k/output.ply	7,000	MacBook Pro	—	MacBook re-run
runs/2026-03-19-15000/output.ply	15,000	MacBook Pro	—	MacBook 15k run

Training Pipeline

1. Structure from Motion: COLMAP (multiple workspace variants: raw, nobg)
2. Background removal: Applied for nobg variants
3. Gaussian Splat training: opensplat
4. Note: MPS crashes on M1 Mac with this point cloud density — use --cpu flag on Mama

Known Issues

• MPS crashes on M1 Mac (always use --cpu on Mama for this specimen)
• Loss still dropping at 15k — 100k run attempted but not included (in-progress at time of export)

Viewing PLY Files

Use SuperSplat to view .ply Gaussian Splat files in-browser.