AragoJ – a free, open‐source software to aid single camera photogrammetry studies

Abstract

Close range photogrammetry (CRP) is a well‐established technique to retrieve quantitative information from objects using photography. CRP is often used in morphology studies when the direct handling of individuals is unpractical or unethical, or to reduce processing costs and time. Although multiple software to extract quantitative information from 3D reconstructions of objects exist, tools for 2D CRP are scarce and often tailored for specific applications. We present AragoJ, a cross‐platform, open‐source, Java based software designed to integrate and streamline all 2D CRP workflow steps in a single program. AragoJ allows the user to perform all the main tasks involved in obtaining measurements from digital pictures, namely: 1) performing camera calibration and correcting radial picture distortions; 2) calculating a scaling factor either by: a) utilizing a scale in the picture, or b) based on camera specifications (focal distance and digital sensor size) and distance to object; 3) measuring and scaling the relevant traits in the photographs; 4) obtaining information from pictures’ digital metadata files; and 5) exporting measurements and metadata to a comma separated values (CSV) file. AragoJ was designed to be versatile and unconstrained, in order to be useful for 2D CRP studies across multiple disciplines. The software, source code and detailed documentation are available from https://github.com/AzWhaleLab/AragoJ