3DF Zephyr Dev Status (Nespola)

The next version of 3DF Zephyr (Codename Nespola) is version 9.0 and brings a substantial set of new features, workflow improvements and bug fixes.

Since we are a cool company using cutting-edge technology, the Nespola on the left does not exist. It has been generated with AI. It might look like an apricot, but it's not. It's definitely a Nespola.

The tentative release date is 2026.

Here's a brief report of the planned features in development and their status.

Note: this is not the final feature list: new planned features will be unveiled as we get closer to release!

Major features and updates

Gaussian Splatting export	Added support for exporting Gaussian Splatting objects, and merge workspace now correctly includes Gaussian Splatting objects
New camera controller	Added a new tripod-style camera controller (similar to the one in Scarlet) to make defining control points and drawing elements on bubble view images easier
Smooth surface tool	Added a smooth surface tool similar to those found in lidar software like Leica Cyclone and Riegl RiSCAN, useful for cleaning people and noise out of scan data
Masquerade for orthophoto-to-mesh segmentation	The orthophoto tool can now open Masquerade in a special mode to mask and cut meshes directly from an orthophoto
Satellite data from MapTiler	Added support for MapTiler satellite data inside the Zephyr render
Uniform selection tools	Selection tools have been unified: every subtool (By Hand, Plane, Color, Points, Triangles) now exposes a consistent target selector to operate on all visible objects or on specific ones
Volume of interest selection	Volume of interest selection is now available across all selection subtools (Plane, RGB, By Triangle, By Points, etc.)
Meshes in point filtering tool	The point filtering tool now also accepts meshes as input
AI training preparation tools	Added batch processing dialogs to prepare .zep files for AI masking and AI classification training pipelines
COLMAP SfM export	Added export of SfM data in COLMAP format (both binary and textual), with options for sparse/dense/mesh and y/z up axis
ESRI tiled mesh export	Added export option for ESRI i3s tiled mesh format
Custom reference system on export	Added the option to convert to a custom reference system on export for every kind of object: cameras/sparse point cloud, dense point cloud, meshes, textured meshes and orthophoto

Minor bug fixes and updates

Fixed crash on merging unstructured dense clouds	Merging two unstructured dense clouds no longer produces an invalid structured cloud that crashes subsequent operations like orthophoto generation
PLY loader fixed	Fixed regression where some valid PLY files were skipped on load
STL import with non-Latin filenames	Fixed charset issue preventing STL files with Japanese (and other non-Latin) characters in their filename from being imported
Laser scan color toggle fixed	Fixed a bug where laser scans remained stuck on uniform colors after toggling the option off in mixed projects
Circular markers detection fixed	Fixed circular marker detection: the "number of markers" parameter is now correctly honored
Pivot camera controller in Ground Extraction	Fixed pivot camera controller behavior inside the Ground Extraction Filter dialog
Select by plane dialog fixed	Fixed selection not working in the SelectByPlane dialog
Quad buffer picking fixed	Fixed offset 3D picking when using quad buffer stereo devices
High DPI / scaling fixes	Fixed several layout issues with specific resolution and scaling configurations: new project cutting phase buttons, fixed size behavior, and the camera calibration tool now displays correctly at full screen
Path saves	Zephyr now correctly recognises the folder of the currently open project when using save dialogs
Save As disabled on empty workspace	Save As is now correctly disabled at startup when the workspace is empty
OBJ texture loading from Metashape	Fixed loading of OBJ files exported from Metashape when the texture filename contains spaces
Image undistortion consistency	Fixed an inconsistency between FlowSaM image undistortion and the box resizer scale factor calculation
GSD as orthophoto property	The GSD used during orthophoto generation is now exposed as a property of the orthophoto object
CSV export of camera stats	The Camera Stats dialog now supports CSV export
Camera Visible Points CSV export	The "Camera Visible Points and Mean Reprojection Error" section of the PDF report can now also be exported as CSV, useful for forensics workflows
Polyline area in properties	Added surface area information to the polyline properties section
Non dataset-dependent multicamera settings	The multicamera wizard now supports saving and loading camera constraints independently of the dataset, so the same XML can be reused across different projects
Improvements to input options dialog	The input section in the options dialog has been improved: hotkey collisions are now reported with the conflicting key shown, message colors have been revised, and a search/filter field has been added
Updated Constraints / Check points terminology	Reviewed and clarified the terminology, accuracy and weight handling for Ground Control Points and Check Points across dialogs, advanced settings and the PDF report; report figures and tables now clearly separate GCP from ChP statistics
Coordinate header labels	Reviewed and made consistent the header strings for coordinate fields when working with geographic coordinate systems (Latitude, Longitude, Altitude/Ellipsoid height)
FPS overlay	Added an optional FPS overlay (off by default)
Network drive warning	Added a warning when saving projects or using image datasets stored on a network drive
Updated ffmpeg libraries	ffmpeg libraries have been updated, expanding video format support including HEIF video files
Labeled slider update	General improvements to the labeled slider widget used across dialogs
Advanced settings	General improvements and reorganisation of the advanced settings panels
Grid startup effect	Added a cool grid effect on startup
Brand new bugs	Ad maiora semper!