PFTrack & PFClean for Cultural Heritage
Preserve the Past. Document It in 3D. Restore It for the Future.
The Pixel Farm is the only company offering both photogrammetric 3D documentation (PFTrack) and professional film and video restoration (PFClean) under one roof. For heritage institutions, this means a complete workflow from physical artefact to digital archive.
3D Heritage Documentation
Photogrammetry of monuments, buildings, and archaeological sites: precise 3D models from photographs and video
Artefact digitisation from photographs, no specialised scanning hardware required
Archaeological excavation recording: combine video tracking with photogrammetry for complete spatial records
LiDAR-aided camera solving via the Survey Solver.
Export to heritage-standard formats: USD, OBJ, PLY, textured meshes for GIS, databases, and 3D web viewers
Film & Archive Restoration
Professional film restoration: scratches, dust, flicker, warping, tears, and colour fading, from 8mm to 70mm IMAX.
Video restoration: dropouts, chroma issues, tape glitches from analogue formats including U-matic, Betacam, and VHS.
Non-destructive metadata workflow: original materials never modified.
Batch processing for large-scale archives with consistent quality.
Trusted by the Estonian, Slovak, and Finnish National Archives, along with major studios and broadcasters worldwide.
Hero Cloud
Spatial data from what remains.
Heritage sites are damaged, cleared, or demolished. Archival footage is what remains. Hero Cloud reconstructs a measured 3D point cloud from a single tracked archival shot — a measured spatial record of a place that may no longer be measurable in person. Combine with PFClean for restoration of the source footage before reconstruction. Open-format export to USD, OBJ, and PLY ensures your spatial data remains accessible for decades, or train a Gaussian splat via Postshot for immersive visualisation of vanished or fragile sites.
The Combined Heritage Workflow
Comprehensive Film & Video Restoration
Rescue deteriorating celluloid and magnetic media with PFClean. From repairing "vinegar syndrome" in 70mm masters to fixing tape glitches in VHS archives, restore your collections to 8K archival quality while maintaining a non-destructive, metadata-only workflow.
Precision 3D Documentation & Photogrammetry
Use PFTrack to transform standard photography into metrically accurate 3D models. Document everything from delicate artefacts to entire archaeological sites without expensive laser scanners. Build dense point clouds and textured meshes directly from the cameras you already own.
The Synergy of Motion and Space
Bridge the gap between film and 3D. Extract 3D camera motion from historical footage to "re-situate" lost architecture in a digital space, or use PFClean’s restoration tools to clean up textures for a more pristine 3D reconstruction.
Future-Proof, Research-Ready Deliverables
Generate high-bitrate film masters, interactive 3D models (USD/OBJ), or point clouds (PLY) for GIS mapping. Our commitment to open-standard formats ensures your digital assets remain accessible for decades of future research.
Streamlined Institutional Procurement
We’ve removed the "enterprise" price barrier. By supporting professional-grade workflows on hardware configurations under £4,000, we make it simple for museums, local archives, and universities to deploy world-class tools on a realistic budget.
FAQ
Heritage Digitisation with PFTrack & PFClean
Common questions from museums, national archives, universities, and archaeological teams about using PFTrack for 3D documentation and PFClean for film and video restoration.
Photogrammetry for cultural heritage is the process of converting overlapping photographs into accurate, metrically scaled 3D models of monuments, artefacts, and archaeological sites. Using software such as PFTrack, heritage institutions can produce dense point clouds and textured meshes from standard cameras, without expensive laser scanners. The resulting 3D documentation supports preservation records, restoration planning, virtual museum exhibitions, GIS mapping, and research access to otherwise inaccessible objects and sites.
Yes. PFTrack's photogrammetry pipeline generates metrically accurate 3D models from standard photography — DSLR cameras, mirrorless cameras, or drone footage. No laser scanner is required. For teams that do have LiDAR scan data available, PFTrack's Survey Solver can align tracked cameras precisely against the LiDAR scan for survey-grade accuracy. This makes professional-quality 3D documentation accessible to institutions that cannot justify the cost of dedicated scanning equipment.
PFTrack exports to open, heritage-standard formats to ensure your digital assets remain accessible for decades of future research:
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PLY — dense point clouds for GIS and spatial analysis
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OBJ — textured 3D meshes for databases and visualisation
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USD (Universal Scene Description) — for modern DCC pipelines and 3D web delivery
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Gaussian splat (via Postshot) — for immersive, photorealistic visualisation of fragile or inaccessible sites
All formats are compatible with GIS systems, museum collection management databases, and major 3D viewing applications.
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Hero Cloud is a PFTrack node that reconstructs a measured 3D point cloud from a single tracked shot ,without requiring a separate multi-image photogrammetry capture session. For heritage work, this is transformative: archival footage of a site that no longer exists, has since been damaged, or was never formally surveyed can be processed through Hero Cloud to generate a spatial record from what remains.
Hero Cloud output exports to USD, OBJ, or PLY, and can be fed directly into Postshot for Gaussian splat training,enabling the creation of immersive, photorealistic visualisations of vanished or fragile heritage sites for museum exhibition or remote research access.
PFClean handles a wide range of deteriorated film and video formats:
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Film: 8mm, 16mm, 35mm, 65mm, and 70mm IMAX — scratches, dust, flicker, warping, tears, and colour fading including vinegar syndrome
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Analogue video: U-matic, Betacam, and VHS — dropouts, chroma issues, tape glitches
All processing uses a non-destructive, metadata-only workflow — original source materials are never modified. Output quality reaches 8K archival standard, suitable for long-term preservation and public access.
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PFClean is trusted by national archives worldwide, including the Estonian National Archive, the Slovak National Archive, and the Finnish National Archive, alongside major studios and broadcasters globally. Its non-destructive workflow and batch processing capability make it the preferred choice for large-scale institutional archive restoration programmes.
Yes. The Pixel Farm has specifically designed its pricing to remove the traditional enterprise price barrier for heritage institutions:
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PFTrack Solo — £699 perpetual licence. Single-user, node-locked. Includes a 7-day free trial with full export.
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PFTrack Studio — from £59/week (rent-to-buy) or £1,699 perpetual. Floating multi-user licences. Ideal for collaborative archive teams.
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PFTrack Enterprise — For national archives and large institutional deployments with air-gapped security requirements.
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PFTrack's Hero Cloud node generates point cloud data that exports directly to Postshot for Gaussian splat training. This enables photorealistic, immersive 3D representations of heritage sites from existing photographs or archival footage — including sites that are fragile, under conservation restrictions, inaccessible to the public, or no longer physically extant.
Gaussian splats can be delivered as interactive experiences for museum visitors, researchers accessing collections remotely, or as educational resources for schools and universities.
Choose the edition that fits your team size and infrastructure:
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Solo (£699 perpetual) — ideal for a single conservator, researcher, or freelance heritage specialist. Node-locked to one workstation. Includes Hero Cloud, Postshot export, and a 7-day full-export free trial.
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Studio (from £59/week or £1,699 perpetual) — floating multi-user licences for collaborative teams. Full multi-image photogrammetry, LiDAR integration, Photo Mesh, external Python API, and CLI for batch automation. Suited to universities, museums, and regional archive services.
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Enterprise — unlimited deployment via PFBucket local licence server. Air-gapped, multi-site, globally scalable. The choice of national archives and government heritage institutions with strict security requirements. Contact our team to discuss deployment.
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Support your institution’s preservation efforts with the professional tracking and photogrammetry tools in PFTrack Studio. Ideal for collaborative archive and restoration environments.
Managing a large institution? Contact Sales for Enterprise