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This article will describe the workflow for how to align models from different projects relative to each other in Metashape Standard without the use of markers. This workaround can also be applied in the Professional version of Metashape.  

This workflow can be useful if you want to use objects from different projects together, for example, creating a bouquet of different parts or putting a monument near a building, and so on. In the general case, the approach may be useful, when it is required to combine multiple objects to the same scene. In our tutorial, we will take a model of the monument and building. We described the main steps:

• Append project 
• Align chunks to each other
• Merge Chunks

You can download these projects from the Sample Data page.

Append project 

1. Open the project (we open building.psx project). 

2. Select Append... command from the File menu (File > Append...). Select another project in the Open File dialog window (we have used monument.psx).

3. Select a chunk from the project which you want to add to the current workspace and click the OK button. 

4. The project will be added to the new chunk (or chunks) of the current workspace. 

Align chunks to each other

1. Click the Show Aligned Chunks button on the Toolbar. 

2. We need to apply three transformations to the models in each chunk (Move Object, Scale Object, Rotate Object). Using these transformations the models will be positioned relative to each other. 

For each chunk, use Move/Scale/Rotate Object tools from the Toolbar.  To switch between the chunks, double-click with the left mouse button on the chunk's label in the Workspace pane or use Set Active option from the chunk's context menu.

Once all three transformations are applied to the chunks, you will see such chunks displayed simultaneously in the Model view which allows modifying the relative orientation of the models more accurately with the manual instruments.

It is important to apply all three types of transformation (move, rotate, scale) to each model, otherwise you wouldn't be able to merge chunks.

3. After transformations, we have got the following result of the chunk alignment: 

Merge Chunks

1. Select the Merge Chunks... command from the Workflow menu (Workflow > Merge Chunks...). 

2. Choose both chunks and additional processing elements (such as point cloud or mesh models) to be merged in the Merge Chunks dialog window. 

3. Click the OK button.