You processed it in Pix4D.
Now how do you deliver it?

Short version: With Pix4D your delivery route is decided before you export anything — by which Pix4D you used. Desktop leaves you a project folder nobody outside your office can open; PIX4Dcloud gives you a link that works but carries someone else's name. This page covers both, plus the one Pix4D output that is genuinely worth more than the orthomosaic: the quality report.

First question: which Pix4D produced this?

Pix4D is a family of products, not one program, and they end in very different places. Before you think about file formats, work out which row you are in — everything downstream follows from it.

The mistake this table prevents: assuming that because Pix4D has a cloud with sharing, your desktop project can be shared. It cannot. A PIX4Dmapper project is a folder, and a folder is not a link.

Step 1 — Find the four files that matter

A finished PIX4Dmapper project writes a deep folder tree, most of which is intermediate data. Four things in it are deliverables; the rest is machinery. Paths are relative to your project folder:

• The quality report — 1_initial/report/<project>_report.pdf. Read the next section before you decide what to do with it.
• The orthomosaic — 3_dsm_ortho/2_mosaic/<project>_transparent_mosaic_group1.tif. Note "transparent" in the name; that matters, see step 3.
• The DSM — 3_dsm_ortho/1_dsm/<project>_dsm.tif.
• The densified point cloud — 2_densification/point_cloud/, as LAS/LAZ depending on your export settings.

Everything else — the .p4d file, the matching <project>/ working directory, the tie points, the undistorted images — is your project, not your product. Which brings us to the one thing you must never do.

Step 2 — Treat the quality report as a deliverable, not a log file

This is where Pix4D genuinely differs from the alternatives, and where most operators leave value on the table. The Pix4D quality report is not a debug dump — it is a defensible accuracy statement, and it is the single most professional-looking thing your project folder contains.

It states the GSD actually achieved, the number of images calibrated against those attempted, the mean reprojection error, and — if you flew ground control — the RMS error per GCP and per checkpoint. For an insurer, a surveyor, a court expert or a client comparing you against a competitor, that page is worth more than the orthomosaic. It is evidence that your numbers can be trusted.

Two things to do with it:

1. Include it in every delivery, even when nobody asked. It costs you nothing and it silently answers "how accurate is this?" before the question is asked.
2. Read it before you send it. If 12% of your images failed to calibrate, or a GCP shows a 40 cm residual, the report says so in plain numbers. Better that you find it than that the surveyor does.

Step 3 — The transparency trap in the orthomosaic

Pix4D names its orthomosaic _transparent_mosaic_ for a reason: it carries an alpha band so the ragged edges of the flight area render as transparent instead of black. Inside GIS software that is exactly what you want.

Outside it, that fourth band is a recurring nuisance. Plenty of ordinary image tools either ignore the alpha and show you black borders, or choke on a four-band GeoTIFF entirely. If you are producing a preview for a report or an email, flatten it deliberately rather than hoping:

gdal_translate -of JPEG -b 1 -b 2 -b 3 -outsize 4000 0 \
  -co QUALITY=88 project_transparent_mosaic_group1.tif preview.jpg

And for the technical recipient who does want the real thing, a Cloud Optimized GeoTIFF opens in QGIS without a full download:

gdal_translate -of COG -co COMPRESS=DEFLATE \
  project_transparent_mosaic_group1.tif ortho_cog.tif

State the EPSG code and the GSD alongside either one. Pix4D knows the coordinate system; your client's inbox does not.

Step 4 — What PIX4Dcloud does and does not solve

If you processed in PIX4Dcloud you are in a better position than the desktop user: the project already lives on a public server and can be shared as a link, with a viewer that supports panning, measuring and annotations. That genuinely works, and it is the right thing to use.

Two limits are worth naming honestly:

• The page is Pix4D's, not yours. Your client lands in an environment carrying a software vendor's identity. For a one-off that is fine. As the standard way your studio delivers, it quietly credits someone else for your work.
• It holds the model, not the job. The quality report, your annotated stills, the inspection findings and your written conclusions are not in there. Your client still ends up with a link plus a set of email attachments — which is the problem you were trying to solve.

Sharing options and seat rules differ between PIX4Dcloud plans, so check what your own licence actually permits before you promise a client permanent access.

Step 5 — Assemble the delivery

Whichever branch you came down, you now have a set: a viewer or an orthomosaic, the quality report, a DSM perhaps, some annotated stills, your findings. The remaining job is turning that set into one address.

That is the layer DronePortal covers, and it deliberately does no processing — Pix4D stays your engine and nothing about your workflow changes. What it adds:

• Your PIX4Dcloud viewer embedded on a page that carries your name instead of a vendor's
• The quality report sitting next to it as a downloadable document, where it will actually be read
• Annotated photos and findings on the same page as the model they refer to
• One access code per project, and an address that still resolves next year

In practice: the actual clicks

1. First, get a public viewer URL. Which branch you are on decides this. On PIX4Dcloud, share the project and copy the link — that is the one you paste, and it is why cloud users have the easiest route here. On PIX4Dmapper or PIX4Dmatic there is nothing to link to (step 1): publish the mesh to an embeddable viewer such as Sketchfab or Polycam and use that URL. Either way the orthomosaic belongs in a tiled map viewer, never as the raw four-band GeoTIFF.
2. Paste the ordinary page URL; it gets converted on save. A Sketchfab model page, a Matterport /models/ link, a Kuula /post/ link and a Polycam capture page all refuse to be embedded as-is. DronePortal rewrites them to their embed form when you save, so you do not have to hunt for the embed code. One exception: skfb.ly short links are refused with a message — paste the full Sketchfab URL.
3. Dashboard → "+ New project". Pick an existing client or type a name and e-mail straight into the form. Give the project a name and a type, and name the first unit. On save DronePortal creates the client, the project and the unit, generates an 8-character access code, and drops you into that unit's edit screen.
4. Section 🗺 Viewers — one row per viewer. Choose the type (3D Visual, 3D Thermal, 2D Map, 360° Tour), write a label your client will read, and paste the URL. For Pix4D: a PIX4Dcloud project or an orthomosaic viewer goes under 2D Map, a published mesh under 3D Visual. Use "+ Add viewer" for the next one. Underneath, pick the Main viewer — the one that opens first — or leave it on "Automatic (first viewer)".
5. Section 📋 Documents & media — this is where the quality report goes. "+ Add a document or link", set the type to File and use "↑ Upload" for <project>_report.pdf (pdf, jpg and png are accepted). Given what step 2 said about that document, this is the one row on this screen you should never skip. The NL/FR/EN label fields are the button text your client sees.
6. Section 📷 Photos — upload the selection. Thermal, visual and zoom images. This is a selection, not a dump: these are the stills that carry your findings, not the full card.
7. Section Portal — open it up. Set the status to Active, choose the language, fill in the capture date and, if the job needs one, an expiry date. The access code sits in this same section.
8. Hand over one link. The client URL is https://{your-subdomain}.droneportal.app/app/portaal/?code={ACCESSCODE}. One address plus one code — no account for your client, nothing to install.

Open that link yourself in a private browser window before you send it — the same test that catches an unshared PIX4Dcloud link also catches a viewer you only think is public.

Before you send: a checklist

• Quality report included — and read by you first
• GSD and EPSG code stated in writing
• If you used GCPs: the residuals are in the delivery, not just in your archive
• The orthomosaic preview has no black borders from the alpha band
• No .p4d and no project folder anywhere in what you are sending
• Any PIX4Dcloud link has been opened in a private browser window to confirm it is really public
• It is clear what is not included

Five ways a Pix4D delivery goes wrong

1. Zipping the whole project folder. Tens of gigabytes, unopenable without a licence, and it contains your working method.
2. Leaving the quality report in the folder. The most credible document you produced, never delivered.
3. A four-band ortho as a "preview". Black edges, or it will not open at all.
4. A PIX4Dcloud link that is not actually shared. It opens for you because you are logged in. Test it signed out.
5. Delivering the model and emailing the conclusions separately. The two things that only make sense together arrive apart.

Same workflow for other tools: delivering a WebODM project · delivering a DJI Terra reconstruction. Related reading: process locally, deliver professionally and six links for one inspection.

Frequently asked questions

Related reading

• What is a drone client portal?
• Stop sending WeTransfer links to clients

Ready to start?

Try step 5 on your next Pix4D job

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