Tried over a dozen times to get a good Point Cloud - HELP

[Welchomatic]

Hi. I've been trying to get 3D files of a 1957 chess set. I've tried using different cameras, i've floated the camera around a stationary piece, I've built a scanning turntable, I've adjusted lights, I've used a DSLR, I've limited sources of varying light... Nothing works. Eve more frustrating is that the more effort I put into getting good pictures, the worse my Point Cloud turns out.
My avatar is an example of the most recent attempt. What am I doing wrong? In this case, i took 44 pictures, used Masquerade to get only and completely, the chess piece. Three of those 44 pictures were used by 3D Zephyr, and the point cloud appears to have about 10 points. Compare that to my first attempt where I used four quick shots using an iPhone 4 and got a good 25% of the entire model.
I'm so frustrated! What am I doing wrong? All the tutorials show people just snapping pictures without care and getting great results.

I'm open to suggestions, and will even share the pictures and masks of my last 3 attempts to get a point cloud. I'm at wits end. All suggestions are willingly accepted.

Oh, one thing I was hoping would teach me what a good vs bad photo would have been the Image Quality Index utility, but it isn't one of my menu choices. I'm using the Free version.

[Roberto]

Hi Welchomatic,

I think that the photos are not bad, but unfortunately the subject is certainly challenging.
The main problem is that the surface is a bit reflective and textureless. It's not impossible to reconstruct but quite challenging.

To start, I would suggest to go outside in a shadow place (for better uniform illumination) and put a textured background (like a newspaper or put the object on a wooden table) on the bottom of the subject. Take photos with free hand and try to take 50 photos with both the background and the object on different orbits.
In this way, you should be able to orient the cameras (because of the background and the better natural light). Make sure to adjust the bounding box before starting the dense point cloud generation.

A "turntable" setup like the one you used would be certainly better for final quality. However, since the subject is quite textureless, also in this case I would suggest to use a textured background (like a plate with a newspaper attached). Additionally, you should try to use diffusive lights all around the subject to avoid shadows. Finally, use a tripod an reduce the iso-speed (it should be 100 or 200, there is a lot of noise with the iso speed you used) and take a lot of photos (like 50 per single piece)

I hope this helps