Video: 3D Scanning made quick and easy with Matterport | Source: Matterport


360º Video: Matterport Director of Sales Paul Grassoff about three Matterport announcements at Inman Connect San Francisco 2016. Source: We Get Around

Matterport 3D/VR Platform: Indepth Analysis

In the single most comprehensive hands-on side-by-side analysis, We Get Around Blog Guest Columnist, Paul Collart ( @pcollart ), compares five (5) 3D/VR Camera Systems/ Hosting/Processing.

This Forum post includes an excerpt from his analysis about:

Matterport

You can read the entire article We Get Around Guest Blog Post here:

Compare 3D/VR Platforms for Scanning/Shooting Homes: Matterport, InsideMaps, Realvision, iGuide, immoviewer (and More)

If you are thinking about buying a 3D Tour solution, or wondering if other solutions are a threat or an opportunity to the 3D Tour solution that you are using now, Paul's analysis is likely to save you days - even weeks - worth of research.

How does this analysis help you?

Happy New Year,

Dan

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Matterport got their start in residential real estate by marketing their solution to the professional photography community, whom typically offer the Matterport Spaces 3D tours as an additional service accompanied with high-resolution photography and traditional property listing solutions.

Recently, Matterport has been extending their marketing reach worldwide and expanding to additional verticals, including:

✓ commercial real estate
✓ AEC (Architecture, Engineering, Construction (AEC)
✓ entertainment/media

Their proprietary Matterport Pro 3D Camera captures not only panoramic images, but also performs 3D scanning via structured-light (or infrared) technology to capture the space within a 3D point cloud. The Matterport Cloud, Workshop, and Showcase make up their on-line infrastructure for processing, managing, and hosting 3D tour.

Other key Matterport features include the following:

✓ Add MatterTag Posts or information tags within the Matterport Space (3D tour) to highlight specific features and provide detailed descriptions and links.
✓ Create a Highlight Reel to provide visitors suggestions on key views.
✓ Curated option lets visitors sit back and enjoy pre-defined slideshow or walkthrough.
✓ Request a schematic 2D floor plan for an additional $15. (Note that many operators opt for third-party service providers that provide enhanced plans faster and with more options)
✓ Add “Collaborators” to the property, which grants limited administrative rights and the ability to collect dimensions and create SnapShots (or screen grabs) from the 3D tour.
✓ Download a textured, 3D mesh model (OBJ) or colorized point-cloud (PTS) for use in CADD software programs. Currently, there is no cost to download these files, but this could change in the future.
✓ Review analytics based on number of impressions (opening a 3D tour), visits and unique visitors.
Matterport 3D Showcase (iOS) app for viewing models off-line

The Matterport sample 3D tour for the Palo Alto Eichler property can be found here.

Creating the Matterport Spaces 3D Tour

Since the Matterport hardware costs were beyond my budget, I coordinated the capture of this property with a Matterport Service Provider (MSP) in my area. This MSP performed the data capture and post-processing described below. I was added as a collaborator on the space to adjust the final result.

Matterport Data Capture (3D Tour)

The initial steps involve mounting the Matterport Pro 3D Camera to a tripod, connecting the iPad to the camera’s Wi-Fi connection, launching the Matterport Capture iPad app, and starting a new model. To capture a “regular” single scan, the camera automatically rotates to 6 positions while it collects panorama imagery and 3D scan data. Once the space is finished, the iPad application presents the operator with a top-down view of the 3D scan data in a point-cloud, which continues to grow as more scenes are captured. This 3D preview allows the operator to visually verify model completeness. Please note that the iPad application does not provide a preview of the panoramic imagery. Please watch this video of the Matterport Camera in action.

Since the Matterport Pro 3D Camera is leveraging structured-light (or infrared) scanning technology, which has limited range, it is required that scan locations not only have a line-of-sight to another scan, but scans are spaced about 5-8 feet apart.

A “regular” scan is possible in outdoor conditions as long as the camera does not "see" the sun. In conditions where the camera is in line with the sun, Matterport offers a “360 Photo” scan option, which only captures the panoramic imagery: not the data. Since these scans do not use 3D scanning functionality, these scans are not positioned within the point cloud (or 3D mesh model) and are not included as hotspots in the 3D tour. These 360 Photo scans can only be found in the Highlight Reel, which is described below.

Matterport recommends that the MSP mark or identify windows, mirrors (and trim) within the top-down preview, which enhances the Matterport Space 3D tour. This can be done after each scan capture or done after all scans have been captured on the iPad. This process must be completed before uploading for processing in the cloud.

The total MSP time to capture the sample Palo Alto Eichler project was about 42 minutes, which included 25 indoor and 6 outdoor scans for a total of 31 scans. This equates to about 1 minute 30 seconds to position the tripod and camera to a new location, perform a scan (about 45 seconds), transfer data to the iPad, review the results, and mark windows and mirrors.
Upon completion of the 3D tour, the MSP must reconnect the iPad to the Internet and initiate the upload to the Matterport Cloud for processing. The sample Palo Alto Eichler project took about 0.5 GB of storage space, which takes about 45 minutes to upload to the Matterport Cloud with a 2 Mbps upload speed.

Matterport Post-Processing

The processing of the 3D tour after upload, which includes the automatic stitching of the panoramic images, can take anywhere from 2 to 10 hours. This time depends upon both the size of the model and the processing queue demand on the Matterport Cloud.

After receiving an email notification upon processing completion, the MSP can log in to the Matterport Cloud and start configuring the basics, including:

✓ service provider details
✓ adding collaborators
✓ property address
✓ limited MLS details
✓ public or private settings
✓ property description

Additional changes can be made by loading the 3D model into the Matterport Workshop to change the way the 3D tour is presented, including the following:

✓ Update Start Position to a specific scan
✓ Hide scans within the 3D tour
✓ Add labels to specific spaces (or room names)
✓ Create MatterTag labels and anchor them to the underlying 3D mesh model
✓ Create and name SnapShots (screen image grabs) that can be used for display (or MLS), but are not high-resolution (for only use only)
✓ Create Highlight Reel from saved Snapshots to highlight specific scans within the 3D tour

(Continued ...)

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The analysis continues here and includes video, examples and charts.



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Best,

Dan


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