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Matterport vs DSLR Tour with Photoshop5114

Bale100 private msg quote post Address this user
My client is selling $10M exclusive modern luxury villas in the Balearics.

Have scanned with Matterport - it's a building site so not easy hiding cranes, building materials and construction works from windows, terraces etc.

Clients photos and website are photoshopped to the max - mid blue sky with red backdrop sunset, green water in pool, yellow pool lights all visible, internally greys look blue, stunning light stone looks orange...completely unrealistic however that's what they want for their marketing material.

Matterport has shown a true representation of the Villa. Tasteful neutral colours, light and airy natural realistic look, light Mediterranean stone etc. but slightly washed out pool & sky as it's July with a heat haze. Also greenery around pool ( grass etc.) looks less healthy than the lush green photoshopped version as clearly the weather is close 40 degrees.

We have rescanned areas on a clearer day. even considering taking the pro 2 there when it arrives next week, however client now believes that a DSLR Tour maybe better.

Question

Based on experience, how time consuming and costly is it for pro to capture 360 images using a DSLR and photoshop most of the images and turn it into a virtual tour.

To put this in perspective, we have taken over 350 scans on 3 floors + externals shaded areas. Villa is 1,000 m2 + terraces & pool surround set on several hundred m2. In USA terms 12-13,000 sq ft. 70-80% needs photoshopping if they want to match their marketing material.

Thanks,

Richard
Post 1 IP   flag post
MeshImages private msg quote post Address this user
Hi Richard,

based on my experiences:

workload DSLR 360s (photography+stitching+photoshop) + tour (p2vr) vs Matterport 360s is about factor 10

Advantages for DSLR + P2VR workflow:

+ still more customizable
+ better image quality (depends a little on DSLR & photographer)
+ full control of images, hosting and user experience (marketing)

Advantages for Matterport Pro2

+ highly efficient & automated workflows
+ guaranteed standard of quality
+ other cool MP features like 3D Model & 3D data, Floorplan, VR Tour,...

+++ most important: Great Matterport community (WGA + MP) and services network (WGA)!
Post 2 IP   flag post
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Member
Las Vegas
VTLV private msg quote post Address this user
Do you want to take something like Iguide and skip a bunch of the 360's taken by your Matterport camera? Do you need bathroom shots other than the master?

I have been playing with 3dVista for a couple months and love it. About to start selling DSLR 360's and got the Google Badge today, yeah!

3dVista Tour Suite comes with the stitching software to make Panos. You will probably want to come up with a couple Lightroom plugins for a quick edit after for inside and out. The cost is about 499€.

If you already have a DSLR camera with a fish eye or wide angle lens, you're pretty much set. The Cowboy Studio Panoramic head isn't bad for getting started. Great part is you can shoot each shot individually vs Matterport if a person gets in the shot view.

You can skip shooting one up and one down on the tripod to keep things simple, possibly place an image puck on the bottom. where the tripod would be and will need your own royalty free music if you want some sound.

I haven't figured out my own hosting yet for the tours, so there would be another fee for hosting if you're in my boat at 99€/year.

You could pull your current or builders floor plan and make navigation radars too. Could get difficult for outdoors. Dan asked me to share a review on here and I haven't completed any paid projects that will allow me to share publicly.

Chances are, you will probably need a month of reviewing instructional videos to get this right. Maybe wait for the pro 2 and re shoot some areas if the furniture hasn't moved too much or make a duplicate and delete rooms that do not light up.

Too bad, you can't pull out the Matterport 360's, edit them and insert back into the tour.
Post 3 IP   flag post
Marcel private msg quote post Address this user
As mentioned in another post, after using an MP camera for the last 3.5yrs I'm seriously thinking of going back to 360 pano tours instead of upgrading to a Pro 2. I've actually not used MP on my last 2 jobs.

Yes, there is much more post production work but I think it works out to be the same. For a 750sqm it's about 3 hours on site + 30 min post with MP. With Pano it's 30min on site and 3 hours offsite in the conform of your office chair, with a nice mug of coffee, listening to your favourite tunes. I'm happy to do the latter especially on some of my larger 2500sqm jobs (10 hrs straight).

Then there's the quality. No way any camera can match the HDR quality you can achieve with a good DSLR and a fish eye lens. But I'm looking at the Insta360 Pro to save production time as it stitches the panos in camera, you can also bracket for HDR, and you can take 360 video. I cannot find good image samples yet of this camera so will keep an eye on it.

The only other benefit Matterport has is the 3D content. We use a lot of 3D in our productions but the 3D mesh from matterport is'nt really useful as it has to be cleaned up. We end up creating 3D from scratch which is much faster.

I use Kolor pano software and host on my own server. I've looked at 3Dvista mainly for its LivePano amazing feature. But it's a bit expensive. I'm trying a new tour today using Ocurus will see how that goes.
Post 4 IP   flag post
GarySnyder private msg quote post Address this user
Just to reflect what @VTLV stated. We use 3DVista for intense VT's and so far nothing come near it. We can highlight objects and make them hotspots that will launch anything. In addition I can inject images of anything into my pano's and make them hotspots as well. An example is placing an indivisual's image into a pano and as you mouse over their image or click on them they launch what ever you have asigned that image to launch.

This is just a small portion of the amazinging things you can do with 3DVista. There is no compairson to MP. The only thing MP has going for it is the immersive VT which I find most people don't even notice. In addition 3DVists also converst all models to VR. As @VTLV stated it's expensive but those of you who are professionals and want to offer you clients a more multimedia experience there's nothing currently comes close to 3DVista.
Post 5 IP   flag post
SailAway private msg quote post Address this user
I do professional photography and there is no way in hell you can compare this camera to a professional digital camera with quality lens.
Post 6 IP   flag post
Orange, California
craigsauer private msg quote post Address this user
@GarySnyder: Just checked out 3DVista, and had a realization about the limitations of Matterport VR. Matterport's base VR solution is just a series of linked panos, just like 3DVista's VR solution.

Matterport has a bit of an advantage because their system for capturing and creating their tours is simple and automated, but it is also so limiting because they don't allow any photoshopping or tweaking and also because of the limitations with shooting outdoors.

It would be interesting to take a set of Matterport panos, do some Photoshopping on them, and use 3DVista to create the VR tour of them and compare the results in VR.
Post 7 IP   flag post
Frisco, Texas
Metroplex360 private msg quote post Address this user
Quote:
Originally Posted by craigsauer
@GarySnyder: Just checked out 3DVista, and had a realization about the limitations of Matterport VR. Matterport's base VR solution is just a series of linked panos, just like 3DVista's VR solution.


Please note, CustomVR still exists.

CustomVR is our white-glove service. When you order CustomVR, one of our 3D artists modifies your Space to improve the quality of the underlying 3D mesh and select scan positions that are most appropriate. In some cases, this enhanced model quality also enables us to offer stereoscopic views and flythrough transitions. It is a good option for Spaces that did not convert well in CoreVR, or if you would like to evaluate flythrough transitions and stereoscopic views for a particular Space.

https://matterport.com/virtual-reality/frequently-asked-questions/
Post 8 IP   flag post
Frisco, Texas
Metroplex360 private msg quote post Address this user
To comment on the thread itself.

Of course DSLR VTs are higher quality when done in the hands of a professional photo editor. When I transitioned from the DSLR/Fisheye setup to a Pro-1 (pre-Nov 2016 firmware update) - I -knew- I was taking a massive hit on quality on a pano to pano basis.

The quality improved with the firmware update using 2k tiles and then better image processing (and LED banding / yellow correction). The quality improved again with the Pro-2.

At this point, the Pro-2 does a very good job, especially in well lit spaces.

HOWEVER -

If I want a space to be fully walkable with multiple angles with a fluid experience and excellent load speeds on mobile -- Matterport is superior in every way. Individual image quality is the compromise.

I would absolutely LOVE if in the future Matterport would begin offering enterprise level solutions to PRO users including resubmitting the panoramas and opening up the platform a bit to allow niche use-case scenarios to play out.

Perhaps the promised SDK could have a feature that would allow the tour to load panos from external sources so that their source URL could be specified from a different address. I'd love that - it would open up many whitelabel opportunities for enhancements that Matterport wouldn't need to spend a moment supporting.
Post 9 IP   flag post
Bale100 private msg quote post Address this user
Thank you for all of the replies.

As much as I hate unrealistic marketing material and I personally prefer to see a realistic / natural view, I think there is an opportunity here for Matterport to add enhanced user editing tools or at least access to allow certified 3rd party pros to add the 'Botox & Fillers' to a tour.

My clients marketing material is at complete add odds with the 3d tour - not due to the camera as it is revealing the truth (the camera never lies), but the fact that everything these days is digitally manipulated which clients appear to love / can't do without when they're trying to sell / promote.
Post 10 IP   flag post
Frisco, Texas
Metroplex360 private msg quote post Address this user
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bale100
Thank you for all of the replies.

As much as I hate unrealistic marketing material and I personally prefer to see a realistic / natural view, I think there is an opportunity here for Matterport to add enhanced user editing tools or at least access to allow certified 3rd party pros to add the 'Botox & Fillers' to a tour.

My clients marketing material is at complete add odds with the 3d tour - not due to the camera as it is revealing the truth (the camera never lies), but the fact that everything these days is digitally manipulated which clients appear to love / can't do without when they're trying to sell / promote.


Agreed, and well said. This is a barrier for Matterport technology for certain clients. Opening the platform to post-processing would increase adoption and also create a great ecosystem of 3rd party services.
Post 11 IP   flag post
Marcel private msg quote post Address this user
@Metroplex360 True Matterport is superior for a tour that is fully walkable with multiple angles with a fluid experience. I guess it really depends on the job and the sector. In some instances you dont need a tour of an entire space, you only need one with a few view points to give an impression of the space.

The matterport camera is a very useful tool and will remain in my bag of tools with all the others. But yes it would be amazing to be able post process the images and upload them again. But we all know this will never happen.
Post 12 IP   flag post
Frisco, Texas
Metroplex360 private msg quote post Address this user
@Marcel Never say never I optimistically believe that this could happen, but would require a value proposition to Matterport.

For instance, if the Smithsonian Museum approached Matterport and wanted to have a massive scale scan done of the facilities, Matterport would be quite interested. Now, if I am the CTO at the Smithsonian, I may approach Matterport with some serious requirements. As the Smithsonian (or the Louvre if you'd prefer) is a massive archive of incredible things, I might want the ability for our internal team to be able to master the imagery... and heck, as I'm the Smithsonian, I might just want to host the tour myself too.

This would be an epic contract for Matterport that would be worth devoting resources to. And thus, might open some doors towards allowing the same set of tools to be available to other enterprise users.

Hey, if the Power Rangers played a role in bringing us Multimedia Mattertags, who knows what external factors could open doors in the future.

I wonder what would have happened if the Fifty Shades Darker Promo Site had been able to run fully on the Matteport Platform. It would have required the Matterport Team to merge multiple models into the same tour and would have required providing editing of panoramas as well as custom UI... instead, the amazing team behind this used Matterport Technology along with other equipment and custom development to make something entirely custom. If this opportunity came up again ... could it merit a separate division to be created in Matterport? (Matterport Creative Solutions?)
Post 13 IP   flag post
ron0987 private msg quote post Address this user
Metroplex360
I agree but what would happen if the Smithsonian approached IGuide. a DSLR based system that you can Photoshop and do a few other things that you can't do with Matterport and end up with a fairly easy work flow for the final product. If you are talking extreme high-tech then you could use a Laser Scanner build the model use Faro's new HDR pano's that are pretty good or add the Ntech Istar camera way better then Iris360 which then will give you a complete immersive project, but again is the project worth the investment and or are you going to continue to use the equipment. I bought the Matterport Pro 2 but definitely considering purchasing something else just to focus on extreme high end property because I also feel Matterport falls short and would not approach them for that reason. But I do have got to admit the Pro 2 is better and are they on track to do better I hope so, but I do not want to keep investing 3500 every few years.
Post 14 IP   flag post
mori private msg quote post Address this user
If Smithsonian wants something special, they will call the M.I.T. Media Lab or Google Arts.
But here some great history: https://siarchives.si.edu/blog/smithsonian-online-paved-way-today%E2%80%99s-online-offerings

Looks also as they are currently relaunching their website:
https://www.si.edu/exhibitions/online
Post 15 IP   flag post
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