Creating 3D walkthroughs via smartphone camera capture can provide potential buyers with nice virtual walkthroughs: unless shaky hands spoil the image…

As smart devices now pack serious AI and graphics processing power, more software developers will be taking advantage of the hardware to allow anyone to create 3D ‘digital twins’ of home interiors, properties and objects.

For example, users of iPhone and iPad models with Lidar sensors have already been able to capture 3D scenes into digital models using either built-in or third-party software. Similarly, users of many higher-end Android smartphones have been able to do the same using apps that take advantage of the Time-of-Flight or advanced depth sensors built into the camera array.

Some use cases of creating 3D digital twins of homes, offices, hotels, rentals, retail locations, and factory floors include:

  • Retail and Hospitality: Capturing a digital twin enables merchandising teams and facility managers to virtually inspect, plan, and manage multiple locations online, eliminating routine travel and on-site visits while rapidly increasing productivity, 
  • Real estate: Professionals, property managers and landlords can now 3D digital twins and create virtual tours online in less than an hour.
  • Construction and Insurance: Builders and insurance adjusters can scan and share detailed digital twins from any compatible smartphone, for every stage of projects. Such data can be used for remote inspection, tracking and management anywhere in the world.

Now, the latest development in the capture stage of 3D twins has been announced by Matterport, Inc., which will launch in April a motorized smartphone mount for capturing scenes in a more steady and consistent way than manual hand-operated capturing.

According to the firm’s Chief Technology Officer Japjit Tulsi: “We have democratized 3D capture by making the app available to billions of Android and iOS users, while (the motorized mount) will make it even simpler for individuals, small businesses, and large multi-property enterprises to quickly and reliably scale the digitization of their properties affordably.”