Can You Recommend a 3D Scanning App to Scan Interiors?

April 16, 2024 9:36 AM

I'm planning a remodel and I'd like to scan a few rooms in my home using an app on my phone.

I'm familiar with 3D software such as Maya, Unreal, etc., so I'd like to export the mesh to something like Blender or Maya and work with it.
What apps do you recommend for this purpose? Things that are important are accurately capturing proportions without decay of quality as you travel farther from the point of scan origin.

I don't mind apps with a one-time purchase cost, if they produce accurately-proportioned meshes that are easy to export from the app and bring into other 3D software applications.

posted by cleverevans to Technology (4 answers total)

I design buildings for a living, and I'm skeptical that such a thing exists because if it did, we would probably use it instead of the laser scanners that we have that produce point clouds or walking around with a tape/laser measure and 360 degree camera. I think there are measurement apps out there that may only be as accurate as your GPS (?), but perhaps that data could be exported to a modeling program, but I imagine those would have a hard time capturing things like windows and doors or built-in cabinets. I'm not even sure how such an app would work with the hardware available on a phone - maybe take two photos a certain distance apart and it can stereoscopically figure things out?

But then, if you're thinking of using Maya as a program to just remodel a couple rooms in your house, you might be living in a different universe than I am and maybe your house has non-Euclidean geometry. Measuring a couple rooms in my house (including windows and doors) and putting it into something like revit or autocad would take me around 45 minutes. But even then, getting access to revit or autocad if I didn't have them already would not be worth the expense for remodeling a couple rooms, at least in my book.

If there is such a thing, I'd love to hear about it though!
posted by LionIndex at 10:21 AM on April 16

Best answer: I used to work for the company that makes Canvas. You can see in the video on the main page how you scan a space and see a 3D mesh being built up in real time. Their main product is a "Scan to CAD" where you scan a space with an iPhone or iPad and they process it and you get a Sketchup/AutoCAD/Revit or other CAD file, but they also let you directly get the .obj of the raw scan mesh. I'm a bit biased as I'm a former employee, but I think the quality is very good.
posted by zsazsa at 11:15 AM on April 16 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I've had Scaniverse and "3D scanner app" recommended by a historic preservation professor who uses them for building recording. They work with my newer iPhone that has lidar and can be compatible with some of the modeling programs. That said I had a lot of trouble getting a good product from them, so I think they have more of a learning curve than I had patience to play with them.
posted by sepviva at 12:10 PM on April 16

Best answer: I recommend trying PolyCam (i*OS and Android), which allows you to walk around a room scanning the corners and angles, and then it will generate 3d models and also floorplans. They have a 7-day trial and then an annual subscription.
posted by zachxman at 3:11 PM on April 16