Matt Bell of Matterport on their 3D camera for capturing physical spaces. The Matterport camera and software seems like a great solution if you wanted to quickly convert a physical space into a 3D model to use within a game context. Here’s the 3D scan that Paul Grasshoff from Matterport captured of the SVVRCon 2014 exhibition space, which was then imported into VR Chat.

At the moment, the primary use cases for the camera have been for real estate, home improvement, remodeling, construction, insurance, documentation of spaces, and crime scene investigation. But since they provide a textured mesh in the form of an *.obj file, then you can scan a room and within a half hour be able to get the file and import it into a VR experience that you’re developing.

Matterport is primarily a software company, and they use an iPad camera to be able to control their $4500 professional camera. One thing to note is that they are charging a monthly fee ranging from $49 to $149 to be able to scan, process and host a number of different files — and so there does appear to be a recurring fee to be able to actually use their camera.

You can either host the 3D model with Matterport if you need to have other people look at it online, or you can just export the textured mesh and start manipulating it for your game.

It’s also able to measuring distances within these models, and it’s dimensionally accurate down to around 1%, which is good enough for remodeling and furniture placement — and certainly good enough to quickly create 1:1 scale environments for VR. The current camera has a range limit of about 30 feet, but cameras with larger ranges will be coming in the future.

Matt also talks about how Matterport is developing some apps for Google’s Project Tango & Intel’s RealSense mobile 3D cameras, as well as lighting considerations when doing a 3D scan of a physical space.

Reddit discussion here.

TOPICS

0:00 – Intro of Matterport. Solving content creation problem of making 3D models of physical spaces. Place a Matterport camera in a space, take a number of shots, and it’ll build a model within ~30 minutes.

0:42 – What are people using this for? Real estate, home improvement, remodeling, construction, insurance, documentation of spaces, crime scene investigation

1:03 – What is the technology behind Matterport? Primesense 3D sensors that capture depth and color. Matterport software puts together the 3D puzzle pieces to create a coherent model of the space that’s dimensionally accurate.

1:57 – Using an iPad for the software end to control the camera. Uses the CPU to align the pieces & GPU to display 3D models.

2:25 – What’s the cost of a Matterport camera? Aimed at professionals at $4500. Writing apps for Google’s Project Tango and Intel’s RealSense, mobile 3D cameras. Built a demo for project Tango to scan a room

3:21 – What’s the output from Matterport? Textured 3D mesh. They allocate the polygons to describe complex models and how they’re optimizing the 3D model.

4:21 – What are some applications for how people are using Matterport? Scanning of famous monuments and world cultural treasures, and using the Oculus Rift to have an immersive experience of a space. Take spaces you care about and start to experiment with them. Make a model of your house, and you can play a game in your house or do remodeling with drag-and-dropping of furniture.

5:48 – Measuring distances within these models. Dimensionally accurate down to around 1%, which is good enough for remodeling and furniture placement.

6:24 – What type of file is it, and can you alter the file? Most people just leave the models on the Matterport platform and it’s embed code. You can download the model as a *.obj and then edit the textured mesh just like any other 3D file.

7:15 – Considerations for lighting? We have the real world as our rendering engine. Generally light the room that looks pleasing to you as you walk around it. What if you wanted to turn off a light later? Could get the geometry an paint it later

8:28 – Have people used it to scan people and faces? Not the focus. More focused on spaces. Mobile app will be optimized for more use cases.

9:15 – Is there a scanning pattern to avoid occlusion issues? Not really, just be sure that camera can see all parts of the room.

9:49 – In a room with high ceilings? What is the range? ~30ft high is the current limit. There are nextgen sensors that have a greater range. Matterport is primarily a software company.

10:30 – Matterport.com is where you can see more models and see their 3D cameras.

Theme music: “Fatality” by Tigoolio