I’m having tons of fun with Scaniverse, and I’m trying to improve my technique (especially scanning small / medium objects) in order to get better results, but unfortunately there aren’t many resources on this. I have a few questions for those with more experience on this:
When scanning objects, is it beneficial to get very close in order to get the finer details, or is it better to just always have the whole object in view?
Is there any difference in going from near to far when scanning, or is it the same as starting far and going near?
Can the phone be turned upside down or sideways while scanning without causing artifacts?
Is it possible to completely move away from (in terms of frame) the focus object in order to capture a bit more of the surroundings, without affecting the quality?
Does a phone with lidar produce better results, assuming the camera is the same as a non lidar model?
That’s it, but any other tips for a beginner are welcome!
Great questions! I wish I could answer them, but I’m very new to this, too. I’ve been wondering especially about whether it’s best to start wide and move into details or start close and end wide. Sometimes I spend a bunch of time scanning fairly close up, only to have the details seem to vanish, leaving me wondering what happened to all that time spent trying to capture the details. I do believe it’s ok to turn the camera upside down, since the app seems to override the auto-rotate setting. And according to this video, it’s OK to invert…
It’s beneficial to get close to better get the finner details, but the details that it’s capable of getting are limited by their proportional size to your capture area.
Atention, it’s easier for the app to get lost and lose it’s frame of reference if you don’t have any background for it to use as reference. That’s why it’s also better to start away and then get closer, so it has the area around the object already mapped to use as reference and not get lost.
For me, starting far and getting closer is better at avoiding the app getting lost.
The app uses the accelerometer inside your phone to orient itself and matches the images by similarity of frames. You can even capture with the phone upside down if you want it.
To avoid artifacts, you have to:
Move slowly so you don’t get motion blur
Capture each surface from at least 3 points of view that are line independent (if you capture 3 points of view that are on the same straight line, you can see directional lines pointing to your trajectory as it doent have the final point of reference). That’s why they usually recommend for you to do 2 passes from 2 different heights or capture using loop motions with your camera.
Yes, you can move completely away from the focus object remembering to move slower when capturing new environment and giving preference to arch movements instead of simply rotating the camera so it has better orientation using the parallax of the image. If you are capturing a statue, I don’t feel any effect on quality.
A lidar definitely gives better results for mesh scans and works faster. The difference is less for splats but it’s still better. I find that the main point is that the app is better optimized for the iphone than the android so usually iphones give better scans for now.
Thank you so much! Awesome information and links. It makes a lot of sense to get a wider foundation before focusing in on the details. I wish I had seen that 8th Wall video sooner, but I’m glad to be getting up to speed at any rate. I hope some day to make this sort of VR scanning my primary source of “photography” as I document my life and travels. Regarding Android vs iPhone, I’m thinking of replacing my Pixel 7 pro with something new. If I want to improve my scanning capability, should I just make the jump? I was on iPhone before the Pixel, and made that jump because I loved the camera. I’m willing to jump back for scanning. Thanks again!
I never used an iphone. My opinion is just from seeing the results and videos from people using the app.
That I know of, only the iphone pro versions have the lidar.
The decision is yours if you want to change.
I use mostly splats and I am hoping they are improving the app to reach parity between iphone and android.
