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by heljara 426 days ago
I've been toying with photogrammetry a little bit lately, specifically for scanning indoor rooms and spaces. So far I'm finding metashape the most suitable for it, but some of the precision isn't great (but I'm still improving my technique). I mostly want to convert the interior of one real building into a digital model for preservation and analysis. I've briefly considered LIDAR, but put it in the too hard/expensive bucket. This project seems to challenge that assumption.

What does the software post-processing look like for this? Can I get a point cloud that I can then merge with other data (like DSLR photographs for texturing)?

I see in their second image[1] some of the wall is not scanned as it was blocked by a hanging lamp, and possibly the LIDAR could not see over the top of the couch either. Can I merge two (or more) point clouds to see around objects and corners? Will software be able to self-align common walls/points to identify its in the same physical room, or will that require some jiggery-pokery? Is there a LIDAR equivalent of coded targets or ARTags[0]? Would this scale to multiple rooms?

Is this even worth considering, or will it be more hassle than its worth compared to well-done photogrammetry?

(Apologies for the peak-of-mount-stupid questions, I don't know what I don't know)

0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARTag 1: https://github.com/PiLiDAR/PiLiDAR/raw/main/images/interior....

1 comments

Shameless plug, but if you own an iPhone pro or iPad Pro (which have Lidar integrated), you should give Dot3D a try. It does everything you describe and we made it very easy to use.
Thank you for the reply. Unfortunately, I don't own an iPhone - maybe I can borrow one, though. Any limitations of the app or practical advice you might want to share?