[haeric]

You can call it photogrammetry, it uses both 2d imagery and 3d depth data from depth sensors (think Microsoft Kinect or Google Tango) to make the 3d model. The viewer limits your movement when you are inside to be able to project panorama images onto the model, so you get the image quality of 2d images while you're still in a 3d model. 3d scanning tech just isn't good enough yet that you would be happy with how it looked up close if you are trying to sell a house, for instance.

Don't know Photoscan or 123D catch enough to comment spesifically, but in general many other 3d companies focus on scanning small objects or features, while we do large buildings/indoor spaces/rooms better (faster/better quality/cheaper/more convenient) than anyone else I've seen :)

[nailer]

Thanks. Photoscan's worth checking out - there's a few people doing large spaces with drones, as well as the usual object scans you mention. See http://www.agisoft.com/community/showcase/ They've done churches, cliffs, and whole valleys before: http://www.theastronauts.com/2014/03/visual-revolution-vanis...

That said, Photoscan's UI is incredibly poor, and the software has bugs (particularly around CUDA) so I'd be interested in alternatives.

123D catch (from Autodesk) does cloud based processing like you guys.