360° images or panoramas can now be added to Matterport virtual tours through the Beta version of the iOS app. It used to be available in Android for a while now, though. Let’s look at what this could potential mean for those who already employ Matterport tours or planning to.
Vision Pro
With all eyes on the upcoming Apple device, businesses are preparing their content to be MR-headset friendly. Virtual tours are the easiest to get a start on the platform. Imagine customers looking at life-size images as if they were in an INOX theatre.
In India, there are two Apple stores already – Mumbai and Delhi. With September’s launch of the new iPhones, customers can order online and pick it up at the stores, or just buy in person.
Matterport does allow anyone to create a virtual tour using their smartphone (and the free SaaS plan) – if the device is a Pro model with LiDAR, even better. However, phones and consumer 360° cameras (like the Ricoh Theta series) can’t really replace the quality from those of professional scanners like the Matterport Pro3 or the Leica BLK360.
Other Cameras
Panoramic images that are captured from DSLR and other dual fish-eye lens cameras such as the GoPro Max can now be imported into Matterport tours. All this is in theory and there’s a good reason the feature is in Beta (in iOS).
Yes, we’ve tested it but were unable to get the AI (Cortona) to import as a 3D scan. It did, however, import as a 360 image and we were able to add that as a highlight reel.
We’ll add a lot of virtual tour samples and YouTube videos to this blog post in the next few days. While keeping the jargon minimal, we wanted to let our clients know that this feature is interesting because it could save a lot of time and effort in upcoming scans.
For example, if we scan a swimming pool of a gated community – the same panoramic image can be used in the virtual tours of multiple villas and apartments. The same goes for promoting different types of rooms in a luxury hotel.
For those highly-talented DSLR photographers, this is great news because your lifestyle images could possibly be added to our tours. If your equipment includes an 18-55mm fisheye and a Nodal Ninja, even better. Sky is the limit.
Flying High
Speaking of skies, panoramic images from drones can also be added to the virtual tours – again, in theory. Refer to DGCA’s DigitalSky FAQs for the process to transfer the UIN because the media is considered as ‘commercial usage’.
Aerial photos from devices such as the Skydio 2 or DJI Mavic 3 Cine can be added as 360° images or highlight reels in a Matterport tour. For importing as a 3D scan, there has to be quite a number of overlaps but it is unlikely the AI would recognise them even if added to a separate floor.
We will be adding aerial photography and geo-mapping to our list of services soon. The articles in our blog will be updated regularly so that our visitors see the recent content and changes.
External Links:
One of our panoramas for our Manipuri friends:
