Lidar on your IPhone 12 Pro & Canvas

[RCA]

Did you know that you have Lidar on your IPhone 12 Pro (or Max)? IPhone never says much about it, but they use it to focus the camera, for example.

There is a free product called "Canvas" that you can download and try. (You don't need Cubi Casa).

1. However, it is $0.10/sf for 2D scans and $0.15/sf for 3D and CAD plans. So, a 3,000 sf home would cost $450 to scan. Two days to get the results unless you pay extra for "immediate" results - which might take nearly a day to get.
2. You have to scan up and down from floor to ceiling - in one continuous operation. You probably should do no more than one floor at a time. Scanning is not that time consuming, but definitely not as fast as using a hand laser meter.
3. So, it should generate CAD plans that I can upload directly into Chief Architect.

Results so far.

1. I'd have to say I have put it to the test. My office area, which is rather large is in a state of total chaos right now. Even when I clean it up - there are all kinds of things stored everywhere. The scanner picks everything, more or less. So, it is VERY slow uploading and VERY slow generated the CAD. In fact I am still waiting for the CAD conversion to Chief Architect to finish. But I can see their CAD 2D and 3D so far.

2. It does not look that accurate, so far. And this is supposed to be a lot more accurate than Cubi Casa.

3. I am very sure this would work much better on a vacant home. But if it has bookshelves, desks, furniture - and cameras and drones and computers and bags and all kinds of tools all over - you probably would want to think twice before using this approach.

4. When it's finally done, if ever, I might put up the Chief Architect plan generated, along with the errors.

Canvas Pricing: Affordable As-Built Models from Scans or Existing Plans

Discover Canvas pricing for 3D CAD models and 2D floor plans, starting at just $0.18/sqft. Get fast, accurate as-builts for your projects.

canvas.io

Canvas: Create 3D As-Built Models with iPhone | LiDAR Tool

Scan spaces with your iPad or iPhone in seconds. We'll transform them into editable CAD or BIM as-builts so you can design the future.

tinyurl.com

 

[RCA]

Did you know that you have Lidar on your IPhone 12 Pro (or Max)? IPhone never says much about it, but they use it to focus the camera, for example.

There is a free product called "Canvas" that you can download and try. (You don't need Cubi Casa).

1. However, it is $0.10/sf for 2D scans and $0.15/sf for 3D and CAD plans. So, a 3,000 sf home would cost $450 to scan. Two days to get the results unless you pay extra for "immediate" results - which might take nearly a day to get.
2. You have to scan up and down from floor to ceiling - in one continuous operation. You probably should do no more than one floor at a time. Scanning is not that time consuming, but definitely not as fast as using a hand laser meter.
3. So, it should generate CAD plans that I can upload directly into Chief Architect.

Results so far.

1. I'd have to say I have put it to the test. My office area, which is rather large is in a state of total chaos right now. Even when I clean it up - there are all kinds of things stored everywhere. The scanner picks everything, more or less. So, it is VERY slow uploading and VERY slow generated the CAD. In fact I am still waiting for the CAD conversion to Chief Architect to finish. But I can see their CAD 2D and 3D so far.

2. It does not look that accurate, so far. And this is supposed to be a lot more accurate than Cubi Casa.

3. I am very sure this would work much better on a vacant home. But if it has bookshelves, desks, furniture - and cameras and drones and computers and bags and all kinds of tools all over - you probably would want to think twice before using this approach.

4. When it's finally done, if ever, I might put up the Chief Architect plan generated, along with the errors.

Canvas Pricing: Affordable As-Built Models from Scans or Existing Plans

Discover Canvas pricing for 3D CAD models and 2D floor plans, starting at just $0.18/sqft. Get fast, accurate as-builts for your projects.

canvas.io

Canvas: Create 3D As-Built Models with iPhone | LiDAR Tool

Scan spaces with your iPad or iPhone in seconds. We'll transform them into editable CAD or BIM as-builts so you can design the future.

tinyurl.com

After 6 hours and still processing gave up on it and asked for the processing fee refund.

Of interest:

iPhone and iPad LiDAR spatial tracking capabilities: second test. - vSite by vGIS Inc.: 3D Scanning, Documentation, Digital Twin & AR for Utilities and Infrastructure Construction

Summary Earlier this year, Apple released the 2020 iPad with a special feature: a built-in LiDAR sensor. In addition to providing wide-ranging benefits for mobile photography, the new sensor sought to take augmented reality (AR) to the next level. Features like dynamic occlusion and surface...

www.vgis.io

Evaluation of the Apple iPhone 12 Pro LiDAR for an Application in Geosciences - Scientific Reports

Traditionally, topographic surveying in earth sciences requires high financial investments, elaborate logistics, complicated training of staff and extensive data processing. Recently, off-the-shelf drones with optical sensors already reduced the costs for obtaining a high-resolution dataset of...

www.nature.com

However, try "3d Scanner App": https://apps.apple.com/us/app/3d-scanner-app/id1419913995. Latest review has it at 5 stars - and yes it is relatively good.

- You can do a number of things with it, including measurements. Probably best on a 2020 IPad Pro. Also works good on an Phone 12 Pro - but you have a small screen and a big finger for setting measurement points. Ipad has a bigger screen. making it easier to work with for measurements.

It's free. Scan a home, get a photo and do your measurements from the scan.

Would I use this for an appraisal? No. The software isn't perfect and gets bogged down with complex homes. I won't risk using it for now. The laser meter is faster and works 100% of the time without risk.

 

[RCA]

Applie Iphone 12 Pro, 2021 Ipad Pro, Lidar, a dozen IPhone scanner apps --- And, Mac Studio?

Here's a list of some general purpose apps for scanning:

The Best Apps for Scanning 3D Objects with Your Phone

Having a LiDAR sensor on your handheld device unlocks a world of creative possibilities.

nofilmschool.com

I just scanned my house with 3d Scanner App. You can take measurements off the scan - but they are rounded to a foot.

All of the scanner apps I have tried on my house exterior and interior are not as accurate nor anywhere nearly as reliable as a tape measure and laser meter. They will never be, when it gets right down to it. If you measure the side of a house with a laser or tape measure (assuming you know how to measure around possible obstacles), and you measure to the hundredths of a foot, the result is more or less unequivocal. With a scanner, you are dependent on multiple layers of interpretation. And the software, as of this date and time, is not 100% reliable. None of it. So, if you don't mind having to redo a house measurement, well that's up to you. In fact you will often find, that it "works" or it doesn't. And if it "works" it may be very inaccurate, which calls into question whether it really "works".

However, I would predict that by the end of the year I will be partially using LIDAR measurements. I can see myself taking some LIDAR scans of complex parts of a large house that I don't want to spend a lot of time taking measurements for or for which I want some back-up. Staircases and kitchens would be a good example. I would still take the standard room length/width measurements. But as for cabinet depth, island distance, staircase/railing ... that I could very well use Lidar for as a backup - in case I need it. I might even take LIDAR scans with 3D Scanner App on some of the sides of a house. However, like most scanners when you are outdoors, it often can't take measurements because of reflections. So, LIDAR becomes mostly a backup.

Now with a lot of these scanners you can export to CAD files and import into a powerful desktop. Here it gets interesting. IPhone - M1 Mac-Mini or the new Mac Studio. The Mac can run the same apps as the IPhone, so we have some built-in compatibility.

How to run your favorite iPhone and iPad apps on an M1 or M2 Mac

Expand your app library by adding apps you typically use on an iPhone or iPad.

www.macworld.com

So, that scanner software can grind away for hours on an IPhone 12 Pro and not get anywhere. If you could download the data to the newer M1 Mac Studio --- that might offer some real possibilities.

Within 2 years I might very well be totally dependent on LIDAR for house measurements, with the laser and tapes measures as a back-up. --- But it is going to cost to buy Mac Studio. -- But I may also want to invest heavily into drone software (ahhhh - but I could use a Mac Studio for that as well).

So, is LIDAR worth it? For now, no - unless it is free. I may start using 3d Scanner App for selective back up in difficult and complex areas and see how it works out.

It's real easy to spend money, a lot lot harder to earn it. But greatly reducing the time to create a Chief Architect floorplan would be worth something for me, - even if it is not perfectly accurate, - as I could just jump in and make a few changes to the dimensions based off of a few laser meter measurements, and be done.

Cubi Casa? I am not enthusiastic about letting them put my measurements in their database to be reused by competing appraisers.

 

[Non Sequitur]

More improvements on the way:

iOS 16 introduces new 'RoomPlan' API for quickly creating 3D floor plans using LiDAR

Apple didn’t say a word about augmented and virtual reality at the WWDC 2022 opening keynote (as if it was trying to hide something), but iOS 16 brings a lot of improvements when it comes to ARKit and related technologies. One of these technologies is “RoomPlan,” a new API that uses LiDAR...

9to5mac.com