Nov.17, 2013
Silicon Valley startup MatterPort is releasing its 3D camera that allows you to scan, compile, and make cloud-ready a 3D model of your house easily and quickly.
The Matterport 3D Camera is controlled using an iPad app and uses an array of 2D and 3D sensors to quickly capture the appearance and dimensions of a space. It uses PrimeSense chips same as the Microsoft Kinect to create its digital models. All a user has to do is move the camera in different spots to ensure 360 degree coverage of a space and then upload the data to the cloud.
Depending upon the layout of the space and how many items are within, it takes approximately 50-60 minutes to capture a 1,200 square foot (112 sqm) furnished space, or, approximately 8-10 minutes per a 200 square foot (19 sqm) room.
Once the data is uploaded, the Matterport Cloud Processor then analyzes the 3D data to create a complete mesh that includes all rooms and then overlays the 2D images onto the mesh to create a realistic, textured 3D model of an entire space. Because the models are generated in the cloud, they are easy to share with authorized users.
Matt Bell, Matterport's chief strategy officer, said they have been working on this cheaper, faster 3D scanning technology for interior spaces for three years. The goal was not only to make and sell its own 3D cameras, but also to become the default app and cloud service for generating 3D models of interiors.
A Matterport 3D model allows users to see a room from any viewpoint and to get accurate measurements of distances and areas within the space – to walk through and experience the space as if they were there. They can also make basic notations about it, calculate its measurements and share the model with others.
Matterport's cloud engine changes the way we understand and view spaces by allowing users to post and share them with the world. Users can freely navigate, measure, tag objects, and pin notes to anything in the 3D image, unlike conventional static photographs.
Some of the uses for the Matterport 3D Camera could be to explore a home you're looking to buy or rent for a vacation, or to capture the interiors of a library, a pre-school classroom, a construction site, a vacation cabin, or even be used in the criminal justice system. This is definitely an impressive tech. The company has raised $5.6 million in March in Series A funding from Felicis Ventures, Lux Capital, Red Swan Ventures, Greylock Partners, Qualcomm Ventures, and Rothenburg Ventures.
Matterport has started production of a limited number of Matterport 3D cameras and sending 3D cameras to members of its Early Adopter Program (EAP). It will continue to run field testing through December 2013.
The volume shipments of the Matterport 3D Camera will start in Jan 2014. The company is now taking pre-orders for this initial deliveries. The pre-order price is $4,500.
Posted in 3D Scanning
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3x off the shelf asus xtions = $600. You'd hope that there was some sort of magic software to make up the price difference but the results look absolutely horrible. What a joke.
jd900 wrote at 11/18/2013 3:54:47 AM:
For $4500, I expect much better than the sensor that's in a Kinect sensor bar.