Matterport: Changing the 3D Landscape

Matterport 3D

In the past 10 years, Matterport has been paving its way in providing one of the best 3D experiences for its customers. It now has more than 150 locations around the globe. With its unending passion for helping every individual, they are able to serve hundreds of thousands of people in creating high-quality digital space.

With the emergence of virtual reality in our lives, companies are trying their best to keep up with the increasing demands for it. Matterport is widely used in different projects intended for planning, designing, and promoting mostly for building properties. But as time progressed, they expanded and now have a wide range of services to offer. You can create and plan any projects you’d like, be it the development of new applications, gadgets, 3D photography, architectural and engineering designs, and many more.

Engineering, architecture, and the construction industry receive the most benefits with the development of Matterport 3D. It provided better experiences for its clients such as the homeowners and enthusiasts wherein apart from the traditional property viewing, they can examine the area without stepping a foot outside which will consume too much of their time and effort. This is a great way for organizing and planning its interior designs and decorations. Plus, you can have exact measurements for the furniture and the objects inside. Also, an innovative way in promoting your real estate business.

When the Matterport cameras scan the location, it’ll be their basis for creating a simulation of the whole area where every space is presented the exact way in person. There will be buttons that provide a detailed explanation about the specific space you want to check. So, clients will be able to wander around for further inspection and ideas. Also, the cameras are able to capture every little detail whatever the size of the property, giving you the exact feeling of visiting it personally.

You might think that creating a 3D design would be too difficult and time-consuming but with the use of Matterport 3D, the tasks will become simpler yet effective and efficient. Many professionals were able to test and prove how it can turn a boring image into something with a real-world point of view in every space. Creating your own virtual tour is simpler than what you imagined. It’s dependent on the photographer and technical team’s ability and skills.

Matterport 3D

Each of the clients uses Matterport depending on their business and profession. Some use it for enterprising security since matterport is capable of providing the security needed for protecting data and the support needed for business growth.

As for the real estate industry, Matterport provides promising services where it can increase commissions, promote the property to a wide audience, and the possibility of closing a deal faster than ever. For residential real estate, it helps in creating your own brand as a real estate agent professional and you are given the chance to recruit more and retain the best agents. It also gives access for commercial real-estate to create the most accurate glimpse of the space while it is getting a larger audience virtually to help promote the property. Reducing the vacancy rate is an important aspect for Multifamily Housing as it helps in increasing engagement for properties and attracts more high-quality assets in which Matterport is capable of doing so.

Matterport 3D

Most professional architects, engineers, and construction people agree that a more realistic image interaction is the future of their industry. That’s why Matterport made sure that clients will be able to 3D scan as-builts, and streamline documentation while saving a lot of your time and reducing the total costs. It even partnered with the most used software in architecture and engineering like AutoCAD, SketchUp, and Revit for streamlining designing and BIM processes. At the same time, it was able to integrate with Procure (the most common construction software) to be able to work collaboratively in performing an efficient project review and managing all of the details in the project.

Clients would normally request to take photographs inside the entire property where you should be able to capture everything including the tiniest details within its four corners. The Matterport camera will be the one responsible for taking all of the photographs while scanning the room to create the 3D model to be converted into an interactive video presenting it using the viewer’s point-of-view for a more realistic experience.

So you might be wondering how long it takes to complete the scanning process, it usually takes 30 seconds to be completed where it consumes 20 seconds for the camera scanning and rotating process, 5 seconds for the transfer of the data to your device, and another 5 seconds to align the first scans on it. If your property is in the most common size (residential homes) which is about 2000 ft2, it can take up to 50 to 75 scans. So if you do the math, you can multiply the total number of scans by the time (30 seconds) and it can take from 25 minutes to 38 minutes to complete the scanning process for a common-sized residential property.

Matterport 3D

As for the amount of time it will take to complete the whole process, there’s actually no definite or exact measure since there are a lot of factors that are affecting the completion of the project. One is the speed it takes in uploading the scans from your cloud to your device. The most important factor is the size of the model that the client needs, so if the model is larger then it will consume more time to process. One example is if the model has 2 scans only, then it can be finished within 30 minutes while for those that have more than 200 scans, it can take up to 24 to 48 hours. Lastly, if there’s a need to blur in the images where it usually adds another 2 minutes for the processing time for each scan.

Matterport presents several advanced features that are helpful in finishing the tasks on time.

Since most of it is being worked out by a team, collaborative working is an important factor to be successful with it. Matterport added the “Notes” feature as a commenting tool. This is actually not a new thing but is an efficient way of doing things together when you are working with a team. In this way, you can stay connected with everyone anytime and anywhere you are. All of you will be comfortable sharing ideas and suggestions in every discussion you have. You can start a conversation, leave comments, suggestions, hashtags, links, and insert attachments directly into the Matterport spaces. It is a one-stop place for doing all of the work at the same time and even invites more collaborators that can share more ideas and raise questions about the projects.

The freedom is yours in making it accessible for specific people that can edit, create and leave comments in it. This also enables you to keep track of the progress and will notify if there are any comments, files and links added within the space. This feature is ideal for those professionals who commonly need documentation such as the architects, interior designers, and property owners who need to discuss the options available for them.

Another awesome feature that Matterport offers is the “Dollhouse Views” which allows us to experience an interactive photorealistic 3D view of floor plans. This will provide customers with a better experience in a 3D perspective which makes it easier to be navigated and provides a clearer sense of space compared to what a 2D view can offer.

Matterport 3D

There’s another amazing feature that is being offered by Matterport and it has been named the “Mattertags”. These are pop-up windows that the customers can freely open to get into more details. These buttons will provide additional information about a specific space. It is a great way to highlight the points of interest within the tour. This won’t only permit you to add more texts but you can add more links, videos, images, and much more directly into the model for better promotion and making it more interactive. Since it can be used to highlight points in the model, you can put emphasis on awesome features that it can provide, for document repairs, labeling equipment, and any additional information. You don’t have to worry because “Mattertags” are attached to the important objects within the model.

Isn’t it less stressful if the system can accurately measure everything inside your 3D model? Matterport has the “Measurement Mode” feature where the room sizes, doorways, and elements inside it are precisely measured to avoid multiple visits to the physical site. With this feature, you can open the 3D model and measure each element that is within the space. You will save more time since you can check if certain objects will fit inside a specific area in the room. This opens the opportunity to unleash smarter ideas for space-saving, organization, planning, and utilization of the tools.

There might be a time where some important people will appear on the 3D model, so it’s important that we protect their personal space and their identity. With the help of the “Blur Blush” feature, you will be able to blur their faces and information to protect their privacy. This is being activated once the scan is being uploaded (the machine’s algorithm is the one responsible for it). Though this is specifically designed to blur human faces, it also automatically blurs public places when being scanned such as museums and retail stores. But take note that automatic face blurring can be disabled depending on the requirements.

The last important feature that it has is the “MatterPak” which is a bundle of digital assets that could either be edited or imported from the Matterport Cloud with Business and Professional plans. The formats should include:

Colorized point cloud (.XYZ)
High-resolution floor plans and reflected ceiling plans.
Multiple files of multiple floors (.JPEG)
All floors should be in one file (.PDF)
3D (.OBJ) mesh files including the necessary texture map image files (.JPEG)

A fully automatic point cloud registration of scan positions makes sure that the accuracy is within 1% of reality. In starting projects in Meshlab and Maya, virtual reality enthusiasts, design professionals, and 3D developers should use the OBJ file with a 3D model of reality. This allows architects, construction professionals, and engineers to import the point cloud, have high-resolution floor plans, and reflect ceiling plans faster and easier.

With the wide variety of services that Matterport is offering, there’s no wonder how it has been one of the most useful apps for professionals, most likely for those who need to reach a larger audience to promote their business, planning, and creation of better interactions for everyone and at the same time being able to work effectively and collaboratively with one another. It offers a lot of opportunities and a win-win situation for everyone.