How to create best-quality 3D scans of your environment with Teleport

Teleport can create amazingly high-quality scans of environments, but getting the best results is easier when following certain best practices. In this article, we’ll cover the most important things for creating an optimal scan. 

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Keep your phone in portrait orientation and plan a clear scanning path

It’s recommended to keep your phone in an upright, portrait orientation. This helps keep the phone steadier and it’s easier to avoid tilting, which can adversely affect capture quality.

Planning your scan path before beginning is important for obtaining high-quality results. First, simply look at the layout of your space to see which areas require greater attention to detail (you’ll return to these after the more general scan) and to avoid accidentally missing any areas. 

You should then decide if you want to use an outside-in or an inside-out approach.

• Inside-out means standing in the center and scanning outward.
• Outside-in means orbiting around an object or center point at the periphery of the space and aiming towards the center. 

In most cases, you should use an 'outside-in' approach. Start from the periphery and gradually move closer to the center with each loop. This captures a broader view with more overlap between images, making feature identification easier and improving the overall accuracy. You can further enhance the scan quality by doing 2-3 loops at varying elevations—such as eye level, chest level, and hip level—with slightly different angles to capture all aspects comprehensively.

The reason we don’t recommend using 'inside-out' is that standing in one spot leads to insufficient overlap between images. Thus, the system has a harder time understanding the depth of field and struggles to reconstruct the space properly.
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Capturing additional details

After completing general loops of the entire space, revisit key areas or objects to capture them in greater detail. Important features, such as furniture, artwork, or architectural details, require more focused attention. After completing 2-3 loops of the entire environment, you can stray from the regular capture path to specifically capture these objects in greater detail. Orbit around them and capture them from multiple angles to capture details accurately.

When capturing detail, move closer to the object of interest, but make sure not to get too close as it can lead to blurred or incomplete images. You should avoid getting closer than 1 foot (12 inches or 30 cm) to any object. Maintain a reasonable distance while orbiting the object to ensure sufficient overlap in the captured data, resulting in better clarity and fidelity.

Pausing

To activate the Pause Function during a capture, simply click on the red pause button. It allows the user to pause their capturing mid-capture in the event of moving objects entering the scene, camera view obstructions, or required repositioning to maintain the optimal scan line. 

Scanning will halt until the button is pressed again, at which point scanning will resume. When resuming the scan, try to match the position and angle of the most recent frame captured before the pause (or get as close as possible to that frame's orientation and position).

The Pause function can assist in repositioning closer to objects or key points of interest when capturing detail in certain parts of the scene. By using the Pause button after a few general environment loops have been captured, you can navigate to points of interest without capturing on the journey there. 
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Concave vs. convex scanning

When selecting what angle to aim the phone at, there are two main techniques: concave vs. convex scanning. Both methods produce solid results, but are best-suited for different use cases. No matter which method you use, please ensure that the angles do not exceed 45 degrees, as this will reduce frame overlap and negatively impact scan quality.

• Concave scanning means that the scan path angles from different elevations form a concave shape in the direction of the scan. Concave scanning is recommended for capturing an object (primarily a smaller one where the top angle view can be easily captured from head height or slightly higher). some text
  • For a concave scan with 3 loops, the first loop (at head height) has the iPhone pointing 30-45 degrees downwards towards the floor. The chest height loop points directly outward at an angle parallel to the floor. The waist height scan occurs pointing 30 - 45 degrees upward towards the ceiling / roof / sky. 

Start a concave scan at head height with the phone pointed 30-45 degrees downwards.

• Convex scanning is the opposite, where angles create a convex arc in the direction of the scan. Convex scanning is recommended for larger spaces or environments, where capturing as much of the entire 360-degree view as possible is important.
  • In a convex scan, the chest height capture follows the angle parallel to the floor, but the convex scan inverses the two angles on the head height and waist height. The head height loop points upwards 30 - 45 degrees and the waist height loop points downwards 30-45 degrees.

Elevation and angle variation throughout the scanning process are crucial for collecting a complete dataset, ensuring a fuller, more nuanced reconstruction. By changing the height and orientation of the device during each pass, you capture the environment from multiple vertical perspectives, ensuring that elements at different heights—such as furniture, shelves, or architectural features—are accurately recorded.

Movement affects scan quality

It’s not just about the path and angle you perform the scan at. How you move is also important. The most important thing is to maintain a consistent pace while you scan. This prevents motion blur and helps you achieve a sharper image. Move slowly and steadily around the space, ensuring that each movement is deliberate and controlled. Avoid sudden, jerky movements, as these can cause inconsistencies and artifacts in the final model.

You should also avoid panning – swivelling a camera horizontally from a fixed position. It can lead to blurring and reduce the quality of your scan. Instead of rotating in one spot, move through the space using smooth, sweeping motions while keeping your phone in an upright, portrait orientation. Maintaining forward progression helps gather spatial data better, minimizing motion blur and creating a higher-quality capture. 

Avoid scanning moving objects

Movement in the scanned environment can introduce artifacts and reduce the overall quality of the reconstruction. Ensuring a stable and static environment will result in clearer, more precise 3D models. Make sure that no objects or people are moving during the scan. 
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Try to stay within 250 - 1000 frames

The recommended frame count for most captures is between 250 - 1000. Larger spaces or more detailed scans can have up to 2000 frames, but if you continue beyond that amount, the reconstruction is more likely to fail. Any scene with less than 100 frames struggles with capturing a space sufficiently. 

More frames does not always equal better scan quality! Frame counts of 1000+ tend to only be necessary when capturing large square footage areas or when the scene itself contains an abundance of detail which needs to be captured individually. Otherwise, more frames might lead to less than optimal results.
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Summing it up

To conclude, following certain best practices ensures you can create the highest-quality scans with Teleport. 

• Phone Orientation: Keep your phone in an upright, portrait orientation for best results.
• Use an outside-in approach, starting at the periphery and moving inward with 2-3 loops at varying heights (e.g., eye, chest, and hip level).
• Capture additional details after general scanning: Revisit key areas or objects (e.g., furniture, artwork) and orbit them from multiple angles, maintaining at least 1 foot (30 cm) of distance.
• Concave vs. convex scanning: Use concave scanning for smaller objects and convex for larger spaces, keeping angles within 45 degrees.
• Consistent movement: Move slowly and steadily through the space to avoid motion blur. Avoid panning in place; instead, use smooth, forward movements. Ensure no objects or people are moving during the scan to avoid artifacts.
• Aim for 250-1000 frames for most scans. Use up to 2000 for larger or highly detailed spaces, but avoid exceeding this to prevent reconstruction issues.
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Get started with Teleport today

Want to start capturing environments and objects in high-quality 3D? Simply install the Teleport app from the app store and get started.

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