3D scanning of as-built with Canvas/Structure Sensor?

[Karl Ottenstein]

Does anyone have direct experience with Occipital's low cost Structure Sensor and Canvas app for iPad?

A friend just pointed me to the Canvas web site:
https://canvas.io
which is a free iPad app (for high power iPads) using the Structure Sensor which is now also owned/made by Occipital. (I dug in and found an earlier version of this was produced by 3D Systems.) Cost is around $400.

This is a 2 camera visual scan that they claim gives accuracy within 1-2%, good enough for rough context for a remodel. Various images/videos on the site.

I downloaded one of the SketchUp models - a scan mesh (they don't create point clouds) can be converted to SU for $29. It cleanly converted to properly grouped ARCHICAD Morphs - windows distinct from walls, e.g. - but the accuracy of elements such as windows, cabinet toe-kicks, etc suggested to me that it was created by manual labor - no doubt somewhere in the world at super low labor rates. I'm a little ethically concerned that Occipital/Canvas doesn't address this likely human factor - or the working conditions for the employees. Anyone know more?

Site shows how accuracy varies based on distance from the iPad because of the way 2-camera depth sensing works. Press release from this fall lists that they bought a LiDAR company to provide more accurate laser measurement solutions as well. Video gives a quick overview of Canvas/Structure Sensor vs Paracosm LiDAR:
https://youtu.be/mogaE8lnUK4

Anyway... any feedback on anyone's experience with Occipital/Canvas appreciated. I'm feeling really tempted for a remodel project coming up...

Thanks,
Karl

[Karl Ottenstein]

Update to my post below...

Now that the iPhone 12 Pro has the built-in LiDAR sensor, it as well as the 2020 iPad Pros can be used directly with the free Canvas app without any additional hardware to scan interior spaces.

The other news in my inbox today is that they will give anyone who purchased their Structure Sensor hardware a credit, upon its return, good for scan-to-cad processing. And, they've now added native Chief Architect output to the existing 3D formats of SketchUp, Revit, IFC, dae and dwg.

https://canvas.io/pricing

I've not yet tried a scan with my iPad Pro, but I'm sure my same caveats below regarding accuracy of the 3D model will apply.

[Anonymous]

I just purchased the new iPad Pro (12.9) with LiDAR, I'm going to do my first real test on a project with the scan to CAD/IFC-REViT and will see how that goes. With the new iPad Canvas has stated that they are getting measurements that surpass 15' (4.57m) because of its better sensor. My next test Its going to be a challenging space, round and dome shaped rooms, angled walls, walls that are higher than 15'... I'll let you know how it turns out. Thanks for the updates~!

[Karl Ottenstein]

Look forward to hearing how things work for you, Shawn! Angled/curved surfaces are something I didn't try... will be very interesting to see how they come out.

Be sure to watch the video on the Canvas site on how to slowly 'paint' the space. If you go too quickly, or re-paint the same area from a different angle, there can be weird errors. You can see the issues in the navigate-able mesh for free within the app before you submit the file. Unfortunately, the only fix is to rescan the entire space. "Paint" too slowly and you won't finish the scan before you run out of memory. Note that you don't have to scan the entire floor, only where it meets the walls, or where there are steps. Ditto ceiling - can skip entire areas that are the same level as some edge. Still, I found for a large room, I had to combine two scans, as there was too much detail to grab to make it all the way around the room before I ran out of RAM. I was using an old iPad Pro with 4 GB RAM ... the 2020 ones (and iPhones) have 6 GB which should help, along with their faster processors.