I 3D Scanned my Layout using LiDAR

Very cool.

neat. very neat.

Dick

Wonder how quick this will develop. It will be a fantastic tool for sharing and modeling. The primitive scan of my layout is already showing views that are physically impossible irl.

Wow is right -- that three-D picture that pops up in your link is quite something (even if all the solid figures are a bit, um, non-rectilinear...)  So is your layout (cool, that is and it is rectilinear!) -- perhaps you have already, but could you post some "ordinary" pictures of the layout.  It's quite nice.

Wow!

-Pete

That is very cool!

We did this with the 85 year old 6500 square foot Colorado Midland Model Railroad in 2013 with the aide of the University of Colorado school of Architecture and Preservation. The layout was dismantled in 2014.

The fly through video produced by the University.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...amp;feature=youtu.be

That’s awesome Erik, it’s pretty cool that tech is now in phones and tablets. This sort of feels like the early days of digital video when it was just an extra feature in your camera. It looks like this tech just needs to do more math to resolve shapes in better resolution. It would be cool if 3D video game style motion could be captured and maybe this is what the augmented reality stuff is moving toward. 🤔

Very interesting Norm!  I didn't know this was available on some new tablets.  Thanks for posting. 

I've been seeing a lot of these scans in real estate listings.  I wondered how they were generated.  Now I know.

That's enticing. I could see a lot of uses for this as the resolution improves!

Is this just the latest IPad Pro?

Interestingly enough, I was looking at the threejs 3D javascript library before work-work this morning to render the tracks on my layout dashboard.  I was thinking to myself...how would it be to do a model layout virtually instead of physically?  Lot less cost involved and I could run any rail unit that I wanted.

Anthony

@A. Wells posted:

Interestingly enough, I was looking at the threejs 3D javascript library before work-work this morning to render the tracks on my layout dashboard.  I was thinking to myself...how would it be to do a model layout virtually instead of physically?  Lot less cost involved and I could run any rail unit that I wanted.

Anthony

Do you have a VR headset? Check out "Rolling Line", where you can not only build a model railroad but then climb aboard the locomotives to operate them:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypXSL2gUUSY

The graphics are kind of cartoonish/stylish in this, if that matters.

FYI: This same new Lidar sensor is also available on the iPhone 12 Pro. Among other things, it greatly improves low-light focus performance.  

Good excuse to upgrade.

Very cool, thanks for sharing Norm.  I've seen some great technology leaps with virtual reality where you can view Youtube VR in a headset like an Oculus.  I'm just waiting to see layout tours via VR.

This is very cool.  According to a cnet article the Lidar used in the iPhone/iPad is accurate to 1%.  So we're going to need some good AI to get scans of model railroads looking as good as photographs.  I'm sure that tech is coming.

@Slugger - I'll definitely check that out after work!  I remember seeing a site a few months back where you could download 3D Object file models of various engines (they weren't free either). A

And, of course, the holy grail is scanning and printing human figures. The scanning app that I have been playing with has an object/person switch. I haven't really tried a real scan of a person yet, but playing around, it looked promising.

@BillYo414 posted:

That's enticing. I could see a lot of uses for this as the resolution improves!

Is this just the latest IPad Pro?

Yes, I just got the 11” version to replace my first gen that I’ve been using for the past few years.

@Paul Reynolds 121018 posted:

This is very cool.  According to a cnet article the Lidar used in the iPhone/iPad is accurate to 1%.  So we're going to need some good AI to get scans of model railroads looking as good as photographs.  I'm sure that tech is coming.

That’s good to know and that should be close enough for a lot of modeling purposes. There’s a measuring feature in this free app that seemed to work well enough for what it cost.

It would be cool to ‘street view’ each other’s  layouts like a mini google maps someday.

@Norm Charbonneau posted:

Yes, I just got the 11” version to replace my first gen that I’ve been using for the past few years.

Good deal. I've been looking for something to help me get into Youtube as I start my layout. It would be cool to document it. I'm leaning towards an iPad

That is very cool, Norm. Is that the resolution it scans in, or the resolution of the photo you posted? How does this work? Does it matter the angle you shoot the layout from? And when you are done, it gives you a 3D model you can view from any angle?

I can already think of one good use. The layout plans OGR publishes along with its articles leave something to be desired in the way of detail. ( Compared to MR, for example, but OGR doesn't have the budget for art direction Kalmbach does) A LIDAR scan brought into Photoshop and tweaked could be a great visualization tool.

Bill, I really like the iPad (and iPhone) for documenting my train activities. Here's a test vid from my new one set to 4K60:

Will, this is just the first free app I tried. I'm not sure if there are other ones out there that can supply more resolution. They all seem geared toward scanning whole rooms or larger objects. This app I'm using has a 'pro' version available for $$. Maybe that version can do higher res and detail.

Scanning is pretty simple. The roundhouse image being attacked by digital spiderwebs is the basic interface you use while you hover your iPad over areas you want to scan. Re-scans are supported and add more detail. I started scanning the ceiling a bit too. I may rescan it a bit more. The app recognizes an area you've already and adds to it.

The link in the first post was generated by the app so you can view it like any other 3D image.

Maybe I'll see if I can pick up a refurbished iPad to try to save a little money.

Is the LIDAR on the 12 Pro the same as in the iPad? I'm sure that more apps are going to come out for this feature. I guess it will depend on the native resolution of the device re: how well it can be used to create STL files for 3D printing. I'm very interested in that, and am having a tough time convincing my wife that it's worth the extra $300.00. My daughter just bought the standard iPhone 12 and we did a photo comparison with my 7. Even without the tele and LIDAR, the night time performance was dramatically better. My wife thinks the 12 is sufficient for my needs. I need some moral support...

I’m not an Apple salesman but I think the iPhone 12 Pro Max has a better camera. I kept thinking about getting one but my 8 is still alive. Not sure how the LiDAR compares.

@Trainman2001 posted:

Is the LIDAR on the 12 Pro the same as in the iPad? I'm sure that more apps are going to come out for this feature. I guess it will depend on the native resolution of the device re: how well it can be used to create STL files for 3D printing. I'm very interested in that, and am having a tough time convincing my wife that it's worth the extra $300.00. My daughter just bought the standard iPhone 12 and we did a photo comparison with my 7. Even without the tele and LIDAR, the night time performance was dramatically better. My wife thinks the 12 is sufficient for my needs. I need some moral support...

I am 99% sure that the LIDAR sensors on the iPhone 12 Pro and the iPad Pro are identical. The camera on the 12 Pro is amazing. The Lidar is used in many situations, starting with much faster low-light focussing, and extending to greatly improved Portrait mode (where the  foreground and background are captured with different cameras and different focus). The Measure App is much improved as well.

You kept your 7 for almost five years.  If you do that again, the $300 comes out to like $60/year.