General LIDAR scanning applications for iOS and Android

[McGherkin]

This is actually insane, I am surprised how capable it is indeed. I guess if you can get some satellite lidar data that people usually use for making tracks, combining it all with your scans, you can get an incredibly accurate representation of the stage. I wonder if it is useful for scanning the road surface?

Race Track Builder uses Google elevation data which is pretty good, although not perfect, so as you say the plan is to combine the lower resolution Google data with higher quality scans for most of the scenery features.

It does appear to be although I didn't do much of it (the road was open!). Certainly you could scan the edges of the real road along its length and set that into the model and align the height of the model road edges to meet the LIDAR. However I think that scanning the road directly is possible too.

 

[AccAkut]

Next up, a detailed high res of a wall. Scanning big stuff at this high resolution (5mm) can be very taxing, but for smaller objects like this you can do a great job.
View attachment 504448
Finally, a toilet block. Need a selfie stick or something to elevate the camera better for the roof, and you can see I didn’t really stick the camera up too close as, well… waving a phone camera through the doors of a public toilet doesn’t really give you a good image LOL. But certainly you have the basic dimensions of a building and with time and practice you could certainly cover enough of it to be useful for a game asset. Again you can see that the elevation between the upper and lower sections of the building and the path running alongside it are all captured
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Really interesting data. I’m going to have to go back at some point and scan the area properly over a day or two at least, but it certainly seems to be a feasible method of capturing real life buildings, roads etc for use in Assetto.

..which could then easily be used to bake textures onto handmade low poly objects.. this pretty insane, thanks for the report and tests

 

[McGherkin]

Comparison of the real road and the (minimal) amount of scanning I did of the road surface.

..which could then easily be used to bake textures onto handmade low poly objects.. this pretty insane, thanks for the report and tests

Absolutely. It's worth pointing out that you can also export the base images captured using the camera during the scan (in the above one there's 3378!) so you could easily pull them out and map them onto the model yourself if you weren't happy with the way it stitched them together in places.

 

[McGherkin]

Spent 20 minutes plonking some of the scans together... you definitely start to see the beginnings of something.

 

[millen]

This looks really cool. Can't wait to see what you 3d wizards can achieve with this...


Was playing hot wheels with my son the other day, and wondering if you could use a hot wheels car, or scale model and scan them to produce a mod... If you didn't have access to the real deal of course. Haha.

Some pretty cool fictional hot wheels cars that could make interesting mod cars...

 

[AccAkut]

Absolutely. It's worth pointing out that you can also export the base images captured using the camera during the scan (in the above one there's 3378!) so you could easily pull them out and map them onto the model yourself if you weren't happy with the way it stitched them together in places.

well for that I could just take normal photos But baking onto something that is actually UV mapped is something totally different. Also possible to bake a normal texture from the high res lidar thing

 

[McGherkin]

well for that I could just take normal photos But baking onto something that is actually UV mapped is something totally different. Also possible to bake a normal texture from the high res lidar thing

Well of course. And generally the baked textures are pretty good as above. But if you thought a sign was a bit squiffy or something you can go back into the scan and just grab the image and fix it easily after the fact. Hard to take pictures after you've left lol.

 

[Hemmola]

Anyone tried something like this with a drone? https://www.dronedeploy.com/

 

[McGherkin]

Anyone tried something like this with a drone? https://www.dronedeploy.com/

 

[jonnyflatout]

So this weekend I was at Watergate Bay, where we usually hold a hillclimb on closed roads. Awesome venue, long term I want to bring it to Assetto but I have like zero experience with Blender (I’m more used to Solidworks etc) and none of creating models for Assetto, grassfx and fancy CSP stuff etc. It’s a big learning curve for me and currently using Race Track Builder but I digress.

These scans are FAR from perfect, and are really test scans more than anything else, but it’s good to see how capable the LIDAR is on the iPhone.

First up, I just did a single pass walking along the edge of one of the roads. Captured all the roadside walls, a little of the road surface but, impressively, the elevation along the entire thing seems to have been captured very well indeed. You could certainly use it as a guide to go from when placing a road virtually. I did capture a tiny bit of the road when I got to the end closest to the foreground, but it was a very quick thing - that said it seems to have started capturing the elevation in that corner on the road very well too, so perhaps roads can be captured too. This first scan is nearly 2GB and it’s at a 2cm resolution.
View attachment 504449
View attachment 504447
Next up, a detailed high res of a wall. Scanning big stuff at this high resolution (5mm) can be very taxing, but for smaller objects like this you can do a great job.
View attachment 504448
Finally, a toilet block. Need a selfie stick or something to elevate the camera better for the roof, and you can see I didn’t really stick the camera up too close as, well… waving a phone camera through the doors of a public toilet doesn’t really give you a good image LOL. But certainly you have the basic dimensions of a building and with time and practice you could certainly cover enough of it to be useful for a game asset. Again you can see that the elevation between the upper and lower sections of the building and the path running alongside it are all captured
View attachment 504450
View attachment 504451

Really interesting data. I’m going to have to go back at some point and scan the area properly over a day or two at least, but it certainly seems to be a feasible method of capturing real life buildings, roads etc for use in Assetto.

very cool. I might try this for a kart track we built in KS Editor and Blender...which app did you use?

 

[McGherkin]

This is the app:

https://3dscannerapp.com/

 

[GeorgiaWard]

Thanks for sharing your discovery of 3D scanning applications using LiDAR technology! It can be a valuable tool for a variety of purposes, including creating digital models of objects. If you're interested in using a 3D scanning app for automotive modding or creating parts, you may want to check the reviews and capabilities of the specific app you mentioned. Besides, you can seek advice from experts. Btw, those from https://smartengines.com/ may give you some hints. This way, you'll see if it's the right fit for your needs. It's great to see the advances in technology making 3D scanning more accessible. I hope that it inspires more people to explore and create.