Comparison of mobile applications for 3D reconstruction

In the summer of Samsung released a new tablet - Galaxy Tab S2. There, among other things, appeared the original application for creating 3D models using a tablet camera. The release of this feature went completely unnoticed, although for fine connoisseurs (like me) this is, of course, a very interesting technology.

Preview reconstruction using 3D Capture
View result in 3D

I decided to take a closer look and make a comparison of existing applications for 3D reconstruction for smartphones.

Applications

1. Samsung 3D Capture. While available only and exclusively for the Galaxy Tab S2. Samsung application store does not allow to give links to applications, so here's a link to the video from the developers . As a bonus compared to other applications there is a very interesting three-dimensional editor (which, for good, Samsung could sell separately for a lot of money).
2. SCANN 3D .
3. TRNIO . Currently available only under iOS.
4. 123D Catch from Autodesk. There are versions for all platforms.

Scenario and results

To build a model, you just need to launch the application, point the camera at the object and go around the model in a circle. The results of the comparison are collected in a table, and I have put the resulting models on a sketchfab . For comparison, I also added the reconstruction results obtained on the Photoscan desktop application.
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application	3D Capture	SCANN 3D	TRNIO	123D Catch
Reconstruction time	50 s	20-30 min	6 h	1-2 hours
Processing in the cloud	not	not	Yes	Yes
Convenience shooting	fully automatic	manual frame selection	fully automatic	manual selection with the need to aim
Sharing possibilities	e-mail	e-mail, own soc. web, sketchfab	e-mail, own soc. web, sketchfab	own soc. network

The following parameters were compared:

1. The quality of reconstruction. Here 123D Catch showed the best results, then 3D Capture. Why such a low quality turned out at the photoscan is not clear. In my experience, it is usually much higher.
2. The speed of reconstruction. There is 3D Capture ahead. It is worth noting that the difference between 1 minute and 20 minutes is much more than between 20 minutes and two hours. If the reconstruction lasts only a minute, then the poorly obtained model can be easily reassembled and achieve high quality. If the reconstruction lasts 20 minutes, then this possibility is likely to be gone. So, for example, I conducted tests of all applications in the same conditions under the same lighting. But 123D Catch, after two hours of work, said to me that it didn’t work and would need to be retaken. And the opportunity to reshoot appeared only after a few days and already with a different lighting - which is a bit unfair.
3. Easy to shoot. The most convenient is a fully automatic mode, when the user simply presses the start (3D Capture and TRNIO). A little more complicated things are at SCANN 3D, where you need to shoot each frame separately. In the case of the 123D Catch, the user must also aim accurately enough, which significantly complicates the shooting.
4. Using the cloud. Everything is clear - if you use a cloud, you need the Internet. And since many photographs are taken on a journey, the use of the Internet can be critical.
5. Methods of sharing. Until now, there is no generally accepted way to exchange three-dimensional models, so applications use different approaches:
   
   • Sending model by mail. A wonderful way, but the host can hardly open such a file without any help. It’s not that difficult, but not everyone knows how to do it (and you can, for example, do this ).
   • Internal social network. The created models are available for viewing in the application itself, and your friends can view your models by logging into the application from your phone.
   • Finally, you can lay out the model on a sketchfab . Very convenient service - you can twist and zoom the models, it works from the browser, including on android and ayos, everything is simple and free.
   
   

Preview reconstruction using SCANN 3D
View result in 3D


Preview reconstruction with TRNIO
View result in 3D


Preview reconstruction using 123D Catch
View result in 3D


Preview reconstruction with Photoscan
View result in 3D

findings

It can be stated that 3D reconstruction, which at first was the lot of science fiction writers, and then scientists, has become a widely available technology. What she is now lacking is the infrastructure - such as viewers, widely accepted standards for transfer and storage, etc. But I think that in five years time it will be as ordinary and simple to shoot three-dimensional images as it is now - simple.