Testing Different Stitching Softwares, pt 3 The Mobile Boys

So far I've only looked at Desktop and Cloud stitching software solutions. It was suggested I check the app store for a solution that could be handled all on your phone! Spoiler, they all suck.


I avoided doing research on the app store for a couple reasons. First, I remember the mobile app 123D Catch from a few years ago, Autodesk discontinued their 123D line of products since then. It's a shame really, I loved the idea of elementary level 3D software that could be used with absolute beginners and even children (I'm sure this still exists, but there is no Autodesk official products anymore). The results from Catch were often poor, but still, it was an interesting teaching tool.

The beauty of Catch was that it was the same cloud processing as Recap and Memento (also discontinued), but there were different limits on each product RE the amount of photos per batch and the compression quality. Therefore I hesitate to even group it in with the category of mobile scanning apps, since the app was essentially an uploader to the cloud queue.

Which is essentially why I don't consider mobile app scanners to even be a contender for a scanning solution that would work for me.

• In cases where I'd want to use my phone to take photos I wouldn't want an app to do it for me.
• I use the native camera app on my phone to ensure the highest quality settings + most control over camera calibration (Google Pixel 2XL can turn off a lot of auto settings, like autofocus)
• I would neeeeever want to process a scan locally on my phone. 
• I don't consider it a huge time sink to upload photos to cloud service or to a desktop. That is such a minimal step in the pipeline and would be necessary whether using a DLSR or a phone camera. 
• In fact the ONLY time uploading photos is NOT a part of a scanning process is when using scanning software to generate a live result, which isn't important to me (also why I don't prefer expensive scanning hardware, which I talked about here and here)
• More phones are teasing "3D cameras" which might include depth sensors (like kinect) or multiple cameras or  This sounds cool, but then again, I'd have to wait to see what sort of stitching apps are compatible. OR how to take that data out of the phone and into more powerful software.
• There are companies making add on scanning hardware, but again, see my points about not using scanning hardware. 
• Many of the existing apps clamp quality and offer paid features to increase this clamp. Even if only a couple bucks, it doesn't make sense to invest in better app features when you could invest in better desktop software.

Something else to consider: there are already much better/accurate methods surveying, scanning, and 3D digital documentation. My goal isn't the better/accurate/expensive methods. My goal is beautiful virtual spaces, created by a one person team.


This article does a better write up than me: https://all3dp.com/2/5-best-3d-scanner-apps-for-your-smartphone/

I looked at Scann3D first


One cool feature in this app was the live tracker dots in camera that told you if there was enough overlap between photos to stitch properly


The quality of the model was... completely unusable for anything really. There are premium features supposedly give a higher quality mesh, however, see all my points above.

I tried to scan Andrew's head and it failed :-[


In conclusion: I'm still a fan of using my phone as a camera. Just not mobile software.