Don’t let Cupix fool you. On the surface, it may look like any other 3D virtual tour content you’ve seen on real estate sites or hotel kiosks but Cupix is actually a complete web-based platform to map 360 photos to generate full 3D immersive environments.
Their approach is simple. Using an affordable 360 camera (like Ricoh Theta S or Insta360 Nano) you take a series of snapshots in the space you want to map. You load the photos into the Cupix Editor. This is where is gets full-on cray cray – Cupix constructs the camera locations, dense point cloud, optimized 3D mesh, and a textured model automatically, then gives you the capability to add 3D virtual objects, including text, frames, notes, allows you take measurements, then share it with others.
Jaw. Drop.
As if that wasn’t enough, there is no size limitation, you can match camera locations to blueprint for an interactive floorplan, and serve up customized web players. Here’s the overview that explains the process and shows you how Cupix approaches it differently.
Now, since “3D virtual tour” helps people understand this a little better, you’ll see that mentioned on their website. In fact, you can view sample 3D virtual tours from the homepage of their website. Here’s one of my favorites which includes a floorplan view, hotspots, and 3D text.
A 3D virtual tour is good description for what you see above but with the data they’re grabbing, the mesh they’re able to construct and the geometry they’re able to introduce there’s room for immensely more. While that happens they’re introducing new features that take virtual tours to the next level. Last week, at Autodesk University, they previewed ‘4D Tour’ capaility that adds side-by-side, before and after comparison of 3D environments. Inside Cupix, it looks a bit like this:
And here’s what the ability to add virtual objects currently looks like:
Now think of interactive overlays in the physical space, geometry recognition, model/product addition or function/fit capabilties. This could easily go well beyond Ben and Nancy looking at neat little virtual tours for their new home in the suburbs.
The team behind Cupix is the same team that created, team management and collaboration platform, TeamPlatform (acquired by 3D Systems) and, prior to that, 3D scanning software, Rapidform (acquired by 3D Systems) – Hmmm, a pattern emerges.
They’re just getting started here and it’s already unlike any 3D virtual tour capability I’ve ever seen. Keep an eye on Cupix and if you’re interested in trying this out to see what it’s capable of and where they’re headed you can get in on the beta here.
