FAQs

A 3D Map is CupixVista's term for the complete digital deliverable created when our AI engine processes 360° camera video footage. Each 3D Map contains both a 3D dollhouse (point cloud and mesh data) and a panoramic virtual tour, providing users with comprehensive spatial documentation that can be viewed, measured, annotated, and shared through our online platform.

The dollhouse is a 3D representation allowing viewers to explore the entire space from an aerial perspective. What's more, viewers can measure distances, slope angles, and areas; even create elevation heat-maps. It offers an entirely new lens through which to view your site and uncover insights viewers never would've noticed before.

A panoramic virtual tour or 360° virtual tour allows a user to navigate through a series of panoramic images. These images are stitched together to form a 360° view of the selected locations, allowing the user to look around in all directions as if they were physically present. CupixVista samples out panoramic photos from 360°-video image frames and maps them into the 3D dollhouse.

A 360° camera is a type of camera that is able to capture images and videos in all directions at once, creating a spherical panorama. They typically have multiple fish-eye lenses that allow them to capture a wide-angle view of the scene.

To get started with CupixVista, you'll need one of these:

•  Insta360 X5
•  Insta360 ONE X2
•  Insta360 ONE RS 1-inch
•  Insta360 X4
•  Ricoh Theta X

These models can be found online at the Insta360 store, Amazon.com and B&H as well as in brick-and-mortar stores like Best Buy!

CupixVista supports video recordings of up to 20 minutes maximum using the VistaCapture mobile app. When you reach the 20-minute limit, a warning message will appear and recording will automatically stop. Please note that the VistaCapture mobile app is required for all 3D Map creation.

With a 20-minute walk, you can travel up to 1,500 meters (5,000 feet) of distance. Depending on the layout, it is typically possible to navigate through an area of 6,000 m² (60,000 ft²) in a 20-minute video capture.

For optimal outcomes, we highly suggest you mount your 360° camera on a selfie-stick. Especially, with the Insta360 Extended Edition Selfie-Stick you can change your shooting angles and perspectives by modifying the stick length up to 10 feet (3 meters) while recording a 360° video. By taking advantage of this flexibility, you'll be able to capture the site from various angles and heights from a single 360-video walk.

Keeping up a typical walking pace of 4-6 km/h (or 2.5-4 mph) is essential to producing high quality 3D dollhouses. Moving too quickly will decrease the accuracy and precision of the result, meaning that you should be sure to maintain a steady speed during walking for optimal results.

To achieve the best image quality in your Virtual Tour, we recommend several approaches:

Camera Selection: For superior image quality, use the Insta360 X5, which offers the highest resolution among our supported cameras.
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‍Stop-and-Go Technique: While recording with VistaCapture, pause and stand still for 3 seconds at locations where you want to capture sharper, higher-quality images. These Stop-and-Go images will be clearly marked in your 3D Map Viewer and provide significantly clearer visuals than standard walking footage.
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‍OmniNote Feature: Use the OmniNote function to capture high-resolution photos with your smartphone during recording. These high-quality images are automatically blended into your Virtual Tour at the exact location and angle where they were taken. This feature is particularly useful for capturing detailed visual information like small text on walls, instructions, or other important details that need to be clearly visible in your Virtual Tour.

These techniques will help you create professional-quality Virtual Tours with clear, detailed imagery for critical areas of your site.

To attain the clearest footage possible, it's important to ensure that your 360° camera travels at a speed similar to walking. Attaching a 360° camera to a vehicle that goes faster than the speed of walking can frequently result in unacceptable outcomes.

If you fly your drone at a steady pace, similar to walking speed, our system will be able to process it without difficulty. Expand your aerial videography possibilities by affixing various compatible 360 cameras to drones, enabling you to capture immersive 360° footage during drone flights.

It is important to avoid walking around excessively dark spaces. When you can easily recognize objects in your surroundings from afar, you know the lighting levels are just right.

If you plan on shooting indoors, take advantage of the natural lighting available by picking a time during daylight hours. Additionally, to avoid any reflected glare from bright lights, make sure to turn off any excess light fixtures in your space.

Generally, the 3D depth of each pixel is computed through the visual consistency between different images in a photogrammetric 3D dollhouse generation process. However, in certain circumstances, the visual similarity may be deceptive. For instance,

•  Textureless surfaces such as bright white office walls
•  Areas through glass walls
•  Mirrors and reflective surfaces
•  Illuminating, radiant lighting fixture
•  Glossy highlights on the floor

These surfaces often result in either minimal or no point coverage.

In addition to maintaining a consistent walking speed, we recommend finishing the 360° video recording near the initial starting location. Our software is capable of recognizing past locations visited and correcting drift errors that may have accumulated over time.

We anticipate that processing will be completed within one to four hours, though this timeline may take longer depending on the volume of processing requests.

CupixVista extracts a panoramic image for every 1.5 meter grid interval of the space you take a 360° video record, as well as any locations where you pause walking for three to five seconds. All images are geolocated and aggregated into a 3D dollhouse coordinate system which enables effortless virtual navigation.

Yes, you can download both point cloud and mesh data from your 3D Maps in standard industry formats:

‍Point Cloud Formats:
‍E57: Point cloud, panorama images
PLY: Point cloud
XYZ: Point cloud

‍Mesh Formats:
‍GLB; Mesh geometry with texture source images
OBJ: Mesh geometry

‍Additional Information: Downloaded point cloud files (PLY, XYZ) and mesh files (GLB, OBJ) can also be viewed using VistaPoint, Cupix's free online viewer application. 

Yes, CupixVista offers multiple ways to share your 3D Maps with others:

Team/Member Invitation: You can invite others as members to your CupixVista account and assign specific permissions. Depending on their permission level, they can access all 3D Maps within a Project or Team, or only view specifically shared 3D Maps.

‍Public Share(Coming Soon): You will be able to publish your 3D Map as public content. Once set to public, anyone with the link can view the 3D Map directly in any web browser (Safari, Chrome, etc.) without needing a CupixVista account.

‍File Download & Sharing: Download your 3D Map data in standard formats (E57, PLY, XYZ, GLB) and share the files.

Each sharing method offers different levels of access control and viewing capabilities to suit your collaboration needs.

By following a few simple tips, you can achieve up to 98-99% accuracy in measuring schematic dimensions that are longer than 5 meters in distance!

•  Walk at a steady pace while shooting a 360° video.
•  Keep away from excessively dark spaces.
•  Finish your video recording near the initial starting location.
•  Laser-measure key dimensions and refine the scale of the 3D Maps.

The resolution of CupixVista's 3D dollhouse can be quantified by calculating the average distance between two adjacent points, which amounts to 2 cm approximately.

CupixVista has the capacity to compute the depth of each image pixel starting from 50 cm up to 5 meters for indoor environments and up to 10 meters for outdoor environments (1.6 - 16.5 ft indoors, 1.6 - 32.8 ft outdoors). It can only obtain points on the surface that are within these ranges.

Yes. CupixVista is an excellent choice when capture cost, speed, and coverage area are more important than achieving maximum accuracy for your BIM deliverable.Using 360° cameras instead of laser scanners provides significant cost reduction, and since no specialized expertise is required for capture, anyone can easily document sites - dramatically reducing costs, time, and effort.

While CupixVista doesn't create BIM files directly, we can connect you with our recommended scan-to-BIM service providers who are BIM experts and specialize in creating high-quality BIM models from CupixVista 3D Maps. This approach offers the perfect balance of efficiency and professional results for your scan-to-BIM projects.

CupixVista has been developed with the goal of capturing sites, rather than objects. Even so, you can shoot 360-videos that encapsulates a small structure or machinery and gain adequate geometry of them as long as our 3D dollhouse resolution meets your expectations.