360 Camera News and Info • FPV • Virtual Tour Cameras & Lenses

Walk around this 3D model in 6DOF VR — shot in just 10 seconds with invisible 360 drone

April 25, 2022
Mic Ty

You can walk around a room in VR with a 3D model shot in just 10 seconds by Adapa360 Finch, a 360 drone.  Or if you prefer, explore the 3D model without a VR headset.

In the past couple of years, we have seen a sudden increase in “invisible” 360 drones — drones that can capture a 360 photo or video, while also being so slim that they appear invisible in the 360 video.  The result is a 360 photo or video that looks like it was captured by an invisible flying camera.

Adapa360 Finch is an invisible 360 drone that uses GoPro Fusion, a 5.6k 360 camera.  According to Adapa360, they chose the Fusion over the newer GoPro MAX for video quality.

In this sample, the Finch flew just a straight line for around 10 or 20 seconds, capturing a 360 video.  Frames were extracted from the 360 video and used to create a 3D model using photogrammetry software.  In this case, the model had 186,000 triangles.

The 360 video was used to create a 3D model
The 360 video was used to create a 3D model

If you have an Oculus Quest, you can walk around the 3D model by clicking here on your VR headset’s browser (such as the Oculus Browser), then clicking on the Google Cardboard icon on the bottom right.  If you don’t have a VR headset, you can still explore the 3D model below.  Use the cursor keys to move around, and hold down shift while moving the cursor keys to navigate, or hold down Ctrl while moving the cursor keys to adjust the zoom.  If you are viewing on a phone, you can swipe with two fingers on the screen to “walk” around or even crouch.

Apartment 9E by adapa360 on Sketchfab

As you can see, the 3D model is not very detailed compared to a typical DSLR virtual tour.  However, I once showed a virtual tour to a real estate agent and she appreciated that it was detailed but complained to me that with 360 virtual tours, she could not get a good sense of the place, such as how the rooms connect to each other. With this 3D model, there is not much detail but you definitely get an excellent idea of the actual size of the rooms, how the rooms are connected to each other, and how well the layout works.  In the future, as 360 cameras improve in resolution, we should see more detailed photogrammetry models.

I love 360 drones and this is just another example of how useful they can be.  The problem is that almost all 360 drones are FPV drones that are much more difficult to fly than typical GPS-assisted drones such as DJI Mavic.  If you want to learn more about FPV, you can check out FPV for Dummies on Facebook and on YouTube.  You can also check out Adapa360 on Facebook.

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Mic Ty

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    • I think if this technology continues to improve (both the capture and the viewing), this will become a standard option for real estate.

      Reply

    • Same Here !!!

      It is impressive, but at that resolution, and with all those errors, is it really useful…. for what ?
      Just a toy, for now.

      Reply

      • Hi Sergio. If you view on a VR headset, you can literally walk around, as if you are really there. In the future, you should also be able to use the 3D models for AR. So I think it gives a better idea of things like scale, or how well the layout works, etc. You can also supplement it with DSLR 360 photos so clients can inspect details.

        Reply

  • For real estate 6dof tours current best in market is matterport.com you can get started very cheaply with a 360 camera or phone and Axis tripod mount. Produces 360 walkthrough tour plus floorplan plus 3d dollhouse.

    Reply

    • Just to clarify, Matterport tours have a zoom effect but they are not 6DOF. For example, if you crouch in a VR headset, the view does not change.

      Reply