William Guimont-Martin is a computer science researcher working on robotics, artificial intelligence, 3D perception, point clouds, and software. Zola 2025-03-03T00:00:00+00:00 https://willguimont.com/tags/ios/atom.xml 2025-03-03T00:00:00+00:00 2025-03-03T00:00:00+00:00 William Guimont-Martin https://willguimont.com/blog/3d-scanning/ <p>The current state of 3D scanning apps on the App Store is a bit disappointing. Most of them are either paid or have a subscription model. Not doing enough scanning to justify the cost, I decided to look for a free alternative.</p> <p>I was pleasantly surprised to find that Apple’s own <a class="external" href="https://developer.apple.com/documentation/realitykit" target="_blank">RealityKit</a> framework has a sample app for exactly this purpose. <a class="external" href="https://developer.apple.com/documentation/realitykit/scanning-objects-using-object-capture" target="_blank">Scanning objects using Object Capture</a> is a free app that lets you scan objects using your iOS device.</p> <p>To get started, install Xcode and download the sample app from the <a class="external" href="https://developer.apple.com/documentation/realitykit/scanning-objects-using-object-capture" target="_blank">Object Capture sample code</a>. Build and run the app on your iOS device, and follow the instructions to scan an object.</p> <p>Once done, you can export the scanned object as a USDZ file or save all the images to your device. The images can then be used with <a class="external" href="https://developer.apple.com/documentation/realitykit/building-an-object-reconstruction-app" target="_blank">Building an object reconstruction app</a> to create a high-quality 3D model.</p> <p>Since USDZ is not a widely supported format in the 3D printing world or CAD software, you can convert it to other formats using tools like <a class="external" href="https://www.blender.org/" target="_blank">Blender</a>.</p>