Lessons & tutorials

to help you along your way
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Learn with us

Online courses to get you started

Reality Capture Foundations for AEC

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What you'll learn

  • Reality capture fundamentals
  • Why you should choose reality capture
  • Choosing the right tools
  • Photography for organized documentation
  • 2D to 3D photo reconstruction
  • Photogrammetry delivery and archiving
  • 3D scanning with light and lasers
  • Using lidar
  • 3D scanning delivery and archiving
  • Integrating reality capture data

FARO Scene 3D Laser Scan Registration

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What you'll learn

  • Using tools and menus
  • Creating a FARO SCENE project
  • 3D laser scan registration and quality control
  • Navigation controls for viewing in 2D and 3D
  • Visualizing point clouds
  • Manually color correcting your scans
  • Creating meshes
  • Point cloud exporting options and applications
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Learning Pix4D
Drone Mapping

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Course description

In this course, you can learn the basics of using Pix4D. Instructor Paul Tice explains how Pix4D pairs with different drones and cameras, and then shows how to program simple 2D missions for your drone with Pix4Dcapture. He then shows how to prepare for flight and retrieve the data and imagery once your drone has landed.

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Matterport 3D Scanning and Visualization

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What you'll learn

  • Using Matterport Capture and 3D Showcase
    Editing your scans
  • Uploading scans to Matterport cloud
  • Measuring and labeling scans
  • Becoming a Matterport Service Partner
  • Creating virtual tours for real estate
  • Matterport for AEC
  • Matterport for virtual reality
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Matterport


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Matterport vs. 3D Laser Scanning

How do you think Matterport stacks up VS the new $16,000 scanner (BLK 360) that Leica introduced?
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Matterport Mesh-to-3D PDF

Lightweight 3D Model Sharing (and a digression on MicroStation...)
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3d scanning


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Tidying up 3D laser scan project data

To be efficient, Fortis needed accurate information to incorporate into their BIM Revit model for design purposes. Measuring this by hand would have been a nightmare (for the poor sap assigned to do this task)...
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3D Scanning Field Methods

Recently ToPa 3D has been asked by owners of the Matterport 3D scanning system what sort of field methods produce the best results for scan registration.
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Rendering and modeling


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The Shining... in 3D - Indoor Mapping of Timberline Lodge

Using Matterport 3D Showcase technology and working closely with Timberline's Director of Marketing & PR, John Burton - we spent about 6-hours scanning with a Matterport infra-red scanner the most important interior features of the lodge for skiers, climbers and visitors alike, collecting 225 scans.

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3D Scanning and Modeling for Special Effects (VFX)

The goal of scanning these forested environments (located in Estacada, Oregon) was to create 3D mesh-models that would be imported into animation software to position CG squirrels accurately on the ground and other organic surfaces.
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Case Studies

See what we've worked on

AEC


uav/uas for building developers

UAV/UAS for Building Developers

ToPa 3D was contracted about 2 weeks ago to provide hi-res photo and video of 2 proposed site developments from specific elevations. We were also asked to provide aerial footage to help market the proposed site to stakeholders.

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CloudCompare Analysis: Matterport vs FARO Point Clouds

CloudCompare Analysis: Matterport vs FARO Point Clouds

ToPa 3D has been using the Matterport scanner in tandem with the FARO Focus3D phase-shift scanner on every architectural renovation project since last year as we continue to integrate all of our Reality Capture solutions to mobile devices. For the two projects outlined in this blog, ToPa 3D teamed up with General Sheet Metal Works, Lease Crutcher Lewis and Fortis Construction.

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historic preservation


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Point Clouds from Multiple Sensors: The View Point Inn, Historic Preservation

Using the FARO Focus3D laser scanner, ToPa 3D scanned both the interior and exterior areas of the View Point Inn's property. PMA would use this to accurately identify the location of the building and fountain areas as they relate to one another, and create the as-builts from the point cloud.
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The Shining... in 3D - Indoor Mapping of Timberline Lodge

Using Matterport 3D Showcase technology and working closely with Timberline's Director of Marketing & PR, John Burton - we spent about 6-hours scanning with a Matterport infra-red scanner the most important interior features of the lodge for skiers, climbers and visitors alike, collecting 225 scans.
Read more

Geospatial mapping


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sUAS Mapping with Windermere Real Estate

ToPa 3D was contracted to provide aerial photos and video for Windermere Real Estate in the Dalles, Oregon - a desert community on the Columbia River Gorge.

It was great to work with the Windermere professionals and to showcase this rapid reality capture technology.

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3D Scan-to-Contour: Topo Maps for Terra Linda

ToPa 3D was contracted by Neil Pietrok of Pietrok Engineering + Resources, LLC to create a topographic contour survey of a large field on the Terra Linda School grounds in Portland, Oregon. Our question was: “How much detail do you need because we are just going to 3D scan it – ¼” ok?”

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