iPhone 12 Pro Enables Hand-Held 3D Scanning to 3D PDF documents

PDF3D Work-Flow Captures mobile iOS Device 3D models using new LIDAR sensor to 3D PDF format for insurance and inspection reports

iPhone 12 LIDAR Sensor enables users to capture anything in 3D, then through supporting mobile iOS app 3dscannerapp.com can be embedded into 3D PDF documents for off-line capture and viewing using PDF3D ReportGen desktop software. With 3D becoming more main-stream, both in low-cost capture through to display and interaction, expectations are shifting. With built-in 3D capture now on a main-stream mass-produced device, the applications and practical uses are expanding. Using a work-flow hooking up iPhone 12, 3D Scanner App, Sketchfab and PDF3D ReportGen, 3D objects can be embedded into PDF brochures, reports, and multi-page documents.

iPhone 12 Pro LIDAR 3D Scanning
In-phone App creates 3D Mesh
Sharing, Preview, Distribution on Sketchfab
3D PDF Document Creation with MS-Word Design Layout

The iPhone’s 3D scans have many professional uses that are just beginning to be explored. While the LIDAR sensor’s relatively small number of points and the limited range of five meters (about sixteen feet) is far smaller than professional LIDAR gear, the light-weight portability and fast setup will open up many convenient uses. Even so, taking a little more time, capturing in fine detail can be done with multiple scans. The iPhone’s ability to combining the point-cloud data showing depth with a normal photo allows the photogrammetry methods to create a realistic-looking 3D copy of an item or location that can be viewed from multiple angles.

Sketchfab is a platform to publish, share, discover, buy and sell 3D, VR and AR content, as file assets. It provides an interactive viewer based on the WebGL and WebXR technologies that allows users to display 3D models on the within a web browser, to be viewed on any mobile browser, or Virtual Reality headset. Today the platform features over 100k assets and 4 million users. Models uploaded to Sketchfab are converted to glTF format and may be download in this neutral format regardless of originating format.

The 3D PDF document workflow starts on the iPhone 12 Pro, where the 3D Scanner app uses the device’s LIDAR sensor to capture the 3D object or scene. It then uses in-phone menus to create a full-color realistic textured mesh, in low or high resolution. The OBJ and glTF formats support can be passed directly to PDF3D ReportGen on a laptop, or uploaded to Sketchfab for sharing and preview. Most Sketchfab models can be exported in glTF and then loaded into ReportGen. By referencing a report document or insurance form in PDF as a layout template, ReportGen then adds the 3D model and completes the 3D PDF. Full 3D interaction of zoom, rotate and select any of the segmented parts can be performed using a 3D PDF viewer.

Where 3D software is increasingly used by industrial surveyors, engineers and insurance adjusters, PDF3D ReportGen bridges the reporting gap by converting scanned data such as point clouds and photogrammetry meshes from a wide range of formats into 3D PDF, to generate enhanced, easily shareable case reports that can be viewed by anyone.

For more information on this workflow, or to request a trial go to https://www.pdf3d.com/request-trial/