Sunday, October 4th, 2020 Posted by Jim Thacker

Check out Laan Labs’ free iPad 3D Scanner App


This week, we covered Polycam, a neat iOS app that turns new iPad Pros into real-time LIDAR scanners.

That reminded us that computer vision and augmented reality specialist Laan Labs released a similar free app earlier this year, but that we didn’t manage to cover it at the time.

Capture textured 3D scans of objects or environments on your iPad Pro
Called simply ‘3D Scanner App‘, Laan Labs’ tool also makes use of the LIDAR sensor in the latest iPad Pros to generate textured 3D scans of large objects or entire environments as the user walks round them.

As with Polycam, processing is done on the iPad itself, so you don’t need an active internet connection.

The resulting 3D model can be shared via Apple’s iMessage app in USDZ format for viewing in Quick Look; or exported to other DCC applications in OBJ, glTF, STL and Collada (DAE) formats.

Unlike Polycam, you don’t need to buy a pro version to export models: the app is completely free.

Pricing and system requirements
Laan Labs’ 3D Scanner App is available free for iOS 13.6+. You will need an iPad with a LIDAR sensor to make use of it, which currently means a 2020 iPad Pro.

Download Laan Labs’ free 3D Scanner App from the iPad App Store