Since Zappcha’s launch last year, thousands of people have been enjoying capturing 3D scans on their LiDAR-enabled iOS devices, and using the Zappcha Cloud to share their scans with others or to load their scans into other Veesus software. The app has interested people from every walk of life, from casual users to professionals who see an opportunity to use Zappcha in their day-to-day work. Today, we’re sitting down with one of those users, who goes by the name Hitsuji-san on Twitter, to find out more about their experience with Zappcha.

Of course. I work in the real estate surveying industry in Japan. For a few years now, my work has involved photogrammetry captured using UAVs, and – more recently – LiDAR scanning using iPhones and other devices.

Technologies like LiDAR and photogrammetry really interest me. The advances in personal computers and reality capture software have made it possible to do some really excellent work without expensive professional equipment. In addition to my work, I have been enjoying scanning my surroundings to capture a record of my daily life. With the world around us changing so much these days, it’s fun to be able to look back on things and see how they have changed over time.

I use an iPhone 12 Pro Max – one of the first phones to have a LiDAR sensor built in. I still get excited thinking about it – finally, a 3D scanner built into my phone!

When it comes to apps, I’ve used a whole bunch. I like to process my scans using CloudCompare, and for capturing I’ve tried a variety of apps – and, of course, Zappcha, which is my favourite.

I first discovered Zappcha through a model on Sketchfab in November 2021. Since then, I’ve used it loads – I’ve lost count of how many scans I’ve taken!

The unlimited scan size on Zappcha lets Hitsuji-san capture scans including this apartment (and the street outside!)

Hitsuiji-san enjoys scanning everyday objects near them.

I love that you can capture scans of any size. It’s so freeing when you’re out and want to scan. If I wanted to, I could just walk around and keep scanning until my battery ran out.

I also like the high density of points you can capture using Zappcha – it makes processing them later a real pleasure. And the noise removal feature is very useful for making my scans look as good as they can.

The fixed exposure mode that came out with the Zappcha 4.0 release is great too. When it’s on, I don’t get any strange colour changes in my scans that are caused by the exposure adjusting to different lighting. It makes my scans look much more natural, which is great.

Yeah, it’s been really useful. It makes it very easy to see high-density point cloud information that other systems find difficult to display properly, and exports them in an easy-to-use format. It’s also, as far as I’m aware, the only program that can output point clouds which include JGD2011 location data. JGD2011 is the Japanese standard for location data, so it’s pretty important for my work!

I love all the scans I upload to my Twitter. In particular, this one of a pedestrian bridge I love. As for the future, I think scanning landmarks when I travel is my priority. I have scanned most of the things in my local area now, so I’d love to start building out my collection of landmarks to include other places too.

Zappcha makes it incredibly easy to capture high-quality 3D scans from your LiDAR-enabled iOS device. With unlimited scan size and a host of handy features such as burst mode and active filtering, all you need to do is point and click as if you’re recording a video.

Better still, by connecting to the Zappcha Cloud, you can easily store and share your scans with others online. And, for users who also have Veesus professional software, you can load your scans into our other software packages via the Zappcha Cloud too – making it easy to use Zappcha scans in your professional life, too.

Click here to visit the App Store and download Zappcha – or, to learn more, visit the main Zappcha site.

All imagery in this post belongs to Hitsuji-san and was captured using Zappcha.