[Space Scanning Tutorial] Matterport 16 Backend Tools: Operation Skills and Features Fully Explained
📚 Quick Navigation
| 1. Search | Quick keyword search for Mattertags, Labels, Notes, Measurements, and Highlights in your model. |
| 2. Start Location | Set an eye-catching or attractive viewpoint for your desired starting position for clients, cover image, and main view. |
| 3. Labels | Short labels to highlight important areas in your space for clients to quickly understand facility locations. |
| 4. Measurements | Visitors can measure the dimensions of objects and spaces. Measurements can be taken in edit mode and provided to visitors. Visitors can also take measurements in showcase mode. |
| 5. Guided Tour | Focus attention on visually presenting key areas of the space, providing important context and information to visitors exploring the space. |
| 6. Tags (Mattertags) | Can be added to specific locations or objects to provide more information or interactive functions. Tags can include text, images, or links to explain, showcase product features, or provide other relevant content to enrich the viewer's tour experience. |
| 7. Notes | Allows your team to collaborate efficiently within the 3D virtual space, similar to Google Docs' collaborative features, allowing for communication and responses within different objects. |
| 8. Views | Create up to 10 unique views of your space for different teams or clients. For example, you can use different views to promote different features to different clients, or create multiple views of the same space for different training modules for different teams. *Requires a Professional plan or higher. |
| 9. Data Layers | Visitors to your space can choose to view all, part, or none of the layers in the 3D view. *Requires a Professional plan or higher. |
| 10. Hide Extra 3D Scans | Select scans to hide from the model, for example, if people appear in the scan, scan locations are too dense, or personal or private information is accidentally displayed. |
| 11. Place 360° Views and Capture Snapshots | 360° panoramic views are a type of scan taken with a camera or smartphone that only captures visual data without depth data. Make them appear naturally in the virtual tour. |
| 12. 2D Photos | Capture 2D snapshots of your 3D space. Snapshots can be used in featured videos or downloaded for other purposes. |
| 13. Blur Brush | Use the manual blur brush to blur any sensitive information in the space, such as family photos, house numbers, license plates, etc. |
| 14. Plugins | Add compass, minimap, business card, or quick links to your space to provide additional information. |
| 15. Trim | Get a neater dollhouse view. The trim tool allows you to remove distracting or out-of-scope mesh elements from the dollhouse view, and can quickly hide model geometry in ceilings and other vertical spaces. |
| 16. Property Layout | Adjust, add, or remove walls, invisible walls, doors, and openings. Update room types and names. |
1. Search
Use "Space Search" to search for keywords in tags, labels, notes, measurements, and navigation highlights in Showcase View or Edit Mode. It's like using the find option in Google Docs to search for desired information. This is very useful for viewers to quickly find the elements they need!
2. Start Locations
"Start Location and Scan Points" effectively manage your tour path. After scanning a space with a scanner, the software generates numbered "scan points."
When visitors view the model, you can guide them along your desired path by hiding "scan points." Or, if I don't want them to start from a random corner on the lowest floor, I want them to start from the entrance, so I set a "start location."
Labels can provide visitors with a brief descriptive overview of related areas within a space. For example:
．Highlight important (or visually striking) areas in the space.
．Show visitors the location of amenities.
．Mark where rooms will be built in the future (for construction projects).
．In the "Floor Plan", label specific or complex sections.
You can also decide if visitors can only view in Floor Plan View or Floor Plan + Dollhouse View
Click Settings ▶︎ Advanced ▶︎ Expand the dropdown menu for "Room Labels"
4. Measurements
The measurement feature in Matterport allows you and your visitors to measure objects and overhead space dimensions in a 3D model, with several unique features:
．Supports mobile phones, tablets, and computers, allowing for measurements anytime, anywhere.
．Intelligent and precise capture of corners, edges, vertical, and horizontal axes.
．Supports thousands of measurements.
．Easy to use continuous measurements and measurements with multiple connected lines.
．Freely choose measurement units: feet and inches or meters.
You can also enable or disable visitors' permission to use the measurement mode.
Click Settings ▶︎ Advanced ▶︎ Expand the dropdown menu for "Measurement Mode"
5. Guided Tour
With the popularity of short videos on social media, customize the video tour you want to show visitors to enhance tour efficiency and create an engaging tour experience. Its versatility is not limited to real estate but can also be applied in numerous scenarios such as construction and insurance estimation.
You can choose between two modes to determine the type of tour you want to create:
．Highlight Reel Mode: You can create a slideshow of various destinations within the space, guiding users from one viewpoint to another. Highlight Reel tours display a transparent gray play button in the bottom left corner.
．Story Mode: You can use on-screen captions to share information about each stop on the tour. This presentation style hides the highlight reel mode, offering a more minimalist, mobile-friendly design. Story mode tours display a white play button in the bottom left corner.
Guided Tour Effect Display
6. Tags
How to add photos, attachments, and shopping links?
How to embed videos?
"Mattertags" are a way to provide diverse and rich information to visitors by adding marketing text, images, PDF files, and even embedding an entire model. You can also direct them to other websites, forms, shopping carts, YouTube, etc., to enhance the visitor experience. You can even add a deep link to another model, which is an excellent way to create connections between two models.
7. Notes
Matterport Notes provides an efficient way to collaborate with your team, and the best part is that you can attach collaboration documents directly to the Matterport space model. However, Matterport Notes is only available on the Space Tour page and can only be used by collaborators with edit access!
On the Space Tour page, you can decide to leave a Note anywhere by clicking the "Notes icon" on the bottom left, then clicking the "plus sign," and typing freely there.
It's just like using comments in Google Docs!! An added benefit is that you can directly add images, files, or links to Notes, which completely visualizes complex communication processes and reduces back-and-forth modifications and confirmations.
8. Views
Create up to 10 unique "Views" to showcase your 3D space to different groups or teams. Each view can be shared individually and has its own tags, navigation, and other features. For example, you can promote different services or products to different customers, or create multiple views of the same space for different training modules or different teams.
*Before using "Views", you must have a Professional plan or higher. For all plan options, click here or contact us for inquiries.
Once "Views" is enabled, the top of your model in edit mode will appear as shown below.
To create a new view, go to the "dropdown menu to the right of the Basic Model View" and click Add View.
The dropdown menu allows you to switch between the views you have created.
Click the three dots on the left to rename, duplicate, delete, or share this view.
9. Data Layers
Data Layers allow visitors to show or hide grouped tags, Mattertags, Notes, and measurements. Conceptually similar to Views, but Data Layers are nested under Views. Visitors can select checkboxes to view all data, some data, or no data in the view.
How to create Matterport Data Layers?
In the toolbar, select the search icon, click +Layer, name your data layer, and then save.
In the search engine Menu, click select to add previously created tags, Mattertags, Notes, and measurements to the data layer.
If adding them one by one is too troublesome, you can also use Copy Items. Select the checkbox next to the items you want to copy, then choose which data layer you want to copy them to.
*To use "Data Layers", you must have a Professional plan or higher. For all plan options, click here or contact us for inquiries.
10. Hide Extra 3D Scans
From scanning experience, we recommend having more scan points when scanning an environment. The more times you scan, the more 3D data you can collect to create a complete 3D model and floor plan.
However, you may also encounter the following situations:
．People appearing in the scan.
．Scan locations are too dense, making navigation awkward or inconvenient.
．Scans accidentally display personal or private information.
．Scans are poor quality or unappealing.
．Scan heights differ from other scans.
Hiding 3D scan points can then optimize and smooth the navigation experience.
*Special Note: 3D scan points cannot be hidden in 360º snapshots and featured videos. If you want to delete a scan, please ensure it is first removed from 360º snapshots and featured videos.
11. Place 360° Views and Capture Snapshots
The 360° view tool allows you to place and adjust panoramic views within the spatial model. You can also arbitrarily position any spatial highlight you want to show your audience in the top-down view. For example: if you want to see more of the balcony corner, click the 360º icon to "walk to the outermost edge."
Click the "360° icon" in the right column. You can then click directly into the photo in the right column window to confirm the position you want to show visitors in the 3D tour page. You can also drag the photo in the window to any position on the top-down dollhouse page.
If you want the 360° view to face outwards, as if the viewer is walking outdoors, making it align with the real world's direction, you can click the rotate icon to control the direction you want the viewer to face, avoiding confusion.
12. 2D Photos
Have you ever taken photos of a site, only to realize you missed something when you needed them for clients or promotions, forcing you to return to the site for more shots? Or perhaps you had to plan a script for shooting a video... But have you considered that once you've 3D scanned and stored a digital space in the cloud, you can capture any part of the space with virtually no blind spots? The high-definition snapshot feature can even be used as marketing material for promotions!
Click the "camera icon" in the right column. A grid will appear on the screen (this is a great feature, allowing you to align your shots like an iPhone). You can also zoom in and out, saving a lot of time on post-production cropping!
Click the "camera icon" in the right column. A grid will appear on the screen (this is a great feature, allowing you to align your shots like an iPhone). You can also zoom in and out, saving a lot of time on post-production cropping!
All video/photo collections can be found under the Media tab. The new 2024 version also automatically generates some photo and video materials for you, which you can add or delete as needed, which is quite convenient.
13. Blur Brush
The "Blur Brush" feature in Matterport is primarily for privacy protection. This tool can be used to remove pictures on walls, private messages on whiteboards, car license plates in outdoor shots, home addresses, etc.
The latest feature launched in 2024 automatically detects faces in 3D models. You can choose to blur all or selectively blur parts, so you don't have to worry about missing anything that might be publicly exposed.
*Special Note: Blurring functionality is not available when switching to "Dollhouse View" or "Starting Point".
14. Plugins (Business Card, Thumbnail, Compass, Quick Links)
Plugins provide additional functionality to spaces and can be configured and combined in different ways according to your needs. The compass and minimap plugins can be placed in any corner of the screen; quick links are displayed in the bottom left, and the business card is displayed in the bottom right. When a viewer hovers over the business card, it automatically expands.
*Before using "Plugins", you must have a plan ofProfessional or higher. For all plans, pleaseclick here orcontact us for inquiries.
15. Trim
The Trim tool can be used to make the Dollhouse view look neater. Trimming can:
．Remove any distracting or out-of-scope debris from the Dollhouse view.
．Remove unwanted traces generated during the capture process.
．Quickly hide ceilings and other model geometries in vertical spaces.
* Special Note: 3D model trimming is only a visual refinement tool. It does not actually remove anything from your model.
16. Custom Space Layout
Custom space layout combined with AI technology will be automatically enabled in your account, offering the following advantages:
．Automatic Measurement: Room dimensions (including ceiling height) will be precisely and automatically marked when creating a Matterport digital twin. No more time-consuming manual measurements at the request of potential buyers.
．Instant Layout: Easily switch between 2D and 3D layouts of the space with a single click, including marked room names, wall segments, and more.
．Easy Editing: Each room in the layout can be edited using simple point tools to adjust walls, openings, and room names.
．Smart Automated Property Reports: Detailed and downloadable property reports, including a summary of your space and a breakdown of area and dimensions by room, quickly create property data sheets for MLS. (What is MLS? Refer to article: 【3D Scanning News】Matterport's 2024 Winter Release: Key Innovations for Boosting Real Estate Efficiency)
*Models uploaded before December 20, 2023 will not be displayed and must be re-uploaded.
*The layout editing tool is currently only available on desktop, not on mobile devices (phones, tablets).
*The layout editing tool is currently only available on desktop, not on mobile devices (phones, tablets).
After reading this, do you want to unlock the various functions of your own 3D digital space? Click here to learn more ► Matterport 3D Camera Series
Scanners require a membership to use.Click here to learn about cloud space plans
Follow our fan page for the latest news:
https://www.facebook.com/3dmart.com.hk/