User Guide

User Guide

Polycam Learn
Polycam Learn

Getting started with Polycam

Whether you’re a first-time user or a Polycam Pro, this detailed guide will help you take advantage of all of Polycam’s capabilities.

Creating a scan

There are four different ways to create a scan in Polycam. To scan objects and spaces, use either Photo Mode or LiDAR Mode. To create models and floor plans of indoor spaces, use Room Mode. To capture 360 panoramic photos, use 360 Mode.

Capture modes

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Photo Mode Usually the best choice for objects where you want a lot of accuracy and detail, or if you don’t have access to a LiDAR sensor. It works by taking a sequence of standard photos and uploading them to a more powerful computer which creates the reconstruction. View the full guide here.
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LiDAR Mode Great for capturing spaces or if you want to capture quickly. It uses depth data provided by the LiDAR sensor to generate a reconstruction directly on your device, usually in a minute or less. View the full guide here.
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Room Mode Allows users to generate professional 3D and 2D floor plans and instantly measure indoor spaces. View the full guide here.
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360 Mode Allows you to take fully stitched 360 panoramic skybox photos with AI infill. View the full guide here.

Processing your capture

Once you have captured your object using Photo or LiDAR mode, it is time to process the images into a 3D model. Both modes offer processing presets that can be selected based on how you plan to use the scan – for game engines, VFX, professional workflows, etc.

Photo Mode

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Optimized

Best for fast loading and real-time rendering environments. Best for game engines and web.

Polygon count: ▲

Texture size: ■

Texture maps: ✓ Ambient Occlusion Map ✓ Normal Map

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Medium

Provides a good balance of high resolution and usability. Best for game engines and iOS/mobile.

Polygon count: ▲▲

Texture size: ■■■■■■

Texture maps: ✓ Ambient Occlusion Map ✓ Normal Map

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Full

Recommended for very high-definition image and video rendering. Best for rendering and VFX.

Polygon count: ▲▲▲

Texture size: ■■■■■■ ■■■■■■

Texture maps: ✓ Ambient Occlusion Map ✓ Normal Map ✓ Roughness

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RAW Recommended when you want high detail and no PBR maps. Best for professional workflows.

Polygon count: ▲▲▲▲

Texture size: ■■■■■■ ■■■■■■ ■■■■■■

Texture maps: ✓ Albedo textures

Adjustments

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Albedo textures
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Best suited for physically based rendering (PBR) workflows. They enable 3D modelers to control the primary visual attributes of materials, such as their color, pattern, or texture, and are a key component in achieving photorealistic and visually accurate results in 3D graphics and computer-generated imagery.
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Ambient occlusion map
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A texture map that simulates the occlusion or darkening of ambient light in crevices and areas where objects or surfaces meet. It adds depth and realism to 3D models by enhancing the shading and shadows in these areas.
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Diffuse color
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The base color or the color of an object's surface when it is illuminated by direct light sources. It represents the inherent color of the material without considering specular reflections or lighting effects.
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Displacement
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A technique used to modify the geometry of a 3D model based on a texture map. It allows for intricate surface details by displacing vertices of the model to create height variations, such as bumps and wrinkles.
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Normal
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Vectors that define the direction a surface is facing at each point on a 3D model. They help determine how light interacts with the model, affecting shading and rendering. Normal maps are often used to simulate fine surface details.
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Polygon count
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The number of polygons or faces that make up a 3D model. These polygons are typically triangles or quads. A higher polygon count generally results in a more detailed and smoother model, but it can also be more computationally intensive.
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Roughness
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Defines how smooth or rough a surface appears. In digital 3D models, a roughness map is often used to control how light is scattered or reflected off a surface. A low roughness value results in a smoother and shinier appearance, while a high value creates a rougher, matte surface.
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Texture image format
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File formats used for texture maps in 3D modeling.

PNG: Best for textures with transparency and crisp details, larger file sizes. JPG: Best for textures where a slight loss in quality is acceptable, smaller file sizes.

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Texture maps
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2D images applied to the surfaces of 3D models to convey details such as color, patterns, reflectivity, and other surface characteristics, enhancing their visual realism and complexity.
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Texture size
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The dimensions (width and height) of the 2D texture maps applied to a 3D model's surface. Larger texture sizes can provide more detail and resolution for the model's textures, but they can also consume more memory and affect performance.

LiDAR Mode

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Fast Reduces polygon counts and texture size
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Space Best for processing larger spaces.
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Object Best for processing individual objects.
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Custom Allows you to select the desired Depth Range (m), Voxel Size (m), and Simplification (%) of your model. See below for an explanation of these terms.

Adjustments

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Depth range
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This value sets the depth range to use for processing each frame of the capture sequence. The max range of 5m is set by the range of the LiDAR sensor.

Restricting the depth range may be useful, for example, to exclude background material from an object capture.

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Voxel size
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The minimum voxel size to use when processing this capture. Smaller voxel sizes take longer to process and lead to more polygons.
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Simplification
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The amount of simplification to apply to the mesh before texturing. For example, a simplification of 40% would reduce polygon count by 40% before texturing. Higher values result in lower-poly models.

Adjusting your capture

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Crop Use the crop tool to edit out unwanted portions of your capture. There are several features inside the crop tool, outlined below:
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Measure Allows you to easily calculate perimeters and surface areas. You can swap between Imperial or Metric using the gear icon.
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Use the ruler to measure from point to point.
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Use the pen tool to determine your own measurement points.
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Use the area tool to measure the surface area of your scan.
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Video Use this tool to export a video of your capture.
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Orbit around the scan.
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Tours the scan along a path.
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Add your own custom keyframes and navigational points.
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Background Use the new background feature to add a custom color backdrop to your scan. You can also use your 360 panoramic captures as backgrounds for your models!
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Floorplan Generate unlimited scale-accurate schematic blueprints. Polycam Pro feature.
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Extend With the Extend tool, you can add more images to your scan and process it again. You may also add photos to a LiDAR scan.
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Rotate Rotate your capture within
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Rescale Adjust the size of your scan.
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Reset The Reset tool removes all edits and returns the model to its original state.

Ways to view your capture

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This is the default view setting for your capture. View and toggle through the scan - pinch to zoom, swipe to rotate.
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Orbit around your scan.
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Adjusts the 3D capture to display correctly on a 2D screen by creating perspective.
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An isometric view of your capture displays all elements with equal dimensions.
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View your scan in Augmented Reality. See your capture to-scale in your space.
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Save an image of your scan. Use markup tools to annotate and sketch up the image before export.

Exporting from Polycam

File export types

Polycam scans can be exported as a number of different file types. Use this guide to help select the best file type for your project.

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DAE
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DAE (Collada)

The Collada format supports geometry, appearance properties (color, material, textures), animation, kinematics, and physics. It stores data using XML markup language.

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DXF
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DXF

DXF is short for Drawing Exchange Format or Drawing Interchange Format and is a type of vector file. Engineers, designers and architects often use the DXF format for 2D and 3D drawings during product design.

Several 3D applications support DXF format, but it is most often used to share designs across different CAD programs.

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FBX
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FBX

FBX files (.fbx) are kinda like OBJ files because they have 3D object data, but they also have animation data too. This makes them super popular in film, gaming, and VFX— industries that need fancy models, materials, and animation.

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GLTF
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GLTF

GL Transmission Format (.glTF) is a file format that serves as an open-source, royalty-free counterpart to formats like FBX. This file supports static models, animation, and moving scenes. Developers often use this format in native web applications.

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LAS
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LAS

The LAS format is a file format designed for the interchange and archiving of lidar point cloud data. It is an open, binary format specified by the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. The format is widely used and regarded as an industry standard for lidar data.

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OBJ
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OBJ

OBJ files (.obj) contain 3D geometry information. This is a common choice for exporting a mesh from most modeling software. As a relatively universal format, it can be useful when you need to work with an object in multiple applications. It’s also commonly used in CAD and 3D printing.

In addition to geometry, the OBJ format can also encode color and texture information. This information is stored in a separate .mtl file (Material Template Library). However, the format does not support animation.

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PLY
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PLY

PLY is a computer file format known as the Polygon File Format or the Stanford Triangle Format. It was designed to store three-dimensional data from 3D scanners. The data storage format supports a relatively simple description of a single object as a list of nominally flat polygons.

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PTS
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PTS

A PTS file is a simple text file used to store point cloud data typically from LIDAR scanners. The first line gives the number of points to follow.

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STL
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STL

STL encodes a 3D model's surface geometry using a triangular mesh. It is a simple and efficient 3D file format that only stores the model's geometry. The STL format has both ASCII and binary representations, but binary files are more common due to their smaller size.

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USDZ
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USDZ

USD (Universal Scene Descriptor) is a file format developed internally by Pixar that is now open source. It contains object, material, scene, and animation data. In many ways, USD is superseding typical expectations of a file format, as it efficiently stores entire scene data.

USDZ is a proprietary format created jointly by Apple and Pixar specifically for AR. With this format, you can create 3D augmented reality content for newer Apple devices.

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XYZ
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XYZ

xyz file formats are probably the simplest of the 3D structure files, since they contain little more than the x, y and z coordinates of each atom in the molecule.

Next →

Photo Mode