I have physically seen the 3DKanKan camera, which looks identical. Ever notice on Amazon that you can find many Chinese-made products which are identical but marketed under a variety of names? Could this be another? Perhaps someone on the forum knows the background on this, but my speculation is that in China there are companies that innovate and engineer products, then they leave it to other companies to create software and “market” the hardware they develop. At least, that is how it seems. Iris and 4DKanKan appear to be the same hardware… maybe different software, I don’t know.
I find this system interesting as it takes an entirely different approach to depth measurement. It appears to have no IR and no Lidar. Instead it calculates depth the way our brains do, via parallax because our eyes are a few inches apart. In this case, the camera has a primary eye (actually 4, one on each side) several inches ABOVE the secondary eye(s) on each of its 4 sides, and its software calculates distance by measuring the resulting offset of various visual objects. If the offset is great, the object is close. Small offset means it’s far away. Simple and ingenious. And perhaps doesn’t step on Matterport patents the way GeoCV (purely my speculation) may have. Both of these used Infrared.
IR and Lidar camera systems measure depth directly, actually capturing a point cloud by these beam bounce-backs. Iris, I speculate, mathematically calculates a point cloud by noting the parallax offset of all the objects it can identify, noting the direction they are from the camera. Iris/KanKan dollhouse examples show that 3D is generated not just of walls but also objects, which yields a fully 3D dollhouse and more realistic movement from node to node than possible with non-depth-sensing 360° systems.
A lot of good things here:
• You can download, retouch, and reinstall 360 panos (like GeoCV)
• You can self-host, benefiting your SEO (like GeoCV)
• Should work in full sun, as there’s no IR.
• In principal, Iris could have a greater depth measurement distance, though accuracy would be reduced with distance.
Time will tell how good this system is, but it’s great that another innovative approach to depth-sensing 360° photography is on its way. Considering the hardware cost and subscription pricing is very close to Matterport’s, this system has a tough hill to climb. Matterport is not only very good, but it’s well established.
One of the biggest problems for would-be Matterport competitors rarely is discussed here on the forum:
• The Matterport dashboard allows me to upload a “space” directly to Redfin, Realtor, Homes, VRBO and HomesAway. Zillow pulls MP spaces from the MLS. To be competitive, EVERY HOME TOUR SYSTEM needs to make the DISPLAY of their tours on all these aggregation sites as easy and foolproof as MP has done. What’s the use of creating a beautiful 3D or 360° tour if no one sees it? The public is going especially to Zillow, Redfin and Realtor. I cannot in good conscience recommend that an agent pay me to create a tour using a system that won’t be displayed as prominently as Matterport tours are on these sites.
Iris, 4DKanKan, Pivo and every other entry should start by telling us they have worked out the display of their tours on all these platforms, not somewhere I have to dig to find it, but launchable from a prominent button on the first photo for the listing. Better yet, as Redfin has done, place an icon on the map for every listing that has a 3D tour. This is the way to both promote the use of virtual tours and also serve buyers who clearly want tours for every listing. |
. Where's MP on that??