I live in a heavily forested area, so I don’t have to travel far to enjoy an early spring walk through the woods. I’m always seeking new ways to capture the essence of the experience. Photos are great and videos can record even more of a beautiful location, but it’s not quite the same as being there. I want to relive that moment, particularly when the weather makes going out more challenging.
Fortunately, technology keeps opening up new opportunities, like turning a real location or tangible object into a 3D world or digital twin I can visit from home. My latest experiments let me scan a lush mossy patch beside a tree with an eye-catching arched root. With my Quest 3 or Quest 3S VR headset, anyone can find and walk around that spot again. It’s almost like taking a piece of the forest inside. This is the kind of metaverse I’d like to see more of.
The best VR headsets open up new realities and sometimes make it easier to explore the real world in new ways.
It’s made of splats
The key to making a 3D scan that I can enter later is finding a Gaussian splat scanner with a viewer that works in VR. The Quest app is called Into the Scaniverse, and it’s free on the Meta app store.
A Gaussian splat looks like it’s made of fuzzy dots. The Scaniverse mobile app can capture enough detail that those dots fuse together to render high-resolution images that look almost photorealistic.
It’s an early access app, but there are already more than 50,000 3D scenes recorded at locations around the world. Even if you don’t capture any scans of your own, you can become a world traveler without leaving home with just the Meta Horizon app and a Quest 3 or Quest 3S.
I’m sure Into the Scaniverse will launch on other platforms. It would be incredible on Apple’s Vision Pro or the upcoming Android XR headsets.
My experience with Scaniverse
I’ve used several 3D capture apps in the past and already knew that slow and steady movement provides the best results. I also remembered that circling an area of interest at various heights gives the app more spatial data.
The Scaniverse mobile app shared similar tips, so my first scan took about five minutes, maybe a little longer. My subject was an elf sculpture my wife made for her TraceyTrulyArt Etsy shop. I started low, spiraling around the forest elf that leaned against a moss-covered tree root that formed a natural arch.
After scrabbling around on the ground for a couple of minutes, I stood and slowly circled again. I moved back and went around a few more times. The app takes several minutes to upload and process the data, and I chose the optional enhance step, which added another minute.
It was worth the effort, because the scan was almost perfect. Back home with my Quest 3, I could walk around, the space at my normal height, or push a thumbstick down to “shrink” to elf size and walk under the arch of the tree root.
You can search for it in the Quest app. I named it “Trenton Park Elf.” You can also view it in a desktop or mobile browser, using a mouse or gestures to angle and drag the view. The VR experience is much more immersive.
While I wouldn’t go so far as to say it was better than reality, it allows me to relive that memory as it was or change my perspective for a unique experience that’s only possible in VR. I could change my height in an instant and pass through physical objects, seeing them from the inside out.
Exploring Into the Scaniverse
Scaniverse developer Niantic posted a video that demonstrates how it looks in the Quest. Of course, the video makes it look effortless, but there’s a bit more work needed to get the best quality.
Beyond my own scans, I browsed the 3D content others have uploaded publicly. It’s also possible to save scans to my own private library.
While there are thousands of locations represented as 3D worlds, the scale is never big enough to explore very far. Still, there are some very nice captures of artwork, architecture, parks, and nature. I enjoyed spending time exploring what was available.
Since public scans are contributed by the user community, the quality varies. The quality suffers if you try to capture an environment instead of circling a subject. It’s best to think of recording an area the size of a small room and accept that the background could be out of focus. Still objects work best, so people, plants, animals, and things that wave in the wind will have distortions or blur.
The most important technique is to move slowly and circle the subject several times at varying heights, tilting your phone up and down to keep the point of interest in view. With enough angles and a steady hand, you’ll get great captures even if you can’t get behind an object.
For example, I recorded a shelf of figurines and ornaments with Scaniverse. The shelf is against a wall, but in VR, I can walk into the shelf and see the art from the side or even peer through the sculptures from behind.
Scaniverse expands the metaverse
To save your own scans, you need Scaniverse for iOS or Android. It’s free and has a quick tour that shows how to capture a Gaussian splat.
3D captures are just one way that the metaverse is growing, and it’s not limited to Quest headsets. Android XR is coming this year, and Meta has partnered with other manufacturers to create new VR headsets that can run the Quest’s Horizon OS.
Apple is expected to announce bigchanges to visionOS at the 2025 Worldwide Developers Conference. There are also rumors that Apple might launch a new Vision Pro model this fall.
