Capture photos, videos and 3D scans
The Capture tab, the New capture sheet, what each mode needs, how captures attach to assets, and the preflight checks before a 3D capture.
On this page
The Capture tab is where you take photos, videos and 3D scans. Every capture belongs to a surveyed asset, so it has a position and an accuracy from the moment you take it. This guide covers what the capture modes are, what your device needs for each one, and the checks the app runs before a 3D capture starts.
Before you start
- Open a project. If there's no active project, tapping New capture opens the project chooser.
- Collect at least one asset on the Survey tab. Captures attach to assets, so the app won't open the camera until the project has one.
Start a capture
- Go to the Capture tab and tap New capture at the bottom.
- The New capture sheet opens. Its subtitle, Attaches to a surveyed asset, is a reminder that every capture is filed against an asset.
- Tap a mode:
- 2D: Photo, Video or Library
- 3D: Points or Photogrammetry
- For a 2D capture, take the photo or video (or pick one from your library). You're then asked which asset it belongs to. For a 3D capture, you first lock the position the scan starts from, and then the camera opens.
If the project has no assets yet, you'll see Collect an asset first: "Photos, videos and 3D scans attach to a surveyed asset. Collect a point on the Survey tab, then capture against it."
The capture modes
| Mode | What you get | Needs |
|---|---|---|
| Photo | One photo from the system camera, stamped with the asset's position | A camera |
| Video | A video with sound | A camera and the microphone |
| Library | A photo or video you already have in Photos | Nothing extra |
| Points | A coloured LiDAR point cloud, saved as PLY, with LAS export in your project's zone | A LiDAR device (iPhone Pro or iPad Pro) |
| Photogrammetry | A textured 3D model (USDZ) built on the phone from GPS-stamped photos | A device that supports Apple Object Capture and on-device reconstruction |
Badges on the 3D tiles
- Points shows BETA on a LiDAR device.
- Photogrammetry shows OBJECT CAPTURE, which is the Apple technology it uses. On a device that can't run it, the tile is greyed out and shows N/A.
- SIMULATED appears only in the simulator and development builds, where a test point cloud stands in for a real one. The App Store version never simulates a capture. On a device without LiDAR, the Points tile is greyed out instead.
When a 3D mode can't run on your device, the sheet explains why below the tiles. For example: "Point-cloud capture needs a LiDAR device (iPhone Pro or iPad Pro)." Tapping a greyed-out tile shows the same reason.
If the device has no camera at all, Photo and Video show Camera not available. In practice this only happens in the iOS simulator. Use Library instead.
Attach to an asset
After a photo, video or library pick, and after a 3D capture where you skipped the position lock, the Attach to asset list opens.
- Tap the asset the capture belongs to.
- If the asset is a line or an area, the Which vertex? list opens. It shows each vertex by number, with its accuracy and coordinates. Tap the vertex the capture shows. The capture is "filed against this vertex, so it carries that vertex's position and accuracy."
A point asset has only one position, so it's attached straight away.
A 3D capture that started from a locked position or an existing marker already knows its asset, so it's filed there automatically without asking.
Capturing from an asset's details
You can also capture from the asset itself. Tap the asset on the map or in the list to open its details:
- The Photos section has Library and Camera buttons. See Photos and videos.
- The 3D scans section has an Add 3D capture menu with the 3D modes your device can run. A capture started here skips the lock step and goes straight to the camera, anchored at that asset's position. For a line or area, you're asked Which vertex? first.
Preflight checks
Before a 3D capture, the Start the points capture or Start the photogrammetry capture screen shows a preflight banner at the top. It reports the conditions the capture will be taken under and updates every couple of seconds while you stand there. A fix converging or a caster reconnecting shows up without reopening anything.
The banner has three states:
| Label | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Ready | Nothing to flag. The banner shows your position line, for example source, fix type and accuracy. |
| Check | One or more warnings. The banner shows the worst one and how many more there are, for example Position: … · 2 more. You can still start. |
| Can't start | The capture can't work. The options below the banner are disabled until the problem is fixed. |
Tap the banner to expand it and see every check, with advice under any that need attention.
What it checks
| Check | Blocks the capture when… | Warns when… |
|---|---|---|
| Device | The mode needs hardware this device doesn't have | — |
| Project | No project is open | — |
| Storage | Free space is below what the mode needs: about 500 MB for Points and 2 GB for Photogrammetry, plus 1 GB more with Record scan frames on | Free space is less than three times that |
| Temperature | The device is at Critical | The device is Hot. Capture will throttle. |
| Low Power Mode / Battery | — | Low Power Mode is on, or the battery is below 20% |
| Position | — | There's No fix, or the fix isn't RTK fixed. Float, DGPS and phone GPS are all flagged, with what that means for placement. |
| Corrections (receiver only) | — | Corrections are more than 30 seconds old, or none are connected |
| Antenna height (receiver only) | — | No pole height is set, or one is set while the receiver is tilt compensating, which can subtract the pole twice |
| Camera offset (receiver only) | — | The camera-to-antenna offset is Not set |
| Coordinate frame | — | Never. It always states the frame: WGS84 with a gravity-aligned local frame, the zone exports will use (or "no projected CRS set"), and orthometric heights where measured. |
| Surveyor | — | Nobody is named in Settings → Surveyor |
Quality problems never block a capture. A deliberate lower-accuracy capture, such as one on phone GPS for context, is a legitimate thing to take. Instead, the app records the result of every check in the scan's preflight.json. If you started with warnings standing, the capture's details show them under Started with warnings, so nobody later mistakes it for one taken in good conditions.