Panorama Registration
In this demo, we’ll add external 360° panoramic images to an existing project and align them pixel-perfect to the 3D scan.
Go to File → Import → Panoramic Images and import your 360s as Spherical projections—for example, images from an Insta360 camera.
The images are added to the project. For convenience, place the imported panoramas in a single group.
Newly imported panoramas start at the origin of the 3D model because they don’t have poses yet.
Open Register → Panorama. The app prompts you to create a merged 3D model, which is required for alignment calculations. Build a merged model—Advanced Colors or Simple, either works. Use the existing 3D geometry and colors and exclude the new panoramas from this merge.
Return to Register → Panorama and click Auto-align.
Because localization uses image features, select a 3D scan with imagery as the reference, then select the panoramas to align. Hit localize
After localization, you’ll see the panoramas move off the origin and distribute through the 3D space—that’s a good sign.
Enter Register → Panorama to review all panoramas: Use the top-bar arrows or press N to flip through images. Use toggle view on the right or press Space to switch the 2D/3D overlay and verify alignment. Many panoramas will be correct. Move any doubtful cases into a “todo” group for manual correction.
In our example, three images need manual work. Start by clicking Reset Pose (the white arrow on the right) to avoid navigating tilted panoramas. Unlock orientation so 2D and 3D can move independently. Navigate in 3D to the approximate capture location. Find a distinct, shared view (e.g., the same cabinet) in both 2D and 3D. Lock orientation. From now on, rotations mirror between image and 3D.
Click Set Correspondences. Click a feature in 2D, then pick the matching point in 3D (the view switches to help you). You can start in 3D or 2D and press Space any time to change views. After 4 correspondences, click Align. For a more stable result, use 6–8 points.
For the failed images, repeat:
- Reset →
- Unlock Orientation →
- Navigate →
- Lock Orientation →
- Correspondences →
- Align.
When all are corrected, dissolve the temporary group.
Open Control → Masking.
Paint a mask over the tripod area.
Copy that mask and apply it to all panoramas so tripods aren’t projected onto geometry.
Create a new Merged 3D Model using the original 3D geometry and the newly registered external panoramas for imagery.
The result is a point cloud colorized by the external images and panoramas, perfectly aligned with the 3D geometry.