Depth camera indoor mapping for 3D virtual radio play

Abstract

By combining game engines with indoor mapping, it is possible to create interactive virtual environments that represent the real world. In this paper a virtual version of an audio installation in a historic building is produced, where the user freely explores the building and experiences a set of audio clips, creating a virtual radio play. A depth camera indoor mapping system, Matterport, captured a set of staged interiors. The aim was to evaluate the quality and usability of the indoor models and to demonstrate applying them in 3D application development. The quality of the models was evaluated by comparison with laser scanning, revealing limitations with Matterport: increasing the size of the measured area lowered the level of detail and accuracy of volumetric models. The quality of textures was not affected by this limitation, maintaining the appearance of models. To obtain optimised models for mobile 3D applications, a manual revision process was applied.