Digital space capture company Matterport, largely credited with establishing the online home tour experience, has released an entirely new camera for the real estate industry, the Matterport Pro3.
The angular, black-matte Pro3 was designed to speed production of “digital twins,” industry jargon for 3D representations of property. In a press release introducing the camera, Matterport says it will scan large spaces up to 4 times faster compared to the Pro2, and has increased range, able to accurately capture rooms and features from 100 meters, an ideal feature for larger luxury homes. The Pro2 had a range of just under five meters.
The Pro3 will also work outdoors in full sun, as well, enabling agents to more easily market exterior amenities, like pools, patios and guest home access.
Company-provided press materials state that the Pro3 is best suited “for larger scale construction and engineering projects, and where the project has to be rendered to higher quality and accuracy.”
“Today marks a pivotal breakthrough in 3D technology with the introduction of the most powerful products Matterport has ever created,” said RJ Pittman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Matterport, in a statement. “Our new Pro3 camera and cloud platform create some of the world’s most accurate, immersive and stunning digital twins.”
Agents in commercial real estate would have multiple reasons to use the Pro3, especially retail leasing agents and Class-A office asset managers looking to share large available space, exterior parking amenities or nearby cityscapes.
The camera’s Cortex AI engine has been enhanced to capture at 5x higher range, according to Matterport. This allows for a significant reduction of glare from reflective surfaces, such as countertops and flooring. It also contributes to increased quality when capturing foliage or intensive lighting scenarios.
Smaller than Matterport’s Pro2, the new device comes in at 7.12″ x 6.35″ x 2.9″, about the size of a typical hardcover book. It leverages LiDAR, too, or “laser imaging, detection, and ranging,” to ensure the highest possible level of accuracy in room measurement and distance between spaces. LiDAR, for example, is central to the operation of autonomous vehicles. It’s also contributing to the rise in easily-produced and precise digital floor plans.
The company will sell a number of upgraded packages and accessories for the $5,999 Pro3, but the base kit includes the camera, its case, tripod mount and charging equipment, all covered by a one-year warranty. Matterport’s Pro tripod is sold separately, but makes a common sense add-on.
The battery should provide three hours of scan time, according to company specifications. The Pro3 and its updated software for the companion iOS and Android apps, also reduces the presence of parallax artifacts, or clear imperfections or delayed rendering when moving through a scene.
The company has made updates to its mobile app for connecting to the Pro3.
For example, users can add tags, interactive calls to action, within tours that can offer narrative insights to property features and serve as a guide for getting the most out of the digital experience. The tags can be shared individually, a method by which certain project stakeholders can jump directly to a tour component that most concerns them.
“New mobile capability enables customers to create, restore, view and edit their digital twins directly from the Matterport app, empowering every employee to create and manage digital twins simply with the smartphone in their pocket,” the company said.
While Matterport’s line of products includes more consumer-level tools for creating digital twins, such as a mobile app and motorized tripod for phones, the company remains dedicated to high-end, professional grade capture devices.
With their unique designs and unmistakable output quality, there’s little argument against Matterport’s content being the industry standard, or at least the go-to comparison.
Photo credit: Matterport
There are many, very good software and hardware combinations available, such as iGuide’s Planix and the Ricoh360 Tours line, for agents not quite able to afford the Pro3, or sell clients on the value of a such listing content.
Rich visual content continues to be a popular online call to action for home buyers, and was especially critical during times of lockdown. Even after parameters were in place for safe in-person showings, virtual home tours provided some competitive buyers with enough information to buy with data alone.
Matterport shared a Forrester Research report that stated, “55 percent of global software technology decision makers are already adopting digital twins.”
High quality photos and floor plans rank slightly higher than 3D tours for buyers, according to a 2021 study by the National Association of Realtors. Internal Matterport research found that real estate agents using digital twins win up to 74 percent more listings. The study also said that 71 percent of residential buyers say they would buy a home sight unseen if it had a 3D digital tour.
The Pro3 is aiming more at developers and large-scale institutional builders, however. The company’s use-case list includes, architects, surveyors, facility managers, asset managers and site managers.
Matterport saw 52 percent growth in total subscribers in the second quarter compared to the year ago period, according to the press release. They also said their software is used by 23 percent of the Fortune 1000.
The Pro3 will be available in North America by early September, the company said.
