Live data from Hacker News

Lidar: Peek into the Future with iPad Pro

blog.halide.cam

21–30 of 76 posts

Re: Lidar: Peek into the Future with iPad Pro

#21
I've had a play around with the new ipad. The big problem is (as far as I can see), absolutely no way for a developer to get access to the underlying depth data.

I'm assuming it's coming in the next version of iOS, because you _can_ get access to the faceid depth data in a useful format.

Re: Lidar: Peek into the Future with iPad Pro

#22
Unfortunately for someone like me who’s not enthusiastic about photography at all and takes maybe a dozen photos a year, every time I buy a new iPhone or in this case an iPad Pro I feel like I’m wasting hundreds of bucks on a camera I’m not really gonna take advantage of.

Re: Lidar: Peek into the Future with iPad Pro

#23

I've had a play around with the new ipad. The big problem is (as far as I can see), absolutely no way for a developer to get access to the underlying depth data. I'm assuming it's coming in the next version of iOS, because you _can_ get access to the faceid depth data in a useful format.

Is it not available through 'AVCaptureDepthDataOutput`? My understanding is that depth data is a separate channel stored in photos.

Re: Lidar: Peek into the Future with iPad Pro

#24
post #22

Unfortunately for someone like me who’s not enthusiastic about photography at all and takes maybe a dozen photos a year, every time I buy a new iPhone or in this case an iPad Pro I feel like I’m wasting hundreds of bucks on a camera I’m not really gonna take advantage of.

They could delete the camera and related sensors and it would not appreciably affect the price of the tablet. The camera is probably something like 5 bucks in quantity, and I doubt the "LIDAR" sensor is particularly expensive either.

Re: Lidar: Peek into the Future with iPad Pro

#26

If anyone from Halide is reading this there's a slight typo in the copy: > This is the first time a new imagining capture technology has appeared on iPad before iPhone. I believe that should read "... imaging ..."

You can let them know directly: support@halide.cam

Re: Lidar: Peek into the Future with iPad Pro

#27
post #22

Unfortunately for someone like me who’s not enthusiastic about photography at all and takes maybe a dozen photos a year, every time I buy a new iPhone or in this case an iPad Pro I feel like I’m wasting hundreds of bucks on a camera I’m not really gonna take advantage of.

They could delete the camera and related sensors and it would not appreciably affect the price of the tablet. The camera is probably something like 5 bucks in quantity, and I doubt the "LIDAR" sensor is particularly expensive either.

Cost of something isn’t just the parts, you forgot all the R&D, labor, and premium. iPhone 11 and 11 Pro differ by $300 and the better camera is one of the two (?) major selling points; not to mention the iPhone 11 has a pretty good camera too.

Re: Lidar: Peek into the Future with iPad Pro

#28
post #17

Are the demos impressive in a way I'm failing to spot? It still seems about on par with others and still has plenty of noise in the pop art chair and kitchen. I was hoping this would put the magic leap to shame but it doesn't seem much better.

They’re showing off the environment scanning capability. The visualisation system is just something they knocked together quickly with some basic APIs, so it would be a bit much to expect ML equivalence.

Re: Lidar: Peek into the Future with iPad Pro

#29

I knew I recognized that name! Sebastiaan de With, who famously (in my mind) traveled from SF to the north shore of Alaska. I looked that post up the other day, from 2014, because I have a nice camera and a KLR - and I dream. [1] When I read the iPad Pro announcement, the trifecta of Real Keyboard/iPadOS improvement/LiDAR got my attention. With the pandemic, I have found myself working with laptop actually in my lap,…

Sebastiaan's original post about this album, including his replies to comments and questions: https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/2gejnr/got_divorced_l...

Re: Lidar: Peek into the Future with iPad Pro

#30
post #3

I would be curious to know if this could be used (with a heavy dose of software and a rotating mount) to replace a Matterport scanner for real estate agents. That would be a $2495-$3995 cost for device, a fixed cost of $19-$29 per house walkthrough and a $49-$149/mo hosting fee. Seems like a boatload of cash could be made for a first-to-market product here.

How common are those? I've looked at a lot of properties and am yet to run across a 3D scan, but it may be very location dependent/value of property.

If you haven't seen 3D scans yet, you will soon. Virtual walkthroughs surging due to COVID.
Post reply on HN