Voxelio offers six capture workflows on iPhone. Choosing between them starts with the file you need: a textured mesh, a point cloud, a structured room, an object model, a Gaussian splat, or calibrated camera video. This guide explains those modes inside Voxelio. For a comparison between different applications, use our iPhone 3D scanner app comparison.
Scanning modes and exports are available free. Free use has a weekly scan allowance that resets; check the current allowance shown in the app before planning a large capture session. Free does not mean unlimited scanning. Device requirements and output formats still depend on the mode.
Choose the output before you scan
- A textured surface of a room or space: choose LiDAR Mesh.
- Spatial points for inspection or an external pipeline: choose Point Cloud.
- A structured room with walls, openings and recognized furnishings: choose Room Plan.
- A model of a separate object: choose 3D Objects and check Object Capture support.
- A small scene for view synthesis: choose Gaussian Splatting.
- Camera footage and capture metadata: choose Dual Camera.
These outputs are not interchangeable. A point cloud is not automatically a watertight model for printing. A room model is not a construction survey. A video capture is not a completed 3D reconstruction.
LiDAR Mesh: textured geometry of spaces
LiDAR Mesh mode captures surface geometry on a compatible LiDAR-equipped iPhone. It is a useful starting point for a room reference, a spatial preview, or geometry that you will inspect and clean up in another tool. The mode supports OBJ with MTL and mode-specific texture or classification options; see its product page for the current export choices.
Move steadily around the space and give the camera overlapping views. Revisit edges, furniture backs and occluded areas rather than assuming one pass has captured them. Lighting and motion affect texture quality, while reflective, transparent and small detailed surfaces can leave gaps or unreliable geometry.
Before exporting, inspect the scan from several angles. Missing surfaces and tracking errors are easier to address by capturing again than by relying on a downstream application to infer what was never recorded. Treat dimensions as references unless you have independently validated the accuracy needed for your job.
Point Cloud: spatial samples for external tools
Point Cloud mode produces colored spatial points rather than a continuous surface. Its PLY output suits point-cloud viewers, inspection, and research or modeling pipelines that accept that format. Check your destination tool before scanning: many CAD applications require conversion or an intermediate importer.
A cloud can help you study a room or an object's overall form, but it does not supply CAD constraints, an editable parametric part, or guaranteed measurement precision. If your next step needs a surface, our point-cloud-to-mesh guide explains the additional reconstruction work.
Capture enough coverage to distinguish a genuinely missing area from a sparse view. Keep an original export before filtering or meshing, and compare the processed result with the captured points so that cleanup does not hide important gaps.
Room Plan: structured indoor layouts
Room Plan mode is intended for structured indoor capture using compatible Apple hardware. Choose it when walls, doors, windows and recognized room objects are more useful than a visually detailed mesh. Available USDZ and JSON outputs serve different purposes: a visual model and structured data for a compatible downstream workflow.
Walk through the room with clear views of walls and openings. Check the resulting layout against the real space before using it in planning. A recognized object is an estimate produced by the capture workflow; it is not a complete inventory of everything in the room.
For interior-design reference, start with the room layout and verify critical dimensions separately. For a more detailed visual surface, compare the same room with LiDAR Mesh. Neither mode replaces a professional survey when the project requires certified measurements.
3D Objects: capture a separate subject
3D Objects mode uses Apple's supported Object Capture workflow for an individual object. It is a better fit than a room-scanning mode when the deliverable is a separate subject that you want to inspect or present in 3D. Check the product page and the app for supported devices and export formats.
Pick a stationary object with visible surface detail, use even lighting, and capture overlapping views around it. Glossy, transparent and featureless objects are harder to reconstruct reliably. Avoid changing the subject or lighting during the capture.
Inspect the underside, narrow parts and any occluded areas before accepting the result. An attractive preview does not prove that a mesh is closed or ready to manufacture. If you need a printable model, validate topology, scale and the target format in your printing workflow.
Gaussian Splatting: small scenes trained on iPhone
Gaussian Splatting mode captures, trains and exports supported small scenes on-device. It also retains calibrated source data for advanced workflows, including video, camera poses, intrinsics and metadata. Depth maps and point-cloud extras depend on depth-capable hardware.
Use it when the goal is a scene that looks convincing as the viewpoint changes. A trained splat is a different representation from a mesh, so confirm that your destination viewer accepts the exported result. Do not choose it solely because a CAD tool asks for geometry.
Plan a smooth capture path with overlapping viewpoints and consistent light. Scene size, storage, device performance and thermal conditions affect training time and results. Start with a compact scene and inspect it from new viewpoints before attempting a larger project.
Dual Camera: video and camera data
Dual Camera mode records synchronized wide and ultra-wide HEVC streams where Apple MultiCam and the device support that combination. Other supported devices use a single-camera capture fallback. It is a video-first workflow, separate from Gaussian Splatting training.
Choose it when footage and per-frame camera or intrinsics-oriented data are the deliverable. Exposure, shutter, stabilization and other capture controls let you prepare repeatable recordings. Check the resulting files and metadata against the tool that will consume them before collecting a large dataset.
Recording more views does not itself create a trained model or improve a mesh. Reconstruction, calibration review or research processing remains a separate step unless you explicitly use a mode that performs it.
A practical first-scan checklist
- Choose a destination application and confirm its accepted file format.
- Check the mode's hardware requirements and your available device storage.
- Start with one small room, object or scene in steady lighting.
- Capture slowly with overlapping views and revisit hidden areas.
- Inspect the result, export it, and open that export in the destination tool.
- Validate important dimensions or quality requirements independently before relying on the result.
If the export is the wrong type, select the mode for the required deliverable instead of repeatedly scanning with the same unsuitable workflow. Keep original captures when post-processing so that you can compare edits with the source.
Common questions
Are modes and exports free?
Yes. Voxelio's scanning modes and export are available free. Free use includes a weekly scanning allowance that resets. Check the current allowance in the app; this guide does not claim unlimited scanning or a fixed quota.
Does every mode require LiDAR?
No. LiDAR-based mesh and depth workflows require compatible depth hardware. Object Capture and Dual Camera have their own requirements, and Gaussian Splatting can use mode-specific optional depth data. Check the linked mode page rather than applying one device rule to all six workflows.
Can I use an export directly in CAD, BIM or a slicer?
Only if the destination supports that output and the result meets your task's requirements. Point clouds may need meshing; models may need cleanup, scale checks or topology repair. Voxelio does not guarantee survey-grade or manufacturing-grade accuracy.
Review all six workflows on the Voxelio website, then choose the mode that matches your next step.