To capture a room mesh with Voxelio, use Mesh Mode on a supported LiDAR-capable iPhone, choose a quality and appearance option, scan the visible surfaces and inspect the exported OBJ + MTL files. Keep materials and any texture files together. Check geometry separately from colour before relying on the scan.
When is Mesh Mode the right choice?
Choose Mesh Mode when you need connected room or environment surfaces as a 3D reference. If you need structured walls, openings and furniture data, inspect Room Plan instead. If your downstream tool needs samples rather than faces, use Point Cloud Mode.
Decide what the scan must show before starting. A whole room and one furniture corner need different coverage. Write down which visible surfaces matter and which occluded areas will remain outside the scan’s evidence.
How should you prepare the room?
Keep the scene stable and make a safe path around the area you need to capture. Moving objects can make review harder. Ensure you can see and reach the relevant viewpoints without creating a trip hazard. If texture appearance matters, aim for a consistent lighting arrangement and check the preview rather than assuming that colour will repair missing geometry.
Keep a simple independent reference for dimensions that matter to your later task. This helps you inspect the result’s scale; it does not turn a phone scan into a certified survey.
Which settings should you choose?
Voxelio provides Lo-Fi, Mid and Max quality options to balance detail, processing cost and file size. Choose based on what you need to inspect and the resources available on the device. A higher setting is not a promise of a particular dimensional tolerance.
Appearance options include neutral output, surface classification colours and real-colour texture baking. Classification colours help review detected surface types; they are not camera photographs. Optional texture-atlas or photo-texture output supplies appearance information alongside the geometry.
What should you watch during capture?
Move deliberately and check whether the relevant surfaces appear in the preview. Avoid treating a single sweep as complete coverage if the task depends on surfaces visible from different positions. Stop and inspect areas around edges, openings and furniture rather than assuming that the reconstruction saw behind them.
If tracking or coverage appears poor, reconsider the capture before exporting a large dataset. A repeat of a smaller, well-defined area can be more useful than a larger scan with uncertain geometry.
How do you check the export?
The main Mesh export is OBJ + MTL, with optional textures. Copy the complete export together and open it in the destination tool. A missing material or texture reference can make a valid mesh look blank; that is different from missing geometry.
- Check whether the intended surfaces exist, including edges and openings.
- Inspect the mesh from more than one view.
- Confirm the destination tool’s interpretation of scale and axes.
- Review materials and textures separately from the surface geometry.
- Record gaps and known limitations alongside the asset.
Can you use the file directly for every CAD or printing task?
No. A room reference may be useful as an open mesh, while manufacturing or printing may need repair, remodelling or a validated closed surface. Confirm the destination workflow’s requirements. Do not infer suitability for fabrication from the presence of an OBJ file.
For background, read how iPhone depth becomes geometry. If you need point samples instead, use the PLY capture checklist. Voxelio modes and export are free, with a weekly capture allowance that resets each week.