Apple can be notoriously slow about allowing new apps into its app store, so it’s only proper that it took a year before we saw the first software that uses the active TrueDepth 3D sensor first introduced in the iPhone X. The good news is that when it rains, it pours: a number of apps in various states of completion are hitting the market at the end of 2018.
Last week, we profiled Scandy, which is developing middleware to help developers exploit this sensor. This week, VanGogh Imaging–a longtime computer vision shop with experience developing SDKs and algorithms for SLAM, object recognition, photogrammetry, and other 3D-imaging applications–announced its own iPhone X app.
Like other solutions on the market, VanGogh’s Starry Night (get it?) uses the front-facing TrueDepth sensor (the one that points at your face). The company claims that users can capture objects in less than 30 seconds with a fully automated workflow. The final model is watertight, making it ideal for use in gaming, the growing AR/VR market, and basically anywhere else you need a model primarily for visualization purposes.
The basic version of the app is going to be available in 2019, with a more powerful enterprise app coming later, and, if we’re lucky, an SDK in the not too distant future.
