Part 1: Digital Twin VR Experience - Introduction

Hello Manifold Tech and the community! My name is Keith, and I'm a computer science student in Hong Kong who has a little experience when it comes to 3D scanning or Digital Twin projects. I'm currently approaching to my final year of my Computer Science degree, and I had to decide the topic of my final year project in order for me to graduate. I thought of the topic "Digital Travel Experience for infrequent traveler: An interactive travel simulation from pre-booking to post-flight." since it was topic that I wanted to try when I participated in the "Cathay Hackathon 2023".

As I was planning for the project, I was given the opportunity to try Manifold Tech's flagship product, "MindPalace-360", which allowed me to dive deeper into the projects of digital twin models and learn more about 3D concepts such as Point Cloud and LiDAR scanning. With this opportunity, I hope that I can achieve a virtual reality environment so I can find ways to implement into my final year project.

Before I can share my experience, here are the general procedure:

1. Gather 3D point cloud data with a LiDAR Scanner

2. Setting up the folder structure

3. Import the 3D scanning files into any 3D LiDAR Software

4. Upload the .las format on a WebGL based point-cloud renderer

5. Setup the VR Headset and Potree Web Server

Also, we will need a few things to get started:

1. 3D LiDAR Scanner

2. Windows Computer with dGPU (Apple computers are not advisable at the moment)

3. VR Headset

4. 3D LiDAR Software (latest version)

5. WebGL based point-cloud renderer (Potree)

I'm currently using the MindPalace-360 for my 3D scanning, a Windows laptop, and a Meta Quest Pro for this project. For the application software, I will be using MindCloud for importing my 3D scanning, and Potree for converting Potree format and viewing my digital twin with the VR Headset. As for the location, I will be scanning at my family house, a nearby children's playground, the football pitch, and the beach side.

Please stay tune for my next sharing and I will talk about my scanning procedure in the next post!