Room to 3D: scan a place and export it as GLB, OBJ or PLY
Updated October 5, 2026
A set for a short film, a scale reference for a game, a base block for a visualisation: scanning a real place saves hours of modelling. Lidark scans a room or a gallery with the LiDAR of an iPhone Pro, offline, and exports the 3D model as GLB, OBJ or PLY (Lidark Pro). A LiDAR mesh is deliberately coarse: great for a place, not for a small object. This page says what you get, and what you will need to touch up.
What Lidark exports
With Lidark Pro, a survey is shared in several forms:
- GLB: binary glTF, read by Blender, Sketchfab and most viewers and 3D tools. It carries the photo texture when the model has been textured.
- OBJ, and OBJ ZIP with its textures: universal, accepted by almost every modelling program.
- PLY: light and binary, handy for MeshLab, CloudCompare and point-cloud pipelines.
- The top-down 2D plan exports for free as an image or a PDF.
What the mesh is worth
The iPhone’s LiDAR measures out to about five metres with a resolution on the order of a centimetre. The result is a mesh faithful to the shape of a room, a staircase or a gallery, with slightly rounded edges and fine details missing. It is an excellent base for a background set, a block-out of volumes, a scale reference or a preview, but dimensions remain those of an indicative, non-certified survey.
It is not a ready-to-use asset for a foreground: you will need to clean it, simplify it or rebuild it. For a small detailed object, photogrammetry is a better fit, as our comparison of 3D scanning apps explains.
From scan to Blender in a few steps
The typical path:
- Scan the room slowly, covering walls, floor and ceiling, then let the app finish the textured model (Lidark Pro).
- Export as GLB (or OBJ ZIP) from the survey sheet and send it to your computer by AirDrop or the share sheet.
- Check it first in the free web viewer: it opens PLY, OBJ, GLB and ZIP archives, without uploading the file.
- Import it into Blender or your engine. Scale follows LiDAR measurements; depending on the software, an axis rotation may be needed.
Textures, colours and cleanliness
A Lidark Pro survey is coloured from the camera images, with a photo texture once the model is ready. Areas the camera never saw, reflections and glass stay approximate. As for cleanliness, expect a few holes (areas hidden behind furniture) and slightly wavy walls: a smoothing and hole-filling pass in your software is normal.
Rights and privacy
Your scans are yours and stay on your iPhone: Lidark sends them nowhere and has no account and no ads. If you scan a public or private place for a project, ask the owner’s agreement, and mind the people present: the model must not be used to identify them.
To get started, see room plan before a renovation or go back to all use cases.
Frequently asked questions
Which formats does Lidark export?
With Lidark Pro: GLB, OBJ (and textured OBJ ZIP) and PLY for the 3D model. The 2D plan exports for free as an image or a PDF. Scanning and the way back to the entrance are free.
Can I use the model directly in a game?
As a background set or a base block, yes, after cleaning. A LiDAR mesh is coarse and irregular: it is not a ready-to-use asset for a foreground.
Is the model’s scale real?
LiDAR measures distances, so the model follows real-world scale, with possible drift over long paths. Check it in your software, and expect to rotate axes depending on the tool.
Can I view the model without software?
Yes: Lidark’s free web viewer opens PLY, OBJ, GLB and ZIP archives in the browser. The file is read locally and is not sent to any server.
Do I need a special iPhone?
Yes: an iPhone Pro with LiDAR (iPhone 12 Pro and later Pro models). Without LiDAR you cannot scan, only browse the example survey.