Here you will find all the answers to your iGUIDE camera system-related questions. There are a series of educational units, ordered chronologically, that you can use to learn how to operate the IMS-5 camera system. Please update your camera to the latest firmware as soon as possible. Click here to download the latest firmware.

Let’s identify the parts.  The circular feature on the top of the camera system is the laser scanner.  That’s where the laser is emitted that measures everything in a room when a panorama is created.  It measures a 270 degree field of view on a horizontal plane at the height of the laser scanner.  You can change what gets measured by changing the camera systems height. Adjust tripod height such that lens to floor distance is 4’ or 120cm as the iGUIDE viewer will assume that distance by default.

NOTE: The rotator in the video below is an older version. The newer version does not have the two blue adjustments knobs. This is completely normal and is nothing to be concerned about.

The aluminum box on the side of the camera system is called the system controller.

The small nub sticking out of the system controller is the WIFI dongle.

The USB drive where all the data is stored is also plugged into the system controller.  It is located under the DSLR body.

The DSLR body is visible when standing behind the camera.  All the settings should be left the same. The mode dial must always be set to M.

The system battery is located on the side opposite the system controller.  It doesn’t need to be removed to be charged.

The panoramic rotator is located at the bottom of the camera system and is what you connect the the tripod or quick release plate.

The lens is visible from the front. It has a 185 degree field of view in all directions.  That means it can see the tripod and ceiling.  It is fixed focus and fixed aperture.  This means it is very robust because it has no moving parts.  It’s prone to collecting dust and should be cleaned before starting a shoot and whenever it needs it.

The spirit level that is inserted into the hot shoe mount is used to level the camera.

No data is stored on the device, it’s all on the camera.  All of the data is stored on a USB drive plugged into the system controller.  Any USB drive can be used if it physically fits into the space provided.  It’s a good idea to buy a few extra USB drives and leave them in your case so that if you forget one in your computer you can still capture data at a property.

On an android device

1. Select WIFI from settings.
2. Choose the camera. It will be named planitar-XXXXXX.
3. Enter the password p1234567.
4. Open Google Chrome and enter the numbers 192.168.5.1 into the URL bar.
5. When the survey app has loaded tap the three dots at the top right corner of the screen.
6. Select Add to Home Screen to create an icon on the home screen for easy access.

The icon on the home screen has the advantage of loading the survey app full screen without the URL bar and is easier to use on smaller screens (phones).

On android devices there may be an exclamation mark on the wifi icon signifying that the there is no outgoing internet connection.  This is totally normal and can be ignored.

When shooting a property, the connection process is very simple.  As long as WIFI is on as the camera system is powered on your smart device will automatically connect to it via WIFI.  All you must do is wake up your device and tap the icon on the home screen.  This will load survey app to exactly where you left it.

The first time you connect to the camera and when you are practicing at home you will have to manually select the camera because your device will usually be connected to your home wifi.

To create a project, tap in the field provided and enter the number and street name for the property.  You will also be required to enter in an exterior wall thickness.  The exterior wall thickness should be measured at the front door with a tape measure or a ruler.   Always measure the exterior wall thickness at the front door and ignore the trim surrounding the door.  Imagine you are standing in a doorway and you turn to the right or left to see the wall edge on.  Measure the distance from the inside of the drywall to the outside of the exterior (brick, siding, etc.).

Once you have entered a project name the interface will automatically transition to the Floor screen.  From here you can enter a floor name to map.  Each floor is mapped separately.

A floor represents any space that will have it’s own floorplan.  This includes exterior buildings like guest houses or garages.

Once you have created a floor the interface will automatically transition to the survey screen.  This is where are the controls are for operating the camera and viewing the data you have collected.

NOTE:  There is no way to delete a panoramas.  You will have to overwrite them.

There are a series of tabs at the bottom that can be tapped at any time to access different screens.  Tapping on the pano tab allows you to view a list of all the panoramas that have been taken on a floor and re-select them.  A selected pano can be viewed, moved, rotated, and reshot.  The Floor tab will allow you to select or create a floor at any time.  The project tab will allow you to manage the projects stored on the USB drive by selecting, creating, or deleting them.  The Project tab also shows you the remaining space left on the drive.  The Manage tab will allow you to access key settings that will be useful for shooting troubleshooting and managing the cameras operation.

There are a series of indicators in the corner of the survey interface.  They represent, from left to right: system battery level, battery time remaining in hours and minutes, tilt, speed, and dslr battery level.  The project name, current floor and current pano will always be displayed to the right of those indicators.

The rest of the button will be explained in subsequent sections.

When a panorama is created the entire space within range is measured and photographed.  Multiple panoramas for different spaces are then combined to create an entire representation of the house in raw data.  This raw data is then used by professional drafters to create the iGUIDE and draw floor plans.

The images are just as important as the laser measurement data in this process.  When the drafters look at the measurement data they will often refer to the images to determine what was measured.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The mode dial on the DSLR must be set to M to create a panorama.

The procedure for creating a panorama is mostly the same regardless of shooting conditions, property size.  Here is the process step by step:

1. Turn the lasers on by tapping the toggle button beneath the word laser. This will only have to be done once per shoot and is required for measurements to be taken.
2. Press the +1 button. This creates a name in Survey for the panorama.  This name will be a number starting with 000 and growing by one each time the button is subsequently pressed.  It will also be visible next to the house name and floor name at the bottom of the interface.  Panoramas can be given custom names from the Pano screen.  This is a handy feature if you want to label a pano for room labelling later.
3. Place the camera in a space that you wish to measure.  It is not required that it be in the middle of the room or anywhere in particular but the camera should have an unobstructed view.  Because a 360 degree panorama doesn’t require the same kind of framing as a regular still image, the cameras location it is much more flexible with regard to the images.
4. Point the camera at something of interest or something that identifies the space. The first thing people will see when they load the panorama later will be what it was first directed at.
5. Rotate the camera slightly to confirm that it is resting in one of the three positions on the rotator. It doesn’t matter which of the three positions you choose and you can ignore all of the markings on the rotator.  It is preconfigured during assembly.
6. Level the camera using the spirit level on the dslr hotshoe mount. Level the camera at the start of each panorama and don’t change it when transitioning from the first position to any subsequent ones.
7. Tap the button on the back of the dslr that turns on the live view. To the right of the viewfinder, next to a red dot, with an image of a camera back on it.  This will turn on the cameras LCD so you can see what the camera sees.
8. While looking at the dslr tap the rectangle in survey that says daylight, this is a white balance selection and will affect the colors of the panorama images. A dropdown will appear with white balance options to select.  Select different option and look at the lcd to judge their accuracy.  Choose the white balance that suits the scene by eye.
9. Rotate the wheel on top of the dslr that’s net to the shutter button. This will control the brightness of the image that appears on the lcd.  Choose a suitable brightness for the scene.
10. Tap the button that looks like a camera body or the Shoot Panorama button. The camera will take three pictures and merge them in camera to create an HDR composite images.  You will see a box that says processing image while this takes place.  When complete a preview image will be displayed that can be pinched to zoom.
11. Rotate the camera clockwise to the next position on the rotator and tap the Shoot Panorama button again. Another preview image will appear representing the scene that was just captured.
12. Rotate the camera clockwise to the next position on the rotator and tap the Panorama Shoot button for one final time to capture the last image required to complete the panorama.

When complete the three thumbnail images for the shot indicators should be populated with three distinct images.

The laser measurement data for the space has also been captured but isn’t visible.  Tap on the small white icon in the corner of the grey box in the bottom right hand corner of the main preview image.  This will cause the canvas to expand allowing you to see all the data that has been captured thus far.

The color of the data is important, here are the definitions of each colour:

LIGHT BLUE:  This is laser data that has just been captured or that has been selected.

DARK BLUE:  This data represents all the measurements for all panorama that are not currently selected.  This data cannot be moved or rotated.

GREY: This data is gathered during automatic mapping mode.  It cannot be moved or selected.

GREEN:  This data represents what is in the camera systems field of view. It’s what the camera is currently seeing in real time.

YELLOW:  When a move button is tapped the light blue data will change to yellow signifying that it can be moved on-screen using one finger and drag.  Two fingers and drag to rotate.

Stitch Software

If you are comfortable with the camera system please move on to the Stitch software section to learn about post processing the iGUIDE data!