Insta360 Scans

Capture 360° video with an Insta360 camera and turn it into a MultiSet VPS map.

MultiSet AI accepts raw .insv (dual-fisheye) footage from Insta360 cameras as input for the VPS reconstruction pipeline, the stitch to equirectangular happens server-side. With a single hand-held walk through the space plus a printed calibration marker for metric scale, you can turn a 360° capture into centimeter-accurate VPS maps, without any external SLAM hardware. This guide walks you through camera settings, the calibration marker, the walking pattern, and the upload flow on the MultiSet Developer Portal.

Supported Devices

• Insta360 X4

• Insta360 X5

Record in the camera's standard 360 video mode: 5.7K at 60 fps for indoor & low light, 8K at 30 fps for outdoor & natural light. Upload the raw .insv file directly, MultiSet stitches to equirectangular on the server. Footage shot in flat or single-lens mode is not supported.

Scanning Workflow

1. Prerequisites

Item	Notes
Camera & power	Fully charge the camera, bring a spare battery for sessions longer than 20 minutes.
Selfie / invisible stick	Hold the camera above head height so the operator's body is masked out of the stitched panorama.
Calibration marker	A4 ChArUco board printed at 100% scale (see Calibration marker).
Mobile app	Insta360 app, only required for verifying camera settings before capture.

2. Calibration marker (for metric scale)

A single ChArUco marker placed in the scene is what lets the reconstruction lock onto a real-world metric scale. Without it, the reconstructed map will be geometrically correct but at an arbitrary scale.

Download the marker (ChArUco, A4, 4×6, 48 mm / 36 mm, DICT_4X4):

50KB

calib.io_charuco_297x210_4x6_48_36_DICT_4X4.pdf

PDF

Open

Print:

• Print on flat A4 paper at exactly 100% scale. Do not "fit to page", scaling the marker will scale the entire reconstructed map.

• Flatten any curl, place under a clear sheet of glass or acrylic if needed. A wrinkled marker will fail to register cleanly.

Place:

• Lay the marker flat on the floor (or a flat table) near the start of your capture path.

• Keep the marker stationary for the whole capture, do not hold it in your hand.

• Place it where you can pass it twice, at the start and again at the end of the walk, by routing your loop over it.

Capture against the marker:

• When you reach the marker, rotate very slowly above it so the camera sees the full board from several angles.

• The marker should fill roughly 1/4 of the camera frame for at least a couple of seconds per pass.

• Slow rotation matters more than anything else here, fast motion blurs the marker and the metric-scale step will fail to lock.

3. Camera settings

Shooting mode

Set this first, before adjusting any other setting.

1. Push Shooting Mode.

2. Choose Video.

3. Choose 360°.

Exposure and white balance

Lock these before you press record. Auto-exposure is the single biggest cause of grey, smeared, or low-detail reconstructions.

Setting	Value	Why
Shutter (indoor)	Fixed at 1/640	Locks exposure so every frame has the same brightness. Auto-shutter is the #1 cause of grey or blurry results indoors.
Shutter (outdoor)	Auto	Outdoor lighting changes too quickly (sun, shade, sky) for a fixed shutter to track. Let the camera adjust.
White balance	Fixed (any preset, just not Auto)	Locks colour cast, no per-frame colour shift, sharper textures.
ISO	Auto	Fine to leave on Auto, as long as shutter is set correctly for the environment.
Resolution / FPS (indoor & low light)	5.7K at 60 fps	The higher frame rate keeps frames sharp in dim, hand-held capture where motion blur is the main risk.
Resolution / FPS (outdoor & natural light)	8K at 30 fps	Plenty of light means motion blur is less of a concern, so the extra resolution gives the pipeline more usable feature detail. Always shoot in 360 video mode. The raw .insv is dual-fisheye, MultiSet stitches it to equirectangular server-side.

If you can only fix one setting indoors, fix the shutter.

Where to find these settings

1. Swipe down from the top of the camera screen.

2. Tap the gear / settings icon to open camera settings.

3. Open Image Settings.

Then set:

Setting	Value
Codec	H.265
Bitrate	High
Video Sharpness	High

4. Walking pattern

• Speed: 1.0–1.5 m/s, slow walking pace, "museum tempo".

• Smooth, continuous motion, no stops, no jerks, no rotation in place.

• Turn at corners with a wide arc, not a pivot.

• Stay 0.5–1 m away from walls and furniture.

• Keep the camera at a steady height, don't bob or swing the stick.

• Hold the camera at head height or just above, so the operator's body is masked in the stitch.

A 360° camera sees in every direction at once, so unlike a phone scan you don't need to think about where you're pointing it, only where you walk. The path you choose is what guarantees full coverage and clean loop closure. Match the pattern to your space type below.

Choose your pattern

Space type	Pattern	Notes
Small room (< 50 m²)	Single loop	One perimeter pass, offset ~0.7 m from the walls. The 360° camera sees the whole interior as you walk.
Large open area (indoor hall, plaza, courtyard, parking lot)	Perimeter + lattice	Loop the perimeter first, then fill the interior with parallel sweeps ~3–5 m apart.
Two or more connected rooms	Figure-8 / double loop	Loop each room separately, but pass through each doorway twice (once in each direction).
Long, narrow space (corridor, aisle, hallway)	Corridor sweep	Walk down one side, turn at the end with a wide arc, walk back along the other side.
Object or landmark (statue, kiosk, exhibit)	Orbit	Walk a full circle around the object at ~1.5–2 m distance, then a second wider circle if there's surrounding context.

5. Loop closure

• Return to your starting point at the end of the walk.

• Overlap the first ~5 metres of the path at the end so the start and end see the same content from a similar viewpoint.

• Loop closure is what lets the reconstruction recognise that the start and end are the same place. Without it the scene can drift and end up warped or "open".

• Place the calibration marker near the start/end of the loop so the camera passes over it twice, that gives the metric-scale step the best chance of locking on.

6. Export

• Export the .insv file from the camera or the Insta360 app, no stitching is required, MultiSet's pipeline handles stitching internally.

• Each upload .zip must contain exactly one .insv file. One .insv produces one map.

• Keep the .zip size under 50 GB.

Capturing a larger area? Record it as multiple separate captures, each in its own .insv file. Upload each .insv as its own .zip so MultiSet processes them as independent maps, then combine them into a single coordinate frame with MapSet : Multiple Maps.

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Uploading to MultiSet

1. Open the MultiSet Developer Portal and choose Upload Existing Map.

2. Scan Type: select 360 video.

3. Select Provider: choose Insta360.

4. File Format: select Zip (.insv file compressed in .zip format).

5. Pick the map location, then drag-and-drop the .zip (containing a single .insv) on the Upload Map step.

Keep in mind

1. Record in 360 video mode: 5.7K at 60 fps for indoor & low light, 8K at 30 fps for outdoor & natural light. Upload the raw .insv, MultiSet stitches server-side.

2. Walk at a steady pace with the camera at head height.

3. One .insv file per .zip, one .zip produces one map. For larger areas, upload each .insv separately and combine them with a MapSet.

4. Ensure file size is not more than 50 GB.

Allow up to one hour for processing. You'll receive an email notification once the map is ready.

Anti-checklist (do NOT do)

• Don't shoot indoors with auto-shutter or auto-exposure on (outdoor capture is the exception, leave shutter on Auto there).

• Don't shoot with auto white balance.

• Don't pause the recording mid-walk.

• Don't rotate in one spot (except slowly above the calibration marker).

• Don't hold the calibration marker in your hand during the recording.

• Don't modify the scene during the capture (moving chairs, toggling lights, opening or closing doors).

• Don't make LED display screens the main subject, they emit light that changes with viewing angle, and the reconstruction can't recover crisp detail on them.

• Don't shoot in mixed harsh / direct-window light without dimming or covering the windows. Strong sunlight reflections and glare are the hardest content to reconstruct.