The New Matterport Blur Brush

Matterport just announced the release of their new editing tool, the Matterport Blur Brush, that offers added security for your customers. Matterport makes it easy to share properties simply and securely with their all-in-one 3D data platform that produces the “digital twin” of any space, indoors or out. Now, with their new Blur Brush tool, those properties can be featured without worrying about security concerns.

But with all of those virtual tours come occasions for another type of concern: privacy.

Fortunately, Matterport has been working to help you protect your clients. The release of the new Blur Brush tool allows you to get rid of images that might compromise a seller’s privacy and security. After your 3D tour has been created, you can use the tool to blur the faces and protect the identities of people photographed during the capture phase.

But you can do more than that to remove sensitive images that reveal personal information. You can blur photographs, college degrees, or school pennants on the wall. You can cover up personal data on a document or obscure the view of a computer screen. You can even take the Blur Brush “outside” and erase the home’s address or the license plate on a vehicle in the driveway.

Of course, there are other ways of dealing with sensitive materials. For instance, if you prepare a kitchen for a 3D scan, you can remove anything that should not be included in advance. You can also select virtual staging with Matterport to augment the 3D scans after the fact. The Blur Brush simply gives you another tool in your toolbelt to improve the security of your Matterport tours.

How do you use the Blur Brush tool? Once you have enabled the tool in your Matterport account settings, you select the floor of the house where the unwanted image resides. Go into edit mode on the model page and click on the + button to add a blur. Adjust your brush size to fit the image you want to obscure. Paint over the area; the more painting, the more blur. It is necessary to blur an unwanted image from every scan position that includes the image. So, when you are done with that image in one position, press the “✔” button to move to the next location. Repeat with each unwanted image in the tour.

If you are unhappy with the results of any blur, you can delete what you have done, at least until you select “apply blur” to finalize your work. At that point, all changes you have made become permanent.

The Blur Brush is still in beta form, so there are a few things to consider. Blur does not apply, for example, to the Dollhouse view in Matterport, only to the panorama – at least for the time being. Fortunately, images in Dollhouse view are already somewhat blurry. It is also important to note that the process, once finalized, is permanent. You must completely reprocess the Matterport space if you need to make changes after submitting. You can delete any blur while you are still in edit mode, but once you hit “apply blur” and the changes have been submitted, you cannot undo.

Blur Brush can also be used in conjunction with the automatic face blurring feature available in the Matterport Capture app. While it is still in beta form, the tool cannot yet alter automatic face blurring, but plans are in the works at Matterport to address that functionality in the future.

If you are an agent who wants to take full advantage of the available technology to sell more homes with Matterport, you now have a new tool in your hands to do so with the safety and security of your customers in mind. Keep that in mind while you are deciding if Matterport is the right choice for your business.