We've watched a lot of first scans. The failures are remarkably consistent — and all fixable.
1. Scanning too fast
The sensor needs overlapping views to lock geometry. If the on-screen model is lagging behind your movement, you're outrunning it. Fix: slow to a stroll; Scanstead's live pacing nudges tell you when you're pushing it.
2. Skimming the corners
Corners are where walls meet and where the model anchors itself. Racing past them leaves the geometry soft. Fix: give each corner a full second of camera attention as you pass.
3. Standing in one spot and spinning
Pirouetting in the room center feels efficient but gives the sensor one viewpoint of everything. Parallax is what makes the depth accurate. Fix: walk the perimeter instead — near the walls, facing them.
4. Scanning through open doorways
Point the camera through an open door too long and the next room starts bleeding into this scan. Fix: in whole-house mode, scan one room per pass and walk through the doorway to start the next; the merge handles alignment.
5. Fighting mirrors and glass walls
LiDAR bounces off mirrors and sails through glass. A mirrored closet wall can read as a phantom room. Fix: sweep past mirrors without lingering; the structural model discards most artifacts, and you can rescan a single room if one slips through.
Twenty minutes of good habits and the scans stop being a skill and start being a button.