Insta360 Spatial Capture turns your X6 footage into a place you can explore
by Vincent Nguyen · The GadgeteerIf you buy something from a link in this article, we may earn a commission. Learn more
A room can hold a lot of memories that never quite fit into a photograph. Insta360’s new Spatial Capture feature gives its 360 footage another use: turning a recorded space into a 3D scene you can move around and explore afterward.
The feature is scheduled to roll out in the U.S. on September 28 for the Insta360 X6, X5, and X4 Air. You record the space, select the footage in the Insta360 app, and send it off for cloud processing. The finished scene can be shared through an interactive link, so someone else can explore without downloading an app or a file.
Price: $699.99 (X6 Standard Bundle)
Where to buy: Amazon
For me, the appeal starts with places that are about to change. I’d want to capture a workshop before rearranging it, or a family home before the furniture is packed away. Being able to move through a reconstruction could preserve some of the relationship between those details: where the workbench sat, what surrounded it, and how the room felt from another position.
What Spatial Capture adds to 360 video
Spatial Capture uses 3D Gaussian Splatting, usually shortened to 3DGS, to reconstruct a scene from captured imagery. A 360 camera records the surroundings in every direction as you move, giving the processing system different views of the space along your route.
An interactive scene gives the viewer control over where to look and move within the reconstruction. I can see the appeal for an artist documenting an exhibition: someone who missed it could explore how the works occupied the room even after the installation comes down. A studio or venue could offer a similar introduction to its space.
You can also build a guided video from the scene using effects and a custom camera path.
How to capture a space
The shooting technique deserves some attention. Capturing everything around the camera doesn’t remove the need to move through the area and gather different viewpoints. Insta360’s tutorial lays out this approach:
- Start above your head. Attach the camera to a selfie stick and hold it overhead.
- Cover the area slowly. Walk steadily back and forth across the space, keeping neighboring paths no more than 2 meters, about 6.6 feet, apart.
- Capture important details from lower down. After covering the area, keep recording and lower the camera to chest height. Walk separately around key subjects or points of interest to capture additional angles.
- Keep the selection within two minutes. The tutorial recommends recording for under two minutes. If you shoot longer, you can select a two-minute section before generating the scene.
Those lower passes give an important object its own coverage. For a workshop walkthrough, I’d spend that part of the recording around the workbench or a project on display, after covering the room from overhead.
Generate it in the app
Update the Insta360 app, connect the camera, and open Album → Spatial Capture → Create. The app finds compatible footage. Select the clip or the two-minute portion you want to use, then tap Generate.
Processing happens in the cloud, with an estimated turnaround of about one to two hours. You can close the app while it works and receive a notification when the scene is ready, so there’s no need to leave your phone sitting on a progress screen.
Once it’s finished, open the scene and explore using touch controls, a virtual joystick, or your phone’s gyroscope. For a conventional clip, templates such as Ripple and Particle let you add an effect and save an MP4. Custom camera paths provide another way to guide viewers through the scene.
Four free scenes a month
The monthly allowance covers up to four free 3DGS scene generations. That gives compatible-camera owners room to experiment with a few spaces before making this part of a regular creative routine.
The U.S. rollout begins September 28, 2026. Insta360 is introducing the feature alongside the September 19 opening of its first North American flagship store at 1515 Broadway in Times Square, where visitors will be able to try Spatial Capture on the X6.
Price: $699.99 (X6 Standard Bundle)
Where to buy: Amazon
I’m interested in what survives the reconstruction when the space is one I know well. The layout is part of it, but so are the small details that make a room recognizable. I have the X6 and plan to test the feature myself; I’ll add my experience with capture, processing, and the finished scene once I’ve used it.
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