Epic Games announced on Monday a new app called “RealityScan,” which will let anyone use the iPhone camera to scan objects and turn them into high-fidelity 3D models. The app was developed using technologies from Capturing Reality, a company specializing in photogrammetry that was acquired by Epic in 2021.
As the company explained, capturing real-world assets can be tricky since this usually requires advanced equipment. However, more creators and hobbyists are embracing 3D photogrammetry, and for these people RealityScan makes the whole process much easier.
RealityCapture is a state-of-the-art photogrammetric software able to reconstruct objects and scenes of any size from images or laser scans, yielding 3D scans with unparalleled accuracy and mesh quality at speeds many times faster than competing software. […] Capturing real-world assets for digital experiences has traditionally been complicated, technical, and labor-intensive—but now it’s as simple as unlocking your smartphone.
Using RealityScan is quite simple, although you need to follow all the instructions to ensure that the object will be captured in a good quality. For instance, the app needs at least 20 shots of the object at different angles, and having good lighting and a clean background will certainly improve the result.
Once the capture is complete, the 3D object can be exported and uploaded to Sketchfab – a popular platform for publishing and discovering 3D, AR, and VR content. These models can be used for a variety of purposes, such as turning them into augmented reality objects or adding them to games with the Unreal Engine.
RealityScan is the first step on our journey to make 3D scanning available to all creators. We believe that this tool will greatly help people of all skill sets to better understand basic scanning principles, bridging the gap between beginners and professionals. We’re excited to develop the app with feedback from the community and to introduce new features as we approach the full release.
Michal Jancosek, cofounder Capturing Reality
For now, RealityScan is being released as a limited beta. Users interested in trying out the app can download it via TestFlight, while the official release is expected later this year. According to Epic Games, an Android version of the app is also in the works.
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