Epic Games has developed a mobile app that can convert photos into 3D scans. Capturing Reality, which Epic bought last year, created photogrammetric software called RealityCapture. This software can quickly convert laser scans or images into 3D scans. With the RealityScan app, Epic hopes to give users access to the same technology directly from their phones.
This app is intended for content developers to be able to scan real-world objects at any time for use in their projects. After you sign in with your Epic Games account, the app asks you to take at least 20 photos of an item. Alternatively, you can hold your finger on the shutter button while moving around the subject. After the app processes the images and converts them into a 3D object with the help of RealityCapture servers, you can export the scan to Sketchfab (a 3D asset platform that Epic acquired in 2021).
You can then sell this object to other creatives or use them for your own 3D, virtual reality and augmented reality projects. Game developers in particular may find the app useful when they need a specific item to embed in a virtual environment. The fact that Epic has recently opened access to Unreal Engine 5 shows another prominent decision in this area.
Epic is beta testing the app with a limited number of iOS users before rolling out broader, early access to iPhone this spring. The Android version of RealityScan will be available again later this year, on an unknown date…