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Epic Games has a free app that scans your world into video games

RealityScan turns your smartphone into a 3D scanner

Realityscan app being used on a chair
Image: Capturing Reality

Epic Games just announced a new photogrammetry app for iOS and Android devices, RealityScan. A limited beta on iOS is already full, with an Android beta promised for later this year.

The app helps bring real-world objects into your 3D workflow; whether that’s for 3D artists, game creators, or anything else you can think of. It’s a trimmed-down version of the RealityCapture app for Windows, which can “reconstruct objects and scenes of any size from images or laser scans.”

The best part? The app takes all of the complications out of scanning so you can bring, according to Epic Games, “ultra-detailed, digital models of real-world objects into their virtual projects.” Check it out in the embedded video below.

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While in use, the app walks you through what you need to do to scan, then imports detailed 3D models. That includes real-time and Augmented Reality feedback, so you don’t miss an inch of your object. The more images you take, the better the final model will look.

You can go back in and take more images if you’re not happy with the result. Then you export to Sketchfab, the premier home of 3D and AR models on the web, which Epic Games acquired in July of 2021.

Maybe temper your expectations at this early stage. The Verge got some hands-on scanning experience, and the scans of their office chair didn’t exactly fill us with confidence.

That said, iOS devices with LiDAR sensors like the iPad Pro and recent iPhone Pro models are likely to create better quality models than the iPhone 12 mini that they used.

The iOS beta is already filled, with 10,000 creators onboard. Epic Games is planning an open beta on iOS later this spring, so you won’t have long to wait to get your hands on the new app. Android users will have to wait until later this year.

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Maker, meme-r, and unabashed geek with nearly half a decade of blogging experience. If it runs on electricity (or even if it doesn't), Joe probably has one around his office somewhere. His hobbies include photography, animation, and hoarding Reddit gold.

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