Epic Games releases RealityCapture 1.3
Epic Games has released RealityCapture 1.3, the latest version of the photogrammetry software.
The release adds experimental new mosaicing-based UV unwrapping and texturing options, and improves performance, with model reconstruction now “up to twice as fast”.
Converts large mixed data sets into clean production assets
Released in 2016, and acquired by Epic Games in 2021, RealityCapture generates accurate triangle-based meshes of real-world objects, from people and props to environments.
It is capable of tackling very large mixed data sets, even on laptops and low-end hardware.
The software includes functionality aimed at aerial surveying and urban planning, but is also used in the entertainment industry to generate assets for use in games and VFX projects.
RealityCapture 1.3: mosaicing-based UV unwrapping and texture generation
RealityCapture 1.3 introduces experimental mosaicing-based UV unwrap and texturing options.
For UV unwrapping, the Mosaicing option reduces the number of separate UV islands generated when automatically UV unwrapping a model, reducing the work necessary to prepare it for real-time use, but is slower than the legacy Geometric unwrap method.
Mosaicing-based texturing “effectively uses a single original source photograph to generate the texture for each triangle on [the] mesh”, resulting in sharper details in textures.
Direct export to Nira and PLY import
Other new features include direct upload to Nira, a new online platform for rendering massive datasets like large 3D scans in real time for online review sessions with clients and collaborators.
It is also now possible to import 3D models in PLY format.
Performance and workflow improvements
The update also brings further performance improvements, with model reconstruction now “up to twice as fast” and texturing “up to three times faster” than the previous release.
Workflow improvements include improved automated model generation, “optimiz[ing] the workflow for generating cleaned, textured [models] down to a single click”.
Pricing and system requirements
RealityCapture 1.3 is available for Windows 7+ and Windows Server 2008+.
It’s CUDA-based, so you will need a CUDA 3.0-capable Nvidia GPU. The new model reconstruction and shading features require Compute Capability 6.1+.
Perpetual Enterprise licences cost $3,750; pay-per-input (PPI) plans, where the software is free, but users buy credits to process scan data, cost $10 for 3,500 credits, or $20 for 8,000 credits.
Read an overview of the new features in RealityCapture 1.3 on the product website
Read a full list of new features in RealityCapture 1.3 in the online changelog
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