Epic Games releases RealityScan 2.1
Epic Games has released RealityScan 2.1, the latest version of its professional desktop photogrammetry software, formerly known as RealityCapture.
For larger studios, the update adds new options for Lidar-augmented scanning workflows, and for automating scan processing across server farms.
However, there are also changes that will be relevant to smaller-scale projects, including improvements to UV unwrapping and render cameras.
A desktop photogrammetry tool for games, VFX, visualization and urban planning
First released in 2016 and originally known as RealityCapture, RealityScan generates accurate triangle-based meshes of real-world objects, from people and props to environments.
Its core photogrammetry toolset, for generating 3D meshes from sets of source images, is augmented by support for laser scan data.
The software includes features aimed at aerial surveying and urban planning, but is also used in the entertainment industry to generate assets for use in games and VFX.
RealityCapture was acquired by Epic Games in 2021, which made the software available free to artists and studios with revenue under $1 million/year last year.
RealityScan 2.1: new options for Lidar-based workflows
As with the previous release, RealityScan 2.1 expands support for Lidar-based workflows.
Users can now import data from SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) scanners mounted on autonomous robots and drones.
The data – including trajectories, images and point clouds – can then be merged with photogrammetry, or other laser scans.
Users can also now import ASPRS classes from point clouds in LAS and LAZ format, making it possible to automatically remove unwanted elements like cars or trees from the scan.
New features for automating scan processing
There are also a lot of new features for automating workflows, with new command line interface options for importing and exporting data, including importing COLMAP projects.
A new remote command plugin makes it possible to control the software remotely through REST or gRPC APIs, enabling studios to offload tasks to different machines within a server farm.
There is also a new command-line build for Linux servers, which runs in a bundled Wine environment.
Other new features and workflow improvements
Other changes include the option to render images of models from the camera positions for the source images in photogrammetry data sets, either undistorted or with matching distortion.
It is also now possible to render surface normals in either camera space or world space.
The UV unwrapping toolset gets a new colored checker map for visualizating UV distortion.
For exporting registration data, RealityScan now supports OpenCV; and XMP export is now available for both undistorted and the original distorted images.
Price, system requirements and release date
RealityScan 2.1 is compatible with Windows 8+ and Windows Server 2008+. The CLI build for Linux servers is compatible with Ubuntu 24.04 or Fedora 39.
The software is CUDA-based, so you need a CUDA 3.0-capable NVIDIA GPU.
RealityScan is free to artists and studios with revenue under $1 million/year. For larger studios, subscriptions cost $1,250/seat/year.
Read an overview of the new features in RealityScan 2.1 on the product website
Read a full list of new features in RealityScan 2.1 in the online release notes
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