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Epic Games has purchased Photogrammetry Software Developer “Capturing Reality”

Epic Games today announced the purchase of photogrammetry software developer Capturing Reality for an undisclosed fee, to help the company improve how it handles 3D scans of environments and objects. This acquisition will make it easier to bring real-life objects into Unreal Engine.

Photogrammetry basically uses 2D images to create a 3D object in a virtual space, and RealityCapture is the state-of-the-art photogrammetric software for 3D scans (creating 3D scans with “unmatched mesh quality and precision”).

RealityCapture software allows developers to create high-quality 3D models from disordered photos or laser scans. Epic Games intends to integrate Capturing Reality development into the Unreal Engine ecosystem to make it easier for developers to upload images and instantly create photorealistic 3D models.

RealityCapture has found use in a number of industries, and is used for video, film, and video game effects.

Under the terms of the agreement, Capturing Reality will continue to support and collaborate with partners in gaming, visual effects, cinema, surveying, architecture, engineering, construction, and cultural heritage. The company will continue to work with companies that do not use the Unreal Engine.

As the official press release reads:

“Today we are thrilled to announce that Capturing Reality, creator of RealityCapture, the state-of-the-art photogrammetric software for 3D scans, has joined the Epic Games family. Capturing Reality’s software is 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.”

“Epic plans to integrate Capturing Reality’s powerful photogrammetry software into the Unreal Engine ecosystem, making it even easier for developers to upload images and create photorealistic 3D models in instants.

Capturing Reality will continue support and development for partners across industries like gaming, visual effects, film, surveying, architecture, engineering, construction and cultural heritage. This also includes companies that do not use Unreal Engine.”

With Capturing Reality joining Epic Games, the company has updated its pricing and licensing plans, reducing costs for both new and existing customers.

The purchase price and financial details of the deal are still unknown. However, Epic announced some reductions to the pricing rates for Capturing Reality’s services/software, dropping the price of the license fee from nearly $18,000 to $3,750.

“The Capturing Reality team is made up of some of the most impressive experts in the field of photogrammetry,” said Marc Petit, General Manager of Unreal Engine. “The team has built a powerful solution with RealityCapture, and we’re fortunate to have them as part of the Epic Games family.”

“Our mission at Capturing Reality is to give our customers the most powerful and easy-to-use photogrammetry solution on the market, so they have the freedom to focus on their business,” said Capturing Reality Co-founder Michal Jancosek, PhD.

This marks another developer that Epic has snapped up recently. Mediatonic’s game division, the makers of Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout was purchased by Epic just last week.

Back in 2019, Epic Games also acquired Quixel which hosted a library of photogrammetry “megascans” that developers could easily access. The companies back then announced that the Megascans library was completely free for use with Unreal Engine.

Capturing Reality is now part of Epic Games

Stay tuned for more!

52 thoughts on “Epic Games has purchased Photogrammetry Software Developer “Capturing Reality””

  1. Soon we will have two main engines (available to all developers):

    – Unreal Engine from Epic (with support of Sony and Tencent)
    – ID Tech engine just acquired by Microsoft with Bethesda ID Software team

    This was sad that Zenimax locked ID Tech engine for own studios for so many years. I hope that now ID Software will open own engine to all PC and Xbox game developers like in old days.

    1. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight because CryEngine, Unity, Unigine, Lumberyard, Frostbite, Dunia, Source, AnvilNext are all engines NO ONE uses! /s

  2. Me : Disney is a monopoly.
    Peanut brain : Yes, yes it is they own and control too much stuff, fvck Disney.

    Me : Epic (own by Tencent) has been creating a monopoly with all these buyings and acquisitions of key software in recent years.
    Peanut brain : ReeEEEEEEEEEE, you don’t know what you talking about you just hating on Epic, they have an OpEN PLatFoRm and Tencent don’t own them they just the 2nd biggest share holder in the company, that means nothing Tim still the Boss.

    Emeperor Xi : -Sneezes- Who dares to question my powers?!

    1. “Me : Epic (own by Tencent) has been creating a monopoly with all these buyings and acquisitions of key software in recent years.”

      Tencent have 40% stake on Epic, so making exagerated claims won’t make you smarter than Peanut brain. As for monopolies and oligarchs, yeah i’m against those, but what can we do about it? Accusing China of being mean just help the military trillion dollar money grift in the US. What was the result of that bipartisan Hong Kong rioter support? Just more immigrants for the west, how smart to parrot anti China sentiment right?

      1. China is a near fascist state with organ farming concentration camps that release manufactured viruses to squash protests…some real “anti-China sentiment”, right? How much are they paying you? Or keeping your family incarcerated?

          1. Baseless = Video and pictures of the concentration camps and SEVERAL interviews now with people who have been let go that have talked about what happened. People like you are nuts lol.

          2. Sounds like you are trying really hard to compare whatever is happening to China to WW2 holocaust (which is bs btw).

        1. fascist

          Uses that word and then proceeds to imply “China” chill lol.

          Emperor Xi i have a defective one here, re education time!

          EDITED for the dumb dumb below.

          1. I don’t think that comment was directed at you, lmao the levels of reading comprehension from anti China neocons…

          2. You such a dumb dumb you can’t even assert that i indeed made a mistake you have to go “i think” shm.

          3. That was just for effect, since i’m assuming your IQ is below temperature level, now be nice and apologize to your fellow r-tard friend above.

          4. Talking IQ now xd while still respoding to my comments.

            You glow red the more you type.

          5. “Talking IQ now xd while still respoding to my comments.”

            lmao implying your mutuals are low iq now? Too bad for you i’m not one of them.

      2. Gaslighting, minimalization, deflection. Basic methods, amateur hour execution. “50 cent army” should be a misomer: your work isn’t even worth the price of free.

          1. That’s why i said defending by proxy, by being a mindless goon attacking China, you automatically defend US interests.

          2. Still doing what? Making you look like the worst shill ever? Well, I actually didn’t need to do a thing.

          3. Not only are you an amateur at manipulation and misinformation, you’re a one trick pony. The CCP isn’t going to impressed by you, but that’s your problem, not mine.

          4. “Not only are you an amateur at manipulation and misinformation”

            True actually, because i do none of these things. In your case useful idiot is more your style. And it’s CPC for Communist Party of China, not CCP.

          5. ” In your case useful idiot is more your style.”

            Are you talking about yourself? Cause it looks like you are.

          6. What do you and the other anti China useful idiots gain by criticizing China? More Hong Kong immigrants? Careful with the self owns…

          7. Hah, there you are, still thinking you can control and redirect the conversation when you have failed yet again. Keep trying.

          8. You’re an idiot, but you’re proving useful to no one, not even your beloved CCP.

    1. this cracked me up. it would seem that way. technically fortnite was experimental and got more community support than anticipated over the years. Epic has a few starter projects, not just fortnite.

        1. Fortnite basically killed it. But I think the biggest tragedy is with Quake Championships. such a wasted potential.

          1. Quake Champions tried to ape an fad, Overwatch, that died the next year.
            It was honestly a pathetic attempt considering how much it tried to push esports as well when most Quake matches were custom and not matchmaking cancer.

    2. One can only hope that Epic will make good use of all that acquired tech to improve games’ visuals.

      1. I think it might also help improve ILM’s Stagecraft tech (Mandalorian) which uses the UE to generate the real-time CGI.

  3. they keep make big investments, all this can mean is that future UE projects will benefit greatly. can’t wait to see future UE4 and UE5 games.

  4. Good thing this tech is acessible to a user friendly engine, better than engines that are close to the public at large like ID tech.

  5. Seems like they want to somewhat monopolize photorealism in games, buying several photogrammetry companies. On the one hand, smart. On the other, UE pretty much is the only successful license engine for that sort of game any way. Unity is for indie and 2D. CryEngine has always been niche and isn’t going anywhere. All other popular engines are proprietary of some publisher and not meant for widespread use. So Epic really doesn’t have to spend money to keep the photorealism market on their side. They’re solidifying what they already have, not expanding their position.

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