Photogrammetry and scanning tools

Photogrammetry builds a textured 3D model from many overlapping photos of a real object. Environment artists use it for rocks, ground surfaces, props and building details. The tools range from desktop software that processes hundreds of DSLR photos to phone apps that capture and process in the cloud.

For the technique itself, see photogrammetry and photo-sourced and scanned materials. Scans usually need retopology and baking before they are game-ready; see UV, retopology and baking tools. For licence types, see software licensing explained.

#Desktop photogrammetry software

Tool	Best known for in game work	Platforms	Licence model	Price (as of October 2026)	Free / student option
RealityScan (formerly RealityCapture)	Epic's desktop photogrammetry; 2.0 added AI masking, better alignment on low-feature surfaces and coverage heatmaps (Digital Production)	Windows only; needs an NVIDIA CUDA GPU (CG Channel; Wikipedia)	Free under US$1 million revenue in the past 12 months; seats above that, with a 30-day trial (realityscan.com)	US$1,250 per seat per year above the threshold, including a year of updates	Free for individuals and companies under the threshold, students and educational institutions
Agisoft Metashape	Commercial photogrammetry in Standard and Professional editions (agisoft.com)	Windows, macOS, Linux	Perpetual ("NOT time-limited"), with free updates up to version 2.x (agisoft.com)	Standard $179; Professional $3,499 (node-locked) (agisoft.com)	30-day full trial or demo mode without export ; educational licences for accredited institutions, no commercial use
3DF Zephyr	Photogrammetry suite in Free, Lite and full editions (3dflow.net)	Windows 10 and 11 ; one NVIDIA card in Free (3dflow.net)	Perpetual with one year of updates; full edition also as a 30-day subscription	Lite €199 + VAT; Zephyr €4,200 + VAT, or €250 + VAT per month	Free edition, 50 photos per project, "completetly free for personal use"
Meshroom	"A free, open-source 3D Reconstruction Software based on the AliceVision framework" (Meshroom Manual)	—	Open source	Free	Free
COLMAP	"General-purpose Structure-from-Motion (SfM) and Multi-View Stereo (MVS) pipeline" with a GUI and a scriptable command line (colmap.github.io)	Pre-built binaries, PyPI and Docker	New BSD licence (colmap.github.io)	Free	Free

Lite handles up to 500 photos, while the full Zephyr edition has no image limit (3dflow.net: 3DF Zephyr Free).

#Phone and tablet scanning apps

App	Capture methods	Platforms	Licence model	Price (as of October 2026)	Free tier
RealityScan Mobile	Photo capture with auto-capture, up to 300 images, uploaded as you capture (Epic Developer Community)	Android, iOS, iPadOS (CG Channel)	Free, including commercial use; scan data may be used for training unless you opt out	Free	Whole app
Polycam	LiDAR mode on iPhone/iPad Pro; Photo mode from overlapping photos (SkyeBrowse)	Mainly iPhone and iPad; Android is Photo mode only	Subscription	Basic $150 per year or $30 per month; Business $400 per user per year; Enterprise $1,200 per user per year, three-user minimum (poly.cam)	10 photogrammetry captures, 150 images per model, glTF export
KIRI Engine	Photo Scan, featureless-object scan from video, and 3D Gaussian Splatting (Apple App Store)	iPhone, iPad, Apple silicon Mac, Apple Vision; web with Pro	Subscription	Pro US$79.99 per year or US$17.99 per month (kiriengine.app)	Unlimited scans, up to 150 photos and 2 GB per scan; mesh-inclusive splat scans and featureless-object scans need Pro
Scaniverse	On-device Gaussian splats and meshes; exports SPZ and USDZ (nianticspatial.com)	iOS, Android, web	Niantic Spatial product; credit-based plans (nianticspatial.com)	Plus $20 per month or $200 per year; Pro $50 per month or $500 per year; Pro adds commercial rights	Free plan with 20,000 monthly credits and FBX, SPZ and PLY export; no commercial rights

#Gaussian splat and radiance-field tools

A Gaussian splat stores a scene as many small, coloured blobs rather than polygons. Splats look photoreal but are not a game-ready mesh, so treat them as reference, previs or an experiment.

Tool	What it does	Platforms	Licence model	Price (as of October 2026)
Postshot	Jawset's radiance-field reconstruction from ordinary photos or video (jawset.com)	Windows 10+, NVIDIA GPU with compute capability 7.5 or higher, e.g. RTX 2060	Free plan for non-commercial use; Indie and Studio plans for commercial use (jawset.com)	Subscription; see vendor (prices did not display)
KIRI Engine 3DGS	"Mesh-Inclusive 3DGS Scan" on the Pro plan (kiriengine.app)	See above	Subscription	Included with KIRI Pro
Scaniverse	Splats processed on the phone (nianticspatial.com)	iOS, Android	Credit-based plans; commercial rights on Pro (nianticspatial.com)	Free plan; Pro $50 per month
Nerfstudio	Research framework for training NeRFs; includes Splatfacto, its Gaussian splatting method (docs.nerf.studio)	Code-first (Python)	Open project from Berkeley	Free
Luma AI	No longer a capture tool. The company pivoted to generative video in 2024, and capture uploads appeared to be disabled from November 2024 (radiancefields.com)	—	—	—

Postshot's free plan files can only be reopened on the free plan, while Indie removes the watermark and allows commercial use (jawset.com: Postshot pricing).

#Capture equipment notes

Good scans depend more on photos than software.

Item	What sources recommend
Camera	Adobe's capture guide treats a DSLR with manual mode and exchangeable lenses as the main tool, and says "12Mp or more resolution is a good choice" (Adobe Experience League). A phone is enough to learn with (Epic Developer Community).
Tripod and turntable	For small objects, fix the camera and rotate the object. A manual turntable works on a budget; an automated one that triggers the camera is faster and more repeatable (Adobe Experience League).
Background	A plain paper, cardboard or cloth backdrop stops the software confusing the background with the rotating object (Adobe Experience League). KIRI recommends turning on Auto Object Masking for turntable scans (kiriengine.app).
Coverage	Adobe suggests "16 shots per rotation" in at least five loops at different heights (Adobe Experience League). KIRI recommends at least three full rotations (kiriengine.app).
Light	Use diffuse, even light; matte objects are easier to capture (Adobe Experience League).
Cross-polarisation	Polarised light and a polarising lens filter "remove all specular highlights from an object" (Pixpro), giving a cleaner base colour.

Other points from vendor guides:

Take many photos. A Capturing Reality knowledge-base post advises "Do not limit the number of images" (Unreal Engine Forums: Knowledge Base: Taking pictures for…).
Overlap heavily. Areas not seen in multiple images will not appear in the model, and the subject should fill at least half of each frame (Epic Developer Community: RealityScan step-by-step guide).
Avoid difficult subjects. Featureless, single-colour, reflective or transparent objects scan badly on a turntable (kiriengine.app: How to scan with a turntable).
Flat surfaces may not need full photogrammetry. For ground and wall materials, a single photo can be turned into a PBR material in Substance 3D Sampler (Adobe Experience League: Image to Material). Note that Sampler removed its own 3D Capture feature in version 5.1 (Adobe Experience League: 3D Capture Equipment). See texturing and material software.

A photogrammetry scan with its textures baked and conformed for PBR, at about 5,500 faces. This is the end point of the rock example above; open the model inspector and look at the base colour on its own to judge how much baked-in lighting was removed.petemc, via Sketchfab Always load external media on this site

Different viewsPhone scanning or desktop photogrammetry?

Phone apps are enough. RealityScan Mobile is free, guides you during capture and uploads your photos as you go (Epic Developer Community: RealityScan step-by-step guide; CG Channel: Epic Games releases RealityScan 2.0). Polycam's LiDAR mode generates meshes quickly on supported iPhones and iPads (SkyeBrowse: Polycam Review).

Desktop gives more control. Desktop RealityScan 2.0 adds AI masking, LiDAR merging and coverage heatmaps for weak areas (Digital Production: RealityScan 2.0: Epic gives RealityCapture a…). Phone tiers also cap you: Polycam's free plan limits images per model and export formats (poly.cam: Polycam pricing), and KIRI's free plan caps photos per scan (kiriengine.app: KIRI Engine pricing).

In practice: start with a free phone app to learn coverage and lighting. Move to desktop software and a dedicated camera when you need hero-quality assets or full control of the processing. RealityScan desktop is free below its revenue threshold, so cost is rarely the blocker on Windows (realityscan.com: RealityScan licensing).

#Further reading and watching

RealityScan Mobile step-by-step guide

Epic's official capture walkthrough. Beginner, free.

DocsBeginnerFree

Taking pictures for photogrammetry

Capturing Reality's photo tips. Beginner, free.

ForumBeginnerFree

3D Capture Equipment (Adobe)

camera, turntable and backdrop advice. Beginner, free.

DocsBeginnerFree

Meshroom manual

documentation for the open-source pipeline. Intermediate, free.

DocsIntermediateFree

COLMAP documentation

the open-source SfM/MVS pipeline many research tools build on. Advanced, free.

WebAdvancedFree

Cross Polarization Photogrammetry

how to set up polarised light for scanning. Intermediate, free.

ArticleIntermediateFree