Epic Games has announced a new smartphone app that can construct 3D models of objects from a series of smartphone photos. The idea is that you’ll be able to use the app, called RealityScan, to scan an object in the real world — say, a chair — and then bring the scan of that object into your game or project.

You can see how it works in the video at the top of this post, which features somebody scanning a brown chair, the result of which looks like a handcrafted 3D model. The app is currently available in a first-come, first-served beta via Apple’s TestFlight platform that will be open to 10,000 users.

To take a series of photos, you can hold the capture button down or take the shots individually, and as you do, you’ll want to slowly move around the object to take various shots. The app asks that you take at least 20 images. Once you’re done scanning, you can send the model to be uploaded to Sketchfab, a 3D-modeling platform, and after a few minutes, you’ll be able to see the scan you’ve taken on the site.

RealityScan models might look more like abstract art than believable 3D models, there could be any number of reasons why they weren’t up to par.

And this isn’t the only developer tool news we’ll get from Epic this week; the company is hosting a “State of Unreal” event on Tuesday, April 5th, at 11 AM ET.

Source: The Verge