Epic Games Buys The Maker Of Photogrammetry Tools To Help Make Games Look More Realistic

Fortnite and Unreal Engine company Epic Games is buying another company, this time snapping up the photogrammetry developer Capturing Reality. Epic has spent an unspecified sum to acquire the company to bring its software--RealityCapture--into the Unreal Engine.

Photogrammetry is the process of scanning real-world people, places, and things and using software to convert those images into scans for use in video games or other media. You can check out the video below to get a closer look at how it works.

In a statement, Epic said the Capturing Reality team will "continue to grow and work closely" with Epic's own Unreal Engine team. The goal is to make the Capturing Reality technology more accessible and affordable. This starts right away, as Capturing Reality has already cut prices of its software for new and existing customers.

"RealityCapture is the clear market leader in photogrammetry and has been integral to the creation of Quixel Megascans since its inception," Epic's Teddy Bergsman said in a statement. "We are beyond excited to welcome Capturing Reality to our team, and to accelerate our shared vision to enable anyone to scan the world."

As part of the buyout, Epic said the photogrammetry software will be further baked into the Unreal Engine to help developers create 3D models faster than before. The Capturing Reality team will also continue to work across not only gaming, but also the visual effects, film, architecture, engineering, and construction businesses.

This acquisition follows Epic's buyout of Rad Tools, the developers of popular middleware for games. On the game development side, Epic also recently bought Fall Guys developer Mediatonic, which came after Epic acquired Rocket League developer Psyonix.