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CAD · head to head

Nomad Sculpt vs RealityScan

Nomad Sculpt logo

Nomad Sculpt

CAD

Digital sculpting on tablets, bought once, with no account and no subscription

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
RealityScan logo

RealityScan

CAD

The photogrammetry engine formerly called RealityCapture, free below a one million dollar revenue line

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only RealityScan has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Nomad Sculpt polygon budgets are bounded by tablet memory, so a base-model device stalls at a fraction of the detail a desktop sculpting application handles, and the ceiling only becomes apparent once a sculpt is well underway.; RealityScan the free tier is bounded by company revenue rather than by usage, so a business crossing one million US dollars of turnover acquires a per-seat cost overnight for software its workflow now depends on
  • They diverge on capability: Nomad Sculpt covers Voxel remesh, RealityScan covers Photogrammetric reconstruction.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Nomad Sculpt and RealityScan actually diverge.

Attributes where Nomad Sculpt and RealityScan differ
AttributeNomad SculptRealityScan
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelOne-time purchaseFree below a revenue threshold, then per seat per year
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsiOS, AndroidWindows

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (CAD).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Nomad Sculpt

  • Voxel remesh
  • Multiresolution
  • Dynamic topology
  • Layers
  • PBR painting
  • Internal renderer

Only in RealityScan

  • Photogrammetric reconstruction
  • Laser scan fusion
  • Ground control points
  • Texturing and unwrapping
  • Command line interface
  • Unreal Engine path
  • Component alignment control

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Nomad Sculpt

  • Producing concept sculpts away from a workstation without carrying a laptopnot RealityScan
  • Creating 3D printing masters on a tablet and exporting STL directlynot RealityScan
  • Teaching sculpting fundamentals where per-seat desktop licences are not affordablenot RealityScan
  • Sketching character and creature forms that are finished later in a desktop packagenot RealityScan

RealityScan

  • A two-person heritage survey practice under the revenue threshold that can now run professional photogrammetry at no licence costnot Nomad Sculpt
  • A film or games asset team scanning props and environments at very high image counts where processing speed decides the schedulenot Nomad Sculpt
  • A survey firm combining terrestrial laser scans with drone photography and needing both aligned in a single reconstructionnot Nomad Sculpt
  • A construction reality-capture operator producing meshes for Unreal-based client visualisation from the same source imagerynot Nomad Sculpt

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Nomad Sculpt

  • Polygon budgets are bounded by tablet memory, so a base-model device stalls at a fraction of the detail a desktop sculpting application handles, and the ceiling only becomes apparent once a sculpt is well underway.
  • One developer maintains it, so a bug that blocks your workflow waits on one person with no support channel to escalate through.
  • There is no serious retopology or UV unwrapping toolset, so anything destined for a game or animation pipeline has to leave for a desktop package regardless.
  • Rendering is presentation grade rather than production grade, so client-facing images generally need an export to a desktop renderer.
  • Sculpt layers and brushes are application-specific and the route out is OBJ, glTF or STL, so layered non-destructive data does not survive the transfer to another tool.

RealityScan

  • The free tier is bounded by company revenue rather than by usage, so a business crossing one million US dollars of turnover acquires a per-seat cost overnight for software its workflow now depends on
  • New perpetual licences are no longer sold, so an organisation that deliberately avoided subscription software has no route in; existing perpetual holders keep their version but stop receiving updates unless they accept the current terms
  • It is Windows only and needs an NVIDIA CUDA capable GPU, which excludes macOS studios and makes the real cost of adoption a workstation purchase rather than a licence
  • The rename from RealityCapture to RealityScan in 2025 means tutorials, forum answers and third party pipeline documentation are split across two names and several licensing regimes, and much of it is now wrong about price
  • The interface assumes photogrammetry knowledge; alignment failures, control point placement and reconstruction region setup are not guided, so a team without an experienced operator produces poor models quickly rather than good ones slowly

Pricing, plan by plan

Nomad Sculpt

On request
  • Nomad Sculpt$undefined/year
    • Perpetual licence through the app store
    • No account or subscription
    • Updates included to date

RealityScan

Free
  • Free tierFree
    • For individuals and companies with annual revenue under 1,000,000 USD
    • Full application, no metered input charges
    • Epic account required
  • RealityScan seat$1250/year
    • Required once annual revenue exceeds 1,000,000 USD
    • Per seat, per year
    • Commercial use without output restrictions
  • Unreal Engine subscription$1850/year
    • Per seat per year
    • Includes RealityScan and Twinmotion
    • For teams that also need Unreal Engine for non-game commercial use

Which should you pick?

Choose Nomad Sculpt if

  • You need voxel remesh.
  • You work on iOS, Android.
  • You also want multiresolution.
Nomad Sculpt review

Choose RealityScan if

  • You need photogrammetric reconstruction.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Windows.
  • You also want laser scan fusion.
RealityScan review

Questions people ask

Is Nomad Sculpt or RealityScan better?
Neither clearly leads. Nomad Sculpt starts at On request and RealityScan at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Nomad Sculpt or RealityScan?
RealityScan has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Nomad Sculpt and Free for RealityScan.
Does Nomad Sculpt or RealityScan run on more platforms?
Nomad Sculpt runs on iOS, Android. RealityScan runs on Windows.
Can I use RealityScan for free?
Yes. RealityScan has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Nomad Sculpt starts at On request.
What is Nomad Sculpt best used for?
Nomad Sculpt is most often used for producing concept sculpts away from a workstation without carrying a laptop, creating 3d printing masters on a tablet and exporting stl directly, teaching sculpting fundamentals where per-seat desktop licences are not affordable, sketching character and creature forms that are finished later in a desktop package. Of those, producing concept sculpts away from a workstation without carrying a laptop and creating 3d printing masters on a tablet and exporting stl directly are not what RealityScan is typically brought in for.
What can Nomad Sculpt do that RealityScan cannot?
Nomad Sculpt covers Voxel remesh, Multiresolution, Dynamic topology, Layers. RealityScan covers Photogrammetric reconstruction, Laser scan fusion, Ground control points, Texturing and unwrapping.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Nomad Sculpt: Is it a subscription?

No. It is a one-time app store purchase with no account and no cloud service behind it.

RealityScan: Is RealityCapture still called that?

No. Epic rebranded it to RealityScan with version 2.0 in 2025. It is the same engine and the same team.

Nomad Sculpt: Which tablet should I buy for it?

Buy for memory rather than for processor. Sculpt detail is limited by RAM, so a higher-memory model raises the ceiling more than a faster chip does.

RealityScan: Who gets it free?

Individuals and companies with annual revenue under one million US dollars. Above that, a seat is 1,250 US dollars per year.

Nomad Sculpt: Can it replace ZBrush?

For sculpting itself it goes a long way. For high-density production sculpts, retopology, UVs and pipeline integration it does not.

RealityScan: Can I still buy a perpetual licence?

Not for new purchases. Existing perpetual licences remain valid for the version owned, with updates only under the current terms.

RealityScan: Does the free version restrict output?

No output metering or watermarking; the restriction is on who qualifies, based on company revenue, not on what you export.

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