Postshot
Free Windows photogrammetry app that turns photos and video into 3D scenes on your own Nvidia GPU.
If you're on Windows with an RTX-class Nvidia GPU and you want photogrammetry that never phones home, Postshot is the most production-oriented free option available — Indie and Studio tiers are listed at €0.00/month in the Jawset store, so cost isn't the gate; your GPU and OS are. The Unreal Engine and After Effects integrations plus PLY/SPZ Radiance Field export make it a real pipeline tool rather than a demo. Compare against RealityScan (free, cloud-based — you upload your captures) and Meshroom (free and open source, but CPU-heavy). Both lose Postshot's local-only processing and its UE/AE hooks. Skip Postshot if you're on macOS or Linux or your card is below compute capability 7.5,
Verified 6d ago · liveness 67/100 · cite: rightaichoice.com/tools/postshot
- 3D artists who want free, fast, local photogrammetry from video
- Game developers scanning real-world environments for Unreal Engine assets
- VFX artists reconstructing sets and props for post-production
- Architects and designers doing reality capture and documentation
- Anyone without an Nvidia GPU at compute capability 7.5 or higher
- Teams standardised on macOS or Linux workstations
- Studios that need a hosted or web-accessible capture pipeline
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Skip Postshot if you work on macOS or Linux, or your GPU is below Nvidia compute capability 7.5 — no tier will run, and there is no cloud fallback.
Free-tier renders carry a watermark and the licence is non-commercial only, so client work forces you up a tier even though the price reads €0.00
Jawset lists Free, Indie and Studio at €0.00/month each in its store, so the decision is capability gating rather than budget: Free stops at 4K SDR with a watermark and no commercial use, Indie adds commercial use and PLY/SPZ export, Studio adds HDR/above-4K, RAW input and the CLI. Compare against RealityScan (free, cloud-hosted) and Meshroom (free, open source, CPU-heavy) — neither charges either, but neither keeps processing local the way Postshot does.
In short
Postshot — Free Windows photogrammetry app that turns photos and video into 3D scenes on your own Nvidia GPU. Best for 3D artists who want free, fast, local photogrammetry from video, Game developers scanning real-world environments for Unreal Engine assets, VFX artists reconstructing sets and props for post-production. Free to use.
What people actually say about Postshot — is it worth it?
We ran a structured research pass across product reviews, community discussions, and post-purchase forum threads to surface the patterns vendors won't publish themselves. Below: the recurring strengths, the hidden costs people mention most, and the cohort that consistently regrets adopting this tool.
30 mentions across 3 sources (Hacker News, YouTube, Product Hunt) · researched Aug 11, 2026.
Average across the 3 sources that answered — each source counts once, not each post.
- +Free and local: no cloud costs, full privacy
- +Easy workflow: video to 3D model in minutes
- +Direct integrations with Unreal Engine and After Effects
- +Supports high resolutions up to 8K and unlimited images
- +Active tutorial community and how-to content on YouTube
- −Requires Nvidia GPU (CC 7.5+), excludes many users
- −Quality may be inferior to paid alternatives like LichtFeld
- −Training can be slow on mid-range GPUs like 3060Ti
- −Recent pricing remarks suggest possible cost increase
- −Command-line interface not beginner-friendly
- • Requires expensive Nvidia GPU hardware
- • Potential future paid tiers hinted by user comments
Viability Score
How well maintained and how widely used is Postshot? Built from what the vendor actually publishes (docs, changelog, tutorials, integrations, pricing), whether the site is live, and how much real users discuss it. How we calculate this
Last calculated: October 2026
How we score →Key Features
- Radiance Field 3D reconstruction from images or video
- Live training preview while the scene is learning
- Selection, editing and merging of multiple scenes
- Model sequence rendering for turntable and fly-through output
- Unreal Engine integration
- After Effects integration
- Image masking for occluder and background removal
- Region-of-Interest training to focus GPU resources
- Import poses/points from third-party tools
- AprilTag detection for automatic scene alignment
- Supports JPG, PNG, TIF, EXR, DNG, RAW, MOV, MP4, MKV inputs
- ACES color space handling
- Integrates with geo-referenced data
- Graphical and command-line interfaces
- Unlimited image count, video length and model size
About Postshot
Postshot is a free Windows application from Jawset Visual Computing that converts photos or video into photorealistic 3D scenes using Radiance Field technology. Everything runs locally on your Nvidia GPU, so your footage never leaves your machine. Shoot with any camera — phone, drone, DSLR — drag the files in, and Postshot learns the 3D scene automatically. It reads JPG, PNG, TIF, EXR, DNG, RAW, MOV, MP4 and MKV, handles ACES color, and works with geo-referenced data. Alongside a graphical interface there's a command-line interface, plus AprilTag detection for automatic scene alignment, image masking to remove occluders and backgrounds, region-of-interest training to focus GPU time, live training preview, multi-scene selection/editing/merging, and model sequence rendering. Finished models export to third-party viewers, and there are direct integrations for Unreal Engine and After Effects. Jawset publishes three tiers — Free, Indie and Studio — each listed at €0.00/month in the vendor store, with the paid capabilities gated by tier rather than by price. Free is limited to 4K SDR (8-bit) training and rendering, adds a watermark on rendered output, saves files usable only within the Free plan, and is restricted to non-commercial use. Indie removes the watermark, grants commercial use, allows unlimited render nodes, adds floating licensing and PLY/SPZ Radiance Field export. Studio adds EXR/TIF/DNG/RAW input, above-4K and HDR (16- or 32-bit) color, the command-line interface, AprilTag auto-alignment, and BlocksExchange and Pix4D OPF camera/point import.
Behind the Verdict
Postshot's pitch is unusually clean: local Radiance Field reconstruction on your own GPU, no uploads, no subscription. The Free tier is genuinely usable — you get unlimited image count, unlimited video length and unlimited model size, train/render up to 4K in SDR (8-bit) color, export and import camera poses and points, and read/import cameras and points in COLMAP and RealityScan formats. The catches are concrete rather than vague: Free output carries a watermark, files saved under Free can only be used within the Free plan, and Free is licensed for non-commercial use only. Indie addresses all three — no watermark, commercial use, floating licence usable on any device, unlimited render nodes for UE and AE, and PLY/SPZ Radiance Field export — and is listed at €0.00/month. Studio adds what pixel-peepers and pipeline teams need: EXR, TIF, DNG and RAW input, training and rendering above 4K in HDR (16- or 32-bit) color, the command-line interface for scripted batches, automatic scene alignment via AprilTags, and import of BlocksExchange and Pix4D OPF camera/point formats. That progression is a good sign: the tiers map to real capability differences (color depth, resolution ceiling, output format, automation) rather than arbitrary seat math. Strengths: local-only processing means confidential set and product captures stay on your machine; AprilTag detection removes the usual pain of aligning multi-scene captures; region-of-interest training lets you spend GPU time where it matters; sequence rendering covers turntable and fly-through output. The workflow floor is low — shoot with any camera, drag footage in, watch the live training preview. Weaknesses: the hard dependency on Windows 10+ and Nvidia compute capability 7.5 or higher (GeForce RTX 2060, Quadro T400/RTX 4000 or above) rules out Mac and Linux shops entirely, and everything is hardware-bound because nothing is offloaded. Documentation depth and release cadence are not something we can assess from this pass. Where it fits: game artists scanning real environments for UE assets, VFX teams reconstructing sets, archviz and reality-capture work, and hobbyists who want 3D reconstruction without cloud bills. Where it doesn't: Mac or Linux teams, anyone on pre-RTX hardware, and anyone who needs a hosted or web-accessible capture pipeline.
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Real-world workflow fit
Concrete scenarios for the personas Postshot actually fits — and what changes day-one when you adopt it.
You film a derelict warehouse on your phone, drop the MOV into Postshot, mask out passers-by, and let region-of-interest training concentrate GPU time on the hero wall.
Outcome: A trained Radiance Field exported into Unreal Engine as a render node, ready to dress as a level backdrop.
You capture a practical set from three angles, use AprilTag markers to align the passes, then merge the scenes and render a camera sequence matching the plate.
Outcome: An aligned, merged scene rendered as a sequence and brought into After Effects for compositing against the live-action footage.
You walk a flat with a drone for the exterior and a phone for interiors, import the geo-referenced footage, and run two captures as separate scenes.
Outcome: Clean 3D documentation of existing conditions you can hand to the design team, with nothing uploaded to a third-party service.
Use Cases
- Walk a room with your phone camera and reconstruct it for architectural visualization
- Turn a product unboxing video into a rotatable 3D model for an e-commerce listing
- Reconstruct a small outdoor scene from a short drone clip as a game environment asset
- Build a high-resolution model of a sculpture from handheld video for digital archiving
- Generate a 3D model of a car from a slow drive-around video for a showroom app
- Align and merge multiple capture passes of the same site using AprilTag detection
Models Under the Hood
as of 2026-09-28
Limitations
- Postshot requires Windows 10 or later and an Nvidia GPU with compute capability 7.5 or higher (GeForce RTX 2060, Quadro T400/RTX 4000 or above) — there is no macOS, Linux, cloud or web version documented.
- All processing and machine-learning steps run locally, so training and render times are entirely hardware-bound; a faster GPU is the only real upgrade path.
- The vendor store lists Free, Indie and Studio tiers, and the capability gates are the substance: Free caps training and rendering at 4K SDR (8-bit), watermarks rendered output, restricts saved files to the Free plan, and is non-commercial only.
- Above-4K and HDR (16-/32-bit) color, EXR/TIF/DNG/RAW input, the command-line interface, AprilTag auto-alignment and BlocksExchange/Pix4D OPF import all sit at the Studio tier.
- Documentation quality and release cadence were not assessable in this pass.
as of 2026-10-02
Verification history
We have re-verified Postshot 7 times since . Each pass re-reads the vendor's own pages and re-checks every listed field against that evidence; passes where nothing had changed are marked as such.
- — re-checked, vendor evidence unchanged
- — re-checked, vendor evidence unchanged
- — re-verified summary, description, our verdict, our analysis, pricing model, pricing tiers, features, integrations, who it suits, who should skip it
- — re-verified summary, description, our verdict, our analysis, pricing model, pricing tiers, features, integrations, who it suits, who should skip it
- — re-verified summary, description, our verdict, our analysis, pricing model, pricing tiers, features, integrations, who it suits, who should skip it
- — re-verified summary, description, our verdict, our analysis, pricing model, pricing tiers, features, integrations, who it suits, who should skip it
Showing the 6 most recent of 7 verification passes.
Free to cite with attribution — this page re-verifies continuously.
12-month cost
Project the real annual outlay, including the implied monthly cost when only an annual tier is published.
Vendor list price only. Add-on usage, seat overages, and contract minimums are surfaced under Hidden costs & gotchas.
Plans compared
For each published Postshot tier: who it actually fits, and what it adds vs. the previous tier. Cross-reference the cost calculator above for projected annual outlay.
Free
€0.00/month
Ideal for
Hobbyists and students on Windows with an RTX-class GPU who want to learn Radiance Field capture and don't need commercial output
What this tier adds
Starting tier: unlimited images and model size, 4K SDR (8-bit) train/render, pose and point import/export — but watermarked output, Free-plan-only files, non-commercial use
Indie
€0.00/month
Ideal for
Freelance 3D artists and small studios shipping commercial work who need clean output and PLY/SPZ export
What this tier adds
Adds watermark-free rendering, commercial use, a floating licence usable on any device, unlimited UE/AE render nodes, and PLY/SPZ Radiance Field export
Studio
€0.00/month
Ideal for
VFX, archviz and reality-capture teams working in RAW/HDR colour pipelines and scripting batch jobs from the command line
What this tier adds
Adds EXR/TIF/DNG/RAW input, above-4K and HDR (16-/32-bit) train and render, the command-line interface, AprilTag auto-alignment, and BlocksExchange/Pix4D OPF import
Where the pricing makes sense
The company stage and team size where Postshot's pricing actually pencils out — and where peers do it cheaper.
Jawset lists Free, Indie and Studio at €0.00/month each in its store, so the decision is capability gating rather than budget: Free stops at 4K SDR with a watermark and no commercial use, Indie adds commercial use and PLY/SPZ export, Studio adds HDR/above-4K, RAW input and the CLI. Compare against RealityScan (free, cloud-hosted) and Meshroom (free, open source, CPU-heavy) — neither charges either, but neither keeps processing local the way Postshot does.
Setup time & first value
How long it actually takes to get something useful out of Postshot — broken out by persona, not the marketing-page minute.
Download and install on Windows 10+ with an Nvidia GPU at CC 7.5 or higher, shoot a set of images or a short clip, and import — Postshot learns the scene automatically with a live training preview, so first look is typically a single session. Indie and Studio add floating licensing, which speeds up putting it on a second machine.
Switching to or from Postshot
How to bring data in from common predecessors and how to get it back out — written for the switcher, not the buyer.
- →From RealityScan: import cameras and points from RealityScan-format exports directly into Postshot
- →From COLMAP: bring in COLMAP camera and point data as a starting point instead of training from scratch
- →From Meshroom: reuse the same source image sets and import your existing camera poses rather than re-solving them
- →From BlocksExchange: import cameras and points in BlocksExchange format (Studio tier)
- ↗To Unreal Engine: export via the Unreal Engine integration and run unlimited render nodes (Indie and above)
- ↗To After Effects: export via the After Effects integration for compositing (Indie and above)
- ↗To third-party Radiance Field viewers: export in PLY or SPZ format (Indie and above)
- ↗To generic viewers and DCC packages: export camera poses and points, available from the Free tier
Integrations
Resources & Guides
Tutorials & Learning
YouTube returned 6 videos for “Postshot”, and we withheld 6: 6 could not be judged, because “Postshot” is a single word that other videos use for other things. We are showing none, because we could not prove any of them are about Postshot.
Official links
Tools that pair well with Postshot
Common stack mates teams adopt alongside Postshot, with the specific reason each pairing earns its keep.
Polycam
Polycam turns phone LiDAR, photos, and drone footage into 3D models, floor plans, and point clouds.
Wonder Studio
Autodesk Flow Studio turns live-action footage into editable 3D CG scenes with AI mocap and rigged characters.
mnml AI
mnml AI turns sketches, photos and SketchUp, Revit or Rhino views into photoreal architectural renders with a guided Studio workspace and a collaborative Flow
Featured Head-to-Head Comparisons
Postshot vs Polycam
If you're a Windows PC user with an Nvidia GPU and need fast, local, privacy-preserving photogrammetry from video for game/VFX assets, Postshot's free price and Unreal integration are unbeatable. For cross-platform mobile capture, LiDAR scanning, floor plans, and drone mapping (with a free tier), Polycam is the versatile choice, especially for AEC and forensics professionals who need structured outputs like floor plans and point clouds.
Postshot vs Storyfile
Postshot is a free, local 3D reconstruction tool ideal for creators who already have a compatible Nvidia GPU and need fast, photorealistic models from video—perfect for game assets, VFX, or architectural scans. StoryFile is an enterprise-grade conversational AI platform for museums and legacy preservation, requiring paid consulting and real interview footage—choose it if you need authentic, interactive human avatars for exhibits (e.g., George Takei at Japanese American National Museum). For most solo developers or small teams, Postshot’s zero cost and speed win; for institutional storytelling, StoryFile’s cinematic authenticity is unmatched.
Postshot vs Splice
Postshot and Splice serve entirely different creative workflows: Postshot is a free, GPU-accelerated 3D photogrammetry tool for turning video into 3D models, while Splice is a subscription-based sample library with rent-to-own plugins. Your choice depends on whether you need 3D reconstruction (Postshot) or music production samples (Splice). There is no overlap.
Alternatives to Postshot
View all
Polycam
Polycam turns phone LiDAR, photos, and drone footage into 3D models, floor plans, and point clouds.
Wonder Studio
Autodesk Flow Studio turns live-action footage into editable 3D CG scenes with AI mocap and rigged characters.
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