Epic Games Acquires Twinmotion

On May 13, 2019, Epic Games announced that they had joined forces with Twinmotion, a software which was originally developed by Abvent. Twinmotion is a simple and intuitive real-time visualization solution made for architecture, construction, urban planning, interior design, and landscaping professionals. Founded in 1991, Epic Games is the developer of the popular Unreal Engine.

A new version of Twinmotion is now available to download for free until November 2019, and can be found on the Twinmotion website. Downloading first requires an Epic Games account, then the user will be prompted to download the Epic Games launcher, to finally get access to Twinmotion.^[2]

 

According to the Unreal Engine website, the free version is different from Twinmotion 2019. ^[3] The free version has:

• improved performance,
• enhanced direct synchronization with Revit and ArchiCAD,
• new global illumination glow effects,
• no more in-built access to BIMobject catalogs,
• branded assets in the native library have been replaced with generic ones,
• and users can access a shared library for multi-user collaboration (previously only available in the Team version of Twinmotion).
  

 

Unreal Engine’s general manager reported that “Since launching our Unreal Studio beta in March 2018, we’ve seen particular demand in the [architecture, engineering, and construction] space.”^[1] This acquisition by Epic Games could see Twinmotion added to Unreal Engine 4’s growing collection of software tools.^[1]

 

---

Additional information from the Unreal Engine website include ^[2] :

• Users that download Epic’s free version still have access to older versions of Twinmotion.
• Support for Epic’s free version of Twinmotion is community-based i.e. online forums.
• Customers who bought Twinmotion before May 3, 2019, will be provided a free upgrade to the next version of Twinmotion – also to be released by Epic Games, and should be expected around November 2019.
• Customers who purchased Twinmotion before May 13, 2019 will be refunded their purchases (or the maintenance and support agreement by Abvent which were made by end users between January 1st and May 13th, 2019.) These customers can request for a refund by providing a receipt before August 31st, 2019.

Check out the FAQ page on the Unreal Engine website for more information.

 

---

References

[1] Haydn Taylor (May 14, 2019). Epic Games acquires Twinmotion. GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved May 22, 2019.

[2] Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). Unreal Engine. Retrieved May 22, 2019.

[3] Dana Cowley (May 13, 2019). Epic and Twinmotion join forces to offer easy, high-quality real-time visualization. Unreal Engine. Retrieved May 22, 2019.