Sony Opens XYN 3D Capture to Individual Creators, With a Free Plan
An iPhone guides your Sony camera as you capture objects and places. Cloud builds use paid tokens, including on the free plan.
Sony opened its XYN spatial capture tools (opens in a new tab) to individual creators in the US and Canada on October 27, adding online plans and credit card payment.
XYN, pronounced “zin,” turns photos of places and objects into Gaussian splats. These 3D assets use tiny, soft-edged points of color to keep a scene’s photographic detail as you move around it.
Sony’s launch package includes object scanning alongside location capture, with guided shooting for subjects ranging from small props to vehicles.
Your iPhone guides the camera
The workflow starts with XYN Spatial Scan Navi (opens in a new tab), an iPhone app connected to a compatible Sony Alpha camera. The camera takes the photos. The phone shows where to shoot and which areas still need coverage.
For an object, you set the scan area and follow the guidance around it. Object Assist Mode helps keep the camera at a steady distance as you capture all sides.
Sony’s compatibility list (opens in a new tab) includes iPhone 15 Pro through 18 Pro models, including Pro Max, and specific Alpha cameras. The guided setup also needs a USB-C cable and a computer for the cloud tools.
From photos to a 3D asset
You upload the photos to XYN Spatial Scan (opens in a new tab), Sony’s cloud service. Its Venus algorithm builds the asset, and Sony says it can preserve material details such as transparency and gloss.
You can export a PLY splat file (opens in a new tab) and bring the finished asset into other compatible 3D tools.
The XYN Spatial Renderer Plugin handles playback for virtual production. Alongside Unreal Engine and Disguise RenderStream, it now supports Aximmetry. A captured location can become a background on a studio’s LED wall or green screen stage.
What the plans include
Sony lists four monthly plans (opens in a new tab) with taxes added at checkout. Prices are in US dollars.
- Free costs $0 a month, with no tokens, up to three Scan Navi projects, and 15 GB of storage.
- Creation 500 costs $20 a month and includes 500 tokens.
- Creation 2000 costs $67.32 a month and includes 2,000 tokens.
- Creation 2000 + Renderer costs $209.05 a month and includes 2,000 tokens plus the commercial Renderer Plugin.
The lower plans include a watermarked Unreal plugin trial that cannot be used commercially. On the Free plan, extra tokens cost $20 for 500. Paid plans offer discounted top-ups.
What one build costs
With 110 photos, Sony estimates (opens in a new tab) about 150 tokens and 15 minutes for Basic, or 200 tokens and 30 minutes for Enhanced. At the Free plan’s token rate, that works out to roughly $6 or $8 per build.
Image count, resolution, and generation settings affect both cost and processing time.
Tokens expire after six months (opens in a new tab). Reserved tokens are returned if a build fails, provided they have not expired.
Online purchasing is available in the US, excluding US territories, and Canada. Sony also lists Japan on its pricing page. Experimental “Lab” apps are planned by the end of 2026 so creators can try features still in development.
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