Meshcapade

Max Planck spin-off (now part of Epic Games) offering AI-powered 3D body and avatar creation from a single photo or basic measurements, enabling virtual try-on without specialist scanning hardware. Co-founded by Michael J. Black, whose SMPL body model is the parametric standard across the virtual try-on industry. Epic Games' acquisition of Meshcapade connects the company's body-modeling technology to Unreal Engine's real-time rendering infrastructure and the MetaHuman creator toolset, positioning it within gaming, film, and commerce workflows simultaneously. SMPL's adoption as the de facto parametric body standard in academic and commercial computer vision research means Meshcapade's foundational IP is embedded across the virtual try-on vendor ecosystem, including competitors—a leverage position that Epic is well-placed to exploit as avatar-based commerce expands beyond fashion into broader digital identity markets.

First mentioned: April 2026