3D Gaussian Splatting

One moment, from every side

All cameras fire once, in sync and within a fraction of a second. From the photos we compute a photorealistic 3D scene using Gaussian Splatting. Because everything happens at the same time, nobody has to hold still: jumps, throws and whole groups are captured sharply and completely.

We have offered this since 2023, which made us one of the first teams in the world to do so.

What is Gaussian Splatting?

A classic 3D model is made of triangles. A Gaussian Splatting scene, on the other hand, consists of hundreds of thousands to millions of small, semi-transparent colour blobs, the splats. Each splat has a position, size, orientation and opacity, plus a colour that changes slightly with the viewing angle.

This captures hair, fabric, reflections and fine details that classic 3D models can hardly reproduce, or only with a lot of effort. Everything renders in real time, even in the browser and on a phone.

The right setup

We build the camera rig to suit the subject, in the studio, at the event or outdoors on location. If needed, everything runs on batteries, no power connection required.

• Full circle: Ø 6 m, 360°, one level
• Several levels: Ø 6 m, 360°, camera rings stacked
• Semicircle: Ø 12 m, 180°, for groups and large scenes
• Freestyle: arranged freely to suit the location

File sizes and compression

A typical scan consists of 0.2 to 5 million splats. In the raw PLY format each splat takes about 250 bytes, so one million splats come to roughly 250 MB. For the web and for phones we compress the scans, usually to about one fifteenth:

• PLY (raw format): approx. 250 MB per million splats, ideal for further processing
• SOG: approx. 12 to 30 MB per million splats, our standard for viewers in the browser
• SPZ: about a tenth of PLY, an open format that many programs can read
• Fewer splats and reduced colour detail make files even smaller, for example for older devices

For comparison

As SOG files, the scans on this website range from 5 MB (a portrait with 180,000 splats) to 64 MB (the Czech national climbing team with 4.5 million splats).

What you get

A single capture turns into very different results, digital and physical.

• 3D viewer for your website and social media
• Video clips with camera moves through the scan
• AR and VR
• 3D prints
• Lenticular prints

Using splats in 3D software

Gaussian splats can now be opened in many programs, some natively, some via plugins:

• Web and viewers: SuperSplat, PlayCanvas, three.js and many more
• Blender: import and rendering since version 5.3 (still at an early stage), add-ons before that
• Unreal Engine: via plugins such as XScene, Volinga or Cesium for Unreal
• Unity: via the open-source plugin UnityGaussianSplatting
• Houdini: via the GSOPs toolset

Good to know

With the glTF extension KHR_gaussian_splatting, an open standard is emerging that makes exchanging splats between programs even easier.

• Splats are not a classic polygon model: for 3D printing, game collisions or UV textures we can also create a mesh
• The lighting of the capture day is baked into the scan, completely new lighting is only possible to a limited extent
• We deliver the formats you need: PLY, SOG, SPZ or finished video clips