Gaussian Splatting
What is Gaussian Splatting ?
Gaussian splatting is a cutting-edge technique in computer graphics for rendering 3D scenes. It represents scenes using a collection of Gaussian functions that describe points in space with attributes such as position, color, and transparency. This approach allows for the creation of detailed and realistic images by directly rendering volume data, resulting in smoother and more natural visuals compared to traditional methods that rely on polygons or voxels. Gaussian splatting is particularly beneficial for applications requiring high-quality rendering, such as virtual reality and scientific visualization.
Advantages over Traditional Photogrammetry:
Handling Complex Surfaces and Materials: Gaussian splatting excels in accurately representing reflective or transparent objects, as well as thin or intricate structures like wires and cables, where traditional photogrammetry may struggle.
Gaussian Splatting (Left) VS Reality Mesh (Right): a typical communication tower use case where the Gaussian splatting rendering surpasses the Reality Mesh
Drawbacks over traditional photogrammetry:
Gaussian Splatting is more sensible to viewing angle and requires the scene to be captured from every angle to allow for seamless visualization. It makes it very effective for scenes like communication towers where most of the viewing angles are covered through orbiting around the structure. However, the mesh result will be much better for Nadir datasets, as soon as the viewing angle is too far from an angle covered by a photos in the dataset.
Gaussian Splatting (Left) VS Reality Mesh (Right): a typical Nadir user case where the Gaussian splatting rendering is not providing good results compared to the Reality Mesh
Hardware minimum requirements
To ensure optimal performance when using Gaussian splatting in iTwin Capture Modeler, your system should meet the following minimum requirements:
- CPU: Intel Core i7 / AMD Ryzen 9
- GPU: NVidia RTX Series with 8GB VRAM
Any NVIDIA RTX series (RTX 20 or higher for GeForce, RTX x000 or higher for Quadro). Note: GPUs like the GTX 1080 are not supported.
- RAM: 32 GB
- OS: Windows 11 (64Bit)
- Storage: 8 GB Available Space for Installer
A NVMe SSD is recommended for Installer & Quick Processing
Video tutorial
Productions settings
General note
After completing a production, submitting a new one with different settings will be much faster due to caching. You can also manually clean the
results after production using the "Edit Gaussian Splats" tool in the viewer.
Precision
- Moderate - Less details, but faster computation time
- Standard - Recommended, good ratio between quality and computation time
- Maximum - Best possible details, but increased memory consumption and computation time
Filtering
It can be used to declutter the scene and remove large Gaussian Splats that are impacting the navigation. It is not used to remove "floaters". The filtering criteria is solely based on the Gaussian Splat size and deleting more can also remove meaningful data.
- None - Recommended, preserve all computed Gaussian Splats
- Minimal - Discard only very large Gaussian Splats, that are likely to contain errors
- Moderate - Screen out large and very large Gaussian Splats
- Extensive - Remove a significant amount of large Gaussian Splats
Note: After completing a production, submitting a new one with different cleaning settings will be fast due to caching. You can also manually clean the
results after production using the "Edit Gaussian Splats" tool in the viewer.
Retain Gaussian Splats outside the region of interest, for context
Additional considerations
The tiling of the reconstruction (in the Spatial Framework tab) may have an effect on the precision of the Gaussian Splatting. The Gaussian Splatting production is designed to provide a result regardless of how the input scene is split. However, with larger tiles, or no tiling at all, the results might be less precise.
To have consistent quality between the different tiles, it is also recommended to set a regular tiling (planar or volumetric).
FAQ
Where can my gaussian splats production be used ?
Our Gaussian Splats production is a standard Gaussian Splats PLY format. It can be displayed in iTwin Capture Modeler and iTwin Capture Modeler desktop user. It can also be displayed in most Gaussian Splats viewers.
Can I produce Gaussian Splats with iTwin Capture Modeler on Linux OS ?
Gaussian Splats production is currently not available under Linux.
Can I produce Gaussian Splats in iTwin Capture Cloud Services ?
The Gaussian Splatting technology preview is only available in iTwin Capture Modeler desktop editions. The capability will be extended to the cloud in the near future.