If you've ever seen a 3D scan, you know it can look a little rough around the edges. Traditional models are made from sharp polygons, which can be heavy to render and sometimes a bit blocky. Gaussian Splatting takes a different route: instead of polygons, it builds models out of millions of soft, glowing dots called “splats.”
On their own, the splats look like digital confetti drifting in space. But put enough of them together, and suddenly the scene comes to life—smooth, solid, and surprisingly realistic.
How Does It Work?
1. Capture
It all starts with images. Usually a short video circling the object works best, though a series of photos or even digital renders can also do the trick. Lighting plays a huge role—soft, even light keeps shadows from confusing the software. A steady hand, tripod, or gimbal helps avoid blur, and moving too fast can leave gaps in the capture. The goal is a careful, deliberate sweep that gives the software plenty of frames to work with.
2. Camera Alignment + Point Cloud Generation
Next, the software figures out where each image was taken from and what angle the camera was pointing. Not every frame always lines up perfectly, and sometimes blurry or featureless shots get skipped. Cleaning the input set helps keep everything aligned. Once the software has the positions sorted, it generates a point cloud: millions of colored dots floating in 3D space, almost like a glitter storm frozen mid-air.
(screenshot of capture setup)
3. Turning Points Into Splats
Here's where the magic happens. Each point in the cloud is turned into a soft, glowing splat. When millions of these splats overlap, the rough edges disappear and the object takes shape as a smooth, lifelike model. The size of your input images affects the level of detail, and adjusting the total splat count lets you balance quality with performance—too few splats and the model looks patchy, too many and it can get heavy to process.
3. Post-processing cleanup
Even after splatting, a few stray points can drift off or create fuzz around the edges. A little cleanup trims the extras and sharpens the final shape, leaving a polished 3D model that feels both solid and share-ready.
Why it's worth exploring
Gaussian Splatting is opening up new ways to think about 3D. From museum artifacts to everyday objects, it lets you share scenes quickly, efficiently, and beautifully.