The developer of 3D scanning tools, Kiri Innovations, has released 3DGS Render 3.0 — a new version of its open tool for visualizing 3D Gaussian spots in Blender. The add-on allows importing 3DGS scans of real objects in PLY format and working with them in real-time in Blender using the Eevee renderer. Version 3.0 adds the ability to color 3D Gaussian spots like regular meshes (including using textures), as well as convert polygonal meshes into 3DGS.
3D Gaussian Splatting is a new method of 3D scanning. Like photogrammetry, it starts with creating a point cloud of an object or scene from a set of source photographs. However, instead of converting the point cloud into a textured polygonal mesh, the method converts it into Gaussian elements, using machine learning to determine the exact color of each element.
As a result, a high-quality and potentially fast-access 3D representation of the scanned object or scene is created. More and more 3D scanning tools support 3D Gaussian Splatting, including Kiri Engine from Kiri Innovations. However, native support for 3DGS data in CG applications is still limited, though it has recently been implemented in V-Ray and D5 Render.
3DGS Render aims to address key issues in existing workflows by allowing users to work with 3DGS scans in Blender just like regular 3D objects. The addon converts 3DGS data (imported in PLY format) into an object that can be transformed, scaled, rotated, and duplicated like standard geometry. Scans can be lit and rendered directly in Blender, but currently, only the real-time Eevee renderer is supported, not the main production renderer Cycles.
3DGS Render 3.0 allows:
- Retexturing scans through drawing or shaders.
- Working with both colors and texture images.
- Automatically generating UV maps for standard texturing in Blender.
- The update also enables converting standard polygonal meshes into 3DGS (a reverse process of the current main usage scenario), which could open up new workflows in the future.
- Furthermore, transformations (such as scaling and rotation) made in Blender can now be exported when 3DGS data is transferred to other DCC applications.
- An experimental feature for baking modifier effects to improve performance has been added, while the ability to apply animated effects to 3DGS data was introduced in version 2.0.
3DGS Render 3.0 is compatible with Blender 4.2 and above. It is a free solution with open-source code under the Apache 2.0 license.