KIRI Releases 3DGS Addon for Blender

Figure 1: 3D Gaussian Splat Blender Addon

3D Gaussian Splatting has been a revolutionary 3D capturing and rendering technique, and has opened up infinite possibilities for the entire 3D industry.

The exceptional efficiency and fidelity of 3DGS (3D Gaussian Splatting) make it an excellent tool for quick visualizations, paired with real-time rendering, you have yourself something that restores reality effectively in 3D space from just a 2-minute something footage.

With all the goods, come with the bads: the practicality of 3DGS has been quite limited as it's a brand new algorithm and output of 3D format. The unique PLY file contains additional headers indicating the unique perspective-based rendering information, which makes it not directly compatible with most 3D editors people typically use.

Figure 2: 3D Gaussian Splatting Visualization

Many developers see the potential of this new 3D visualization technique, finding solutions to make this unique file type compatible in popular 3D editors. So far, the most stable plugin remains to be the free XVERSE 3D-GS UE Plugin and UnityGaussianSplatting respectively for the Unreal Engine and Unity. While other plugins exist, such as ReshotAI/gaussian-splatting-add-on for Blender and UEGaussianSplatting for the Unreal Engine, one is of limited functionality and the other highly-priced.

Understanding the demand for a high-quality and consistent add-on for 3DGS integration into Blender, the developers at KIRI Innovations have researched, produced, and polished a unique add-on that allows direct visualization for 3DGS within Blender. This new add-on combines versatility and consistency, allowing Blender enthusiasts to take advantage of gaussian splats and can render them into gorgeous final products.

Figure 2: Splat Rendered with Eevee

The add-on can be found on either GitHub or Blender Market, and they are both completely free to download. Further optimizations will be added down the road, such as cropping tools, mesh converters, etc.

To fully take advantage of 3DGS and the new add-on, KIRI encourages users to capture 3D gaussian splats within KIRI Engine, and use the in-app cropping tools to obtain the desired shape and parameters of the splat. Then, export its native PLY format for final rendering in Blender with the add-on installed.

This new add-on brings a few unique versatile features that allow for more seamless integrations and practical usage. It's compatible with Eevee render, making this add-on the only tool that supports this render method. There is a 'Camera Update' feature that allows the object to appear correctly as you switch perspectives, and there are two update modes: Frame Change and Continuous updates. Some of the processes may be straining on the hardware, so there is also a Color Warning feature that allows you to visualize the processing activities. This add-on also allows HQ (High Quality) splats rendering, as well as supporting multiple splats to be in the scene simultaneously.

Figure 3: Full Add-on Menu

For more information, please refer to the dedicated user guide on KIRI's official website.

The release of this add-on introduces an elevated experience when using 3D Gaussian Splatting within Blender, and the developers at KIRI Innovations believe that it's only right to fully open-source this technology; this decision would encourage more artists and enthusiasts to implement into their workflow the most cutting-edge 3D visualization technique that is directly derived from the real world.