Gaussian Splatting

Gaussian splatting is a technique for creating photorealistic 3D scenes by using millions of semi-transparent, 3D ellipses (gaussians). I'm pleased to announce that you can now display Gaussian Splats in WebODM Lightning! 🚀

How It Works

Once a dataset has been processed in WebODM Lightning, people can now Click ... next to a task and select Splats. From there, a gaussian splatting training file can be downloaded and can be used to generate splats with one of several software. Once a splats scene is ready, it can be uploaded to the cloud platform where it will display alongside point clouds and textured models.

I initially wanted to offer a fully integrated cloud option which would not require any additional software. The recent AI bubble has pushed prices for GPUs through the roof and there's been no feasible way to offer a cloud based service at an honest price. Rather than offering an expensive plan that includes gaussian splats processing, I've opted to allow people to process gaussian splats on their machine, without affecting pricing. Once the AI bubble bursts I will revisit a cloud option.

LGT Update

LGT 4.3.4 was just released and includes some speed improvements, fixes, better elevation model algorithms and a novel (experimental) pc-textureless option. This new option allows the software to refine areas that lack textures (roads, rooftops, walls). Give it a try if your reconstruction has holes in areas that don't have many features.

Enjoy!

-Piero