What is 3D Gaussian Splatting?

From Photos to 3D

Imagine taking a bunch of photos of a place, and then being able to walk through it in 3D — exploring from any angle, as if you were actually there. That’s exactly what 3D Gaussian Splatting (3DGS) does.

Input: Regular photos taken from different angles

Output: An explorable 3D scene

No expensive 3D scanners. No professional equipment. Just your camera (or phone) and the right software.

VR experience/Free camera exploration

Third-person walkthrough/Relight and postprocess

3DGS vs Traditional 3D Scanning

You might be wondering: how is this different from other 3D scanning methods? Here’s a quick comparison:

Traditional 3D Scanning (LiDAR, Structured Light)

• How it works: Uses lasers or projected patterns to measure distances
• Equipment: Expensive specialized scanners ($1,000 — $50,000+)
• Output: Geometric mesh (triangles)
• Strengths: Precise measurements, works in any lighting
• Weaknesses: Struggles with shiny/transparent surfaces, expensive, slower workflow

Photogrammetry (Traditional)

• How it works: Calculates 3D geometry from overlapping photos
• Equipment: Any camera
• Output: Textured mesh
• Strengths: Accessible, good for solid objects
• Weaknesses: Struggles with fine details (hair, foliage), can produce messy geometry

3D Gaussian Splatting

• How it works: Represents scenes as millions of tiny colored “splats” learned from photos
• Equipment: Any camera
• Output: Point cloud of Gaussians (renders as image, not mesh)
• Strengths: Incredible visual quality, captures fine details, real-time rendering, accessible
• Weaknesses: Not a true mesh (harder to edit), struggles with reflections

Bottom line: 3DGS excels at capturing the look of a scene with photorealistic quality, while traditional methods excel at capturing precise geometry.

How Does It Actually Work?

Without getting too technical, here’s the basic idea:

1. Take photos from many angles around your subject
2. Software figures out where each photo was taken (camera positions)
3. Creates millions of tiny “Gaussians” — think of them as fuzzy, colored dots in 3D space
4. Trains/optimizes these Gaussians until the scene looks right from every angle
5. Renders in real-time by projecting these Gaussians onto your screen

The magic is in how these Gaussians capture not just position and color, but also shape, transparency, and even view-dependent effects (like how surfaces look different from different angles).

What Can You Do With It?

3DGS is being used for:

• Cultural preservation — Digitizing temples, monuments, and historical sites
• Real estate — Virtual property tours
• Film & VFX — Capturing real locations for visual effects
• Gaming — Creating photorealistic environments
• Personal memories — Preserving places and moments in 3D

Getting Started

Want to try it yourself? Here’s the simplest path:

1. Capture — Take 50–100+ photos walking around your subject (or record a 1–2 minute video)
2. Process — Upload to Luma AI or Polycam (free tiers available)
3. Explore — View your 3D scene in their web viewer

For more control and professional results, check out my detailed guides:

• **PostShot: The Easiest Desktop App for 3DGS Training**
• **Nankunshen Temple Project** — A complete walkthrough from capture to VR

Current Limitations

3DGS isn’t perfect for everything:

• Reflective surfaces (mirrors, chrome) — The algorithm gets confused
• Transparent objects (glass, water) — Hard to capture properly
• Moving subjects — Works best on static scenes
• Editing — Unlike meshes, you can’t easily modify the geometry

But the technology is evolving rapidly. What’s impossible today may be solved tomorrow.

Related Articles

• PostShot: The Easiest Way to Train 3DGS
• SuperSplat: Edit 3DGS in Your Browser
• Nankunshen Temple Project — From photos to VR experience

Sources

• Original 3DGS Paper — “3D Gaussian Splatting for Real-Time Radiance Field Rendering” (SIGGRAPH 2023)
• Awesome 3D Gaussian Splatting — Curated list of resources

Get in Touch

Have questions about 3DGS or want to collaborate on a project?

Website: https://dazaistudio.com/

Instagram: dazai.studio

LinkedIN: Dazai Chen

email: dazai.studio@gmail.com

Originally published at https://dazaistudio.com on January 20, 2026.