In July of 2023 a group of computer scientists at INRIA published a groundbreaking paper entitled “3D Gaussian Splatting for Real-Time Radiance Field Rendering.” It caused an immediate buzz in the world of 3d graphics. This paper outlined a new method for rendering 3d objects that allowed users to view them from new angles in real time. In fact, this new method walloped the existing methods in terms of how fast new frames could be computed.
This leap forward in computational efficiency is due to the novel way in which these images were rendered. Rather than build 3d images out of vector maps, those skeletons of triangles that most computer generated 3d objects are based on, these images were built from splats. Gaussian splats are ellipsoid clouds of color, which, when placed and layered in exactly the right way. will recreate the appearance of an object with unprecedented fidelity. This is especially impressive when it comes to the fine grained structures that most 3d renders cannot recreate accurately. The texture of a knit fabric, blades of grass, the individual filaments that make up a feather. These can all be seen in a gaussian splat.
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