Gaussian splats - Samples and tutorial

[neonZorglub]

Gaussian splats
(Available from version 2026.1 Alpha3 - 26.01)

References:
Octane 2026.1 Alpha 1: viewtopic.php?t=84311
2026.1 Alpha 3: viewtopic.php?t=84831


Gaussian splats can capture complex lighting effects such as reflections and refraction that change depending on the viewing angle.
Octane supports loading .PLY files that contain Gaussian splatting data which can be produced from a set of images in software such as NeRF Studio or Polycam or the new LumaLabs AI services being added to Render Network.

Gaussian splatting typically assumes black background so to make it look correctly you will need to:
Disable the environment lighting
Enable alpha channel in kernel settings. Add an output AOV layer with black color to serve as a background.

Performance of ray-traced Gaussian splatting is slower than rasterization based approaches, however it comes with all the benefits of ray-tracing e.g. Gaussian splats are visible in reflections and refraction and can illuminate scene objects and cast shadows on them.
To improve rendering time consider making use of adaptive sampling and enabling sub-sampling in the viewport navigation tools.

Current limitations:
Gaussian splats are always rendered on top of volumes
Can't receive shadows from the regular scene geometry (but regular scene geometry can receive shadows from gaussian splats)
Render layers are not fully supported
Network rendering is not supported


To use Gaussian splats on 3dsMax:
Create a Gaussian Splat object from the Octane category.

Create Octane Gaussian Splat object.png (9.24 KiB) Viewed 4145 times

Note that this object uses a dummy box in the 3dsMax viewport
Select a .PLY file with the 'PLY file...' button

Open Octane viewport to check the rendering.
Adjust the object parameters

Octane Gaussian Splat object.png (8.48 KiB) Viewed 4145 times

Note that the 'PLY file' button has a context menu (right click) with Explore, Clear and Reload options.

There are new 2 render passes (AOVs) for Gaussian splats:
'Gaussian splats' (beauty)
'Gaussian splat info'. This AOV is less noisy than the beauty Gaussian splat AOV, but doesn't support lighting/shadows.


Here are some examples:

GaussianSplat_Sample01_Cactus.max

PLY file reference: Steam Studio : https://www.steam-studio.jp


GaussianSplat_Sample02_Sydney.max

ply files references:
https://www.diverseshot.com/blog/3d-gaussian-splatting-flies-examples
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/jvjc50zpdp65azkp8agfc/ACoe88ifm83Dp3HFyjei7-s?rlkey=4h715pukehhjs1zrynq53ysjc&e=1&st=i34ixf2t&dl=0

Gaussian_splat_Samples_Octane3dsMax.zip

(33.52 MiB) Downloaded 136 times

[Pelana001_1]

Thanks for sharing; the question is how to convert the files to be used into the PLY/SZP format.

[paride4331]

Hi Pelana001_1,
Gaussian splats can capture complex lighting effects such as reflections and refraction that change depending on the viewing angle. PLY files that contain Gaussian splatting data which can be produced from a set of images in software such as NeRF Studio or Polycam or the new LumaLabs AI services being added to Render Network (https://rendernetwork.com/).
Regards
Paride

[Pelana001_1]

Thanks for replying, paride4331; the truth is, I didn't understand any of it.

I'll look further into the software options you mentioned in the post.

You're very kind.