Request adding 3D Gaussian Splatting into Metashape

[Mohammed]

Dear Agisoft team,

I hope in the future you can add a process as 3D Gaussian Splatting and a file conversion to Spatially Ordered Gaussian (.SOG) file a super compressing file format less than regular 3DGS .PLY.

Best
Mohamed

[olihar]

This is very much needed, at least be able to open and re-extort Gaussian splatting files. Processing can come later.

[Wellenbrett]

Metashape now brilliantly supports exporting to the Colmap format in its standard version. I would greatly appreciate it if the standard version of Metashape could also handle the display and training of Gaussian splats. This is particularly important on Apple Silicon Macs, as there is no reasonably user-friendly software for calculating Gaussian splats other than "Brush" (I'm familiar with the open-source projects for compiling it yourself...). From the user's perspective, the training would simply be another computationally intensive process analogous to classical photogrammetry.

[OakCorp]

I also submitted a request a few months ago. It would be fantastic if Metashape could support training and editing of Gaussian splats.
Other SfM software has already started to implement this, and there is very strong demand in the market.
I believe this is a technology Metashape cannot afford to ignore.

[Alexey Pasumansky]

Hello all,

What do you see as typical and demanded use cases for Gaussian splatting in application to Metashape projects?

[Bzuco]

In my case I will be using gaussian splatting for visualisation purposes for exterior 3D visualization(3ds max).
For now I was using undistorted images as a background, but GS gives me more freedom in position and angle.
The visual quality is fully sufficient so it can replace photos. Also computation time and final PLY size is very friendly - just few minutes of training and 2M final splats is very usable for small exterior (house + garden).
In most cases I can skip computation of dense pointcloud and mesh+textures.

For me export to Colmap + Brush app works without issue. Adding GS to Metashape would be bonus.

[jeffreyianwilson]

Hello all,

What do you see as typical and demanded use cases for Gaussian splatting in application to Metashape projects?

We used it heavily at Eyeline Studios / Netflix and in virtual production and I'm dedicating coursework for Metashape / Xgrids Portalcam workflows.

Jeff

[jeffreyianwilson]

While we're on this topic, splat trainers like Lichtfield studio now support 3DGUT which means sensor types beyond pinhole cameras are now supported.  It would be great to export colmap in a format which reflects all the different imagery types in Metashape.

Jeff

[dancmar]

Hi!
The spatial representation is much more realistic and helps me identify the details of the CAD reconstructions much better. I even noticed a better accuracy of the points in 3DGS extracted from PLY compared to those in the point cloud. In addition, I think 3DGS would help with upsampling.

[urancle]

+1 for adding 3DGS into Metashape.

Metashape remains our go-to software, ranging from small UAV surveys to large-scale aerial projects with 10k-20k medium format images. Integrating 3DGS would be a game changer, especially if it mirrors the professional capabilities of tools like Skyline Photomesh (for training) or superpl.at (for editing).

The main limitations of current 3DGS implementations that Metashape could solve are:

• Tiled Training & Level of Detail (LoD): Most tools struggle with VRAM limits. A tiled approach for massive datasets is essential for professional aerial mapping.
• Native CRS Support: Most 3DGS toolsets lack support for various Coordinate Reference Systems, especially those with large offsets (high coordinates). Metashape's robust geodetic engine would solve this natively.
• LiDAR & Multi-Sensor Fusion: While DJI Terra recently added 3DGS, it is limited to DJI sensors and JPEG processing. Metashape has the potential to outperform this by allowing a fusion of LiDAR data and high-res imagery from any sensor for 3DGS training.
• Professional Export Formats: For integration into modern web environments, a direct export to Cesium 3D Tiles (supporting 3DGS) would be vital.
• Seamless Workflow: Using MS’s superior image alignment and masking tools directly for training would eliminate the need for error-prone exports to third-party software.

Implementing this would undoubtedly keep Metashape at the forefront of the SfM and remote sensing market.

[wgreenePIMS]

It would be a bit crazy not to include it... it's the direction the industry is moving towards, even in the spatial world. Hopefully the team is working on this.

[chrisd]

Xgrids Portalcam workflows.

Jeff

Doessn't the PortalCam use USD export? ... is that easily converted to another format without a loss it the target application does not support it?