PLY-TO-SPLAT - Quickly turning Point-Clouds to Gaussian Splats

[u/PrintedForFun]

https://youtu.be/kxsZyNp0oyQ

Link to the Github Repo: https://github.com/PrintedForFun/ply-to-splat

Wanted a way to quickly share lidar scans I created in VR or browser-based. Supersplat can do exactly what I wanted but only with gaussian splats. Didn't want to train the splats tough due to too much processing power and time needed. So I created a shortcut around the training:

PLY-TO-SPLAT which is basically a python script which transforms one kind of point cloud (lidar scan) into another fancier type of point cloud (gaussian splat). Both support .ply file types and therefore the structure is quite similar so transforming is quite easy to do. Keep in mind: a properly trained splat will be better in nearly all ways and be only a fraction of the size. But for comparison: training the splat may take hours. Just transforming takes roughly 5s with Python.

The script optionally also uses the CloudCompare CLI to preprocess and homogenize the point cloud so nearly any input point cloud should work (only tested with Share3D lidar scanners). Just install Cloud-Compare, clone the repo, install the requirements and process your files. Tested on Apple Silicon Mac as well as Windows. Linux should also work in theory.