NOTE:  This is an experimental library that was created in a short amount of time and may not be maintained any further.
Use at your own risk!

What are Gaussian Splats?

Gaussian Splats are 3D models constructed via a metric fuck ton of photos taken from various angles, placing coloured 3D splats in the world to build the geometry instead of being constructed with triangles and textures:
Since splats take parallax/perspective from every photo in the dataset, you can see they handle things like reflective surfaces and mirrors with great detail. But once you get up-close to a small object you can see the individual splats

Splats can optionally be re-lit using the lighting from your Scene, and can even receive shadows in real-time:

Usage Example

Here's a short animation made using Movie Maker and a re-lit Gaussian Splat for the environment.
The splat I used isn't the highest quality but it comes out surprisingly well once lit :)

If you are looking for splat files to use, check out superspl.at for various .ply/.sog files with commercial licenses.