Esri Adds Gaussian Splat Layers to the ArcGIS Maps SDK for Unity 2.4.0

Esri has released version 2.4.0 of the ArcGIS Maps SDK for Unity, which adds georeferenced Gaussian splatting as a native layer type. The release introduces an ArcGISGaussianSplatLayer class and a matching value in the ArcGISLayerType enum. The layer reads a Gaussian splat service published to ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Enterprise, a 3D Tiles tileset.json, or a 3D Tiles archive in .3tz form, because Esri stores splat content under the 3D Tiles specification. Esri names ArcGIS Reality Studio, ArcGIS Reality for ArcGIS Pro, and ArcGIS Drone2Map as the products that produce it.

Splats reached Esri's other product lines first, with a georeferenced splat layer in ArcGIS Pro 3.6 and splat layers in the Scene Viewer of ArcGIS Enterprise 12.1. Esri's other SDK lines carry separate implementations, among them the GaussianSplatLayer in the ArcGIS Maps SDK for JavaScript 5.0.

Esri's own layer types table marks the Gaussian splat layer False for identify, False for filtering and modification, and False for mesh collider. Identify returns nothing against the layer, no spatial or attribute filter can be applied to it, and no collision mesh is generated, so Unity physics does not see it at all.

Two known issues ship with it, both documented with no workaround. BUG-000186431 states that Gaussian splat layers occlude other scene content, so Unity objects placed between the camera and the splat, or inside the splat volume, may not be visible. BUG-000186432 states that splat layer opacity cannot be modified and that the layer always renders opaque.

Esri restricts initial support to desktop platforms and describes mobile support as planned. The layer type appears in the ArcGISMap component layer dropdown and in the Layers tab of the Map Creator UI. Version 2.4.0 also adds an ArcGISPointCloudSplatAlgorithm class that renders point cloud points as splats sized in meters or screen space, one of roughly thirty new point cloud rendering and filtering classes. A utility that streams a substation capture into a Unity scene can navigate it against basemap and elevation, and will find any proxy geometry set in front of it swallowed by the splat.

It is available now.