BlendSplat
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BlendSplat is a free node-based asset library by SoerenSc that adds, edits and renders Gaussian Splats inside Blender using Geometry Nodes and shaders, with no external viewer or render engine.
Platform
Blender asset library (Blender 5.1 or newer)
GPU
None published. BlendSplat renders through shaders in Blender's EEVEE and Cycles, so it needs whatever GPU the chosen Blender render engine needs
Pricing
Free (pay what you want on Gumroad)
Best for
Editing and rendering Gaussian Splats procedurally inside Blender
Updated
July 2026
BlendSplat is a node-based toolkit for working with 3D Gaussian Splats inside Blender, built by developer SoerenSc and distributed through Gumroad and Codeberg. Rather than an add-on with its own engine, it is an asset library of Geometry Nodes and material nodes, so splats are added, edited and rendered with Blender's own tools. BlendSplat launched in May 2026 as an alpha, with v0.5.1 tagged on Codeberg on May 1.
Rendering happens mainly in the shader, which keeps the viewport responsive with millions of splats in EEVEE, and the standard camera's depth of field and motion blur apply to splats like any other object. Because splats live inside the Geometry Nodes graph, they can be transformed, instanced and generated procedurally without exporting or reimporting. An experimental normal-based relighting mode lets splats respond to point lights, area lights and HDRIs.
Version 0.6.0 on June 6, 2026 added Cycles support, display options for EEVEE and Cycles, improved EEVEE quality and restored curve-to-splats. Version 0.6.1 on September 16 added deforming a splat with a proxy mesh and blurring splat attributes. Each release ships as a core zip and a full zip, both still marked pre-release.
The project README lists Blender 5.1 or newer and installs the library by extracting a release and adding it under File Paths and Asset Libraries. Known limitations include dithered alpha blending that needs more samples to clear noise, slower rendering in Cycles, and splats that do not receive shadows from other scene objects. At launch, spherical harmonics support stopped at degree 2.
BlendSplat is free, with an optional payment on Gumroad. Blender itself does not yet render splats natively, though Blender 5.3 is set to add native 3D Gaussian Splat import and rendering for PLY and SPZ files in Workbench, EEVEE and Cycles once that version is released.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is BlendSplat?
BlendSplat is a free node-based asset library for Blender that lets artists add, edit and render 3D Gaussian Splats using Geometry Nodes and shaders, without an external viewer or render engine.
Which Blender version does BlendSplat need?
BlendSplat lists Blender 5.1 or newer in its README and installs as an asset library through Blender's File Paths and Asset Libraries settings.
Does BlendSplat work in Cycles?
BlendSplat has supported Cycles since v0.6.0 in June 2026, alongside EEVEE, though Cycles rendering is slower and splats do not receive shadows from other objects in either engine.
How much does BlendSplat cost?
BlendSplat is free on Gumroad with an optional pay-what-you-want amount, and its source is hosted on Codeberg.
Does Blender support Gaussian Splats natively?
Blender does not render Gaussian Splats natively in current releases, which is why tools like BlendSplat exist. Native PLY and SPZ splat import and rendering is planned for Blender 5.3, which has not been released.
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