Epic Games has released UEFN 43.00, which adds experimental support for importing real world scenes as Gaussian splats.
UEFN 43.00 accepts gaussian splatting assets as PLY or SPZ files, which are then placed into an island from the Content Browser. Epic describes the intended use as bringing a captured room, building, or landscape into a project as a photoreal environment or backdrop. Rendering runs on what Epic calls a native path optimized for performance, and splats can be manipulated through Niagara, the visual effects system shared with Unreal Engine.
Third party plugins such as WallGS Pro, which brought splat relighting to Unreal Engine 5 in October, have brought splat rendering to Unreal Engine 5.
SPZ is the compressed splat format Niantic open sourced in late 2024. Epic does not say which SPZ version UEFN 43.00 reads.
Epic states that Gaussian splats appear on all supported UEFN platforms, including mobile. What Epic does not state in the 43.00 notes is a splat count or file size limit, the full platform list, or whether islands containing splats can be published while the feature is experimental. The same notes say islands using the experimental Health and Damage Pipeline can be published only after that feature exits Experimental, and the splat section carries no equivalent line.
A Fortnite creator with a captured building or landscape can now place it in an island directly and drive effects on it through Niagara. Gaussian splat import is available now as an experimental feature in UEFN 43.00.
