VulkanSplatting: Open Source Vulkan Implementation of 3DGS

In the fast-paced world of graphical rendering and computer vision, a new implementation of Gaussian Splatting, VulkanSplatting, has been released. This open-source initiative utilizes the Vulkan API, known for its high efficiency and cross-platform capabilities, to support point-based radiance fields, potentially paving the way for the integration of TRIPS or future radiance field methods.

Setting up VulkanSplatting is a straightforward process, thanks to its minimal dependencies and detailed building instructions for Linux and Windows on Github. The project emphasizes ease of use, guiding users through the installation of necessary libraries and tools, including Vulkan headers, validation layers, and GLM, ensuring a smooth setup experience regardless of the operating system.

VulkanSplatting is a community-driven project with a vision to continuously enhance its capabilities. The development team is actively seeking contributions from the tech community to achieve milestones such as improved user controls, state-of-the-art parallel sorting algorithms, efficient batch processing of Gaussian instances, and the integration of OpenXR support. The team invites code contributions, ideas, and problem-solving to further develop VulkanSplatting.

VulkanSplatting is a toolkit designed for the future of rendering. From intuitive command-line usage for direct manipulation of .ply files to a suite of customizable options for GPU selection, logging verbosity, and swapchain mode adjustments, it offers a flexible foundation for developers to build upon.

VulkanSplatting offers support for major operating systems, including Windows and Linux, with plans to extend its prowess to macOS, iOS, visionOS, and Android platforms. This broad compatibility underscores the project's aim for rendering high-performance radiance fields across all devices.

While it can be run on MacOS, it will only handle rendering for now. I expect to see a push to support training radiance field methods on Mac through the course of this year. VulkanSplatting is aiming to be platform agnostic and has listed destinations that would make that goal come true.

The VulkanSplatting project is committed to open-source principles, licensed under LGPL to accommodate a wide range of applications. It also incorporates several third-party libraries under permissive licenses, reflecting its collaborative ethos and reliance on the broader developer ecosystem.

Speaking of ecosystems, this is the latest addition to the radiance field world and has the potential to open doors for even more people to begin experimenting and creating.