How to Import Your Gaussian Splat Captures into Unity

Learn how to import your Polycam captures as Gaussian Splats into Unity for interactive 3D experiences. This workflow allows you to bring photorealistic 3D content directly into your Unity projects, complete with editing capabilities and physics simulation support.

Requirements

Unity Editor

Required

Unity 2022.3 LTS or newer recommended

Git

Required

Required for cloning the Gaussian Splat plugin

Downloading Your Capture

1Access Your Capture

Navigate to your desired capture in the Polycam web interface. Choose a capture that you want to import into Unity for your project.

2Open Capture Details

Click the Details button on your selected capture to access the download options and capture information.

3Download PLY Format

In the details window, click Download Capture, then select PLY format and click Export. This PLY file contains the Gaussian Splat data that Unity will use for rendering.

Pro Tip: PLY is specifically the format Unity's Gaussian Splat plugin can read. Other formats like OBJ won't work for Gaussian Splat rendering, though they can be used for physics collisions.

Unity Plugin Setup

1Create Plugin Folder

Create a new folder on your computer where you want to store the Unity Gaussian Splat plugin. In your file explorer, right-click at the bottom of the finder window and choose Copy as Path Name to copy the folder path.

2Clone the GitHub Repository

Open a terminal window and navigate to your plugin folder using the cd command followed by the path you copied. Then clone the Gaussian Splat repository from GitHub using:

Terminal Commands:

cd [paste your folder path here]

git clone [GitHub repository URL]

3Add Project to Unity Hub

Open Unity Hub and click Add to add the project file you just downloaded from GitHub. Choose your desired render pipeline and click Open. Then click on the project file again to launch Unity.

Importing Your Gaussian Splat

1Open the Test Scene

With Unity open, double-click the GaussianSplatTest scene in the Asset Browser to open the scene. You'll notice there's a Gaussian Splat object in the hierarchy that's looking for a splat file.

2Create Gaussian Splat Asset

Go to the Tools menu and select Create Gaussian Splat Asset. Find the PLY file you exported from Polycam earlier and click Create Asset.

3Assign the Asset

The splat asset should appear in the Asset Browser. In the Gaussian Splat object's inspector, add your newly created splat asset to the asset field. You may need to adjust the scale and rotation depending on how the original capture was created.

Note: Different capture methods may require different scale and rotation adjustments. Start with the default settings and adjust as needed based on your capture's orientation.

Editing Your Gaussian Splats

Unity's Gaussian Splat plugin provides two methods for editing your imported splats to refine the content for your specific use case.

Cutout Feature

Create geometric shapes to crop visibility of specific areas:

  • Add ellipsoid cutouts for organic shapes
  • Add box cutouts for architectural elements
  • Combine multiple cutouts as needed
  • Non-destructive editing approach

Manual Point Selection

Directly select and delete unwanted points:

  • Click Edit button in Inspector panel
  • Click and drag to create rectangle selection
  • Hold Shift to add to selection
  • Use Cmd/Ctrl + Backspace to delete selected points

Camera Positioning: Move your camera around the scene while editing to better identify which parts of the splat you want to modify or remove.

Physics Integration with Mesh Export

For physics simulations, you'll also want to export and import the mesh version of your capture to use as collision geometry.

1Export Mesh from Polycam

Return to Polycam web and export your capture as a mesh file (OBJ or GLB format). Import this mesh file into your Unity project.

2Position the Mesh

Set the mesh position values to zero, rotate it 180 degrees on the Y-axis, and scale it from 1 to 100 to match your Gaussian Splat positioning.

3Add Mesh Collider

Add a Mesh Collider component to your positioned mesh. Uncheck the Mesh Renderer component to hide the visual mesh while keeping collision detection active.

Testing Physics: Import additional objects with Rigidbody and Mesh Collider components to test physics interactions. Objects should bounce and tumble realistically on your invisible collision mesh.