Visual Technology Research • Winter 2026
Core Problem: GS is treated as end product, not source material. Goal: Capture → Manipulate → Interactive Experience
Volinga Plugin — UE 5.6.1
Luma AI Plugin — Niagara-based rendering
New Approach: LiDAR Point Cloud Plugin Documentation
It seems ply can store vertices and also triangles not unlike OBJ format.
We can modify the header and only preserve the vertex data, then format it as a XYZ, and finally use the Lidar plugin in UE to read those data LiDAR Point Cloud.
Above 110 FPS
Color data works
Relighting works
Luma.ai
Troubleshoot
The `Single.usdc` file references an external USD sublayer that is missing:
To make the USD file work correctly, the following structure is needed:
├── Single.usdc
└── obj/
└── Fern_v1/
└── Out_Growth.usd
To make sure USD Stage, action Requires:
- Place `obj` folder in the same directory as `Single.usdc`
Render Test
USD GeoCache in Sequencer
Pay Attention:
1. Edits in default level sequence will lose if restart Unreal Engine, should create a new level sequence for .usdc and setup geometry cache before render.
2. Material will reset if restart Unreal as well, try to find an approach to override USD Stage by blueprint.
3. Some frames have strange artifacts.
Video: Instance Tool based on Spline
Research:
Performance Notes
Geometry Cache (Alembic/USD animation cache) does NOT support native GPU instancing in Unreal Engine.
Each Geometry Cache instance:
- Requires separate draw calls
- Streams vertex data from disk per instance
- Performance degrades quickly with multiple instances
- UsdGeomPointInstancer is NOT fully supported in Unreal Engine's native USD importer.
References:
- Epic Forums: "Alembic regenerates the mesh every frame"
- SideFX Forums: "Alembic archives have a lot of overhead when using instancing"
Workarounds:
PCG workflow
VAT workflow (VAT DOES support GPU instancing)
- Animation is baked into textures (Position, Normal, etc.)
- Uses standard Static Mesh with custom material
Conclusion
For mass instancing of animated geometry: VAT is better.
GSOPs︎︎︎ https://github.com/cgnomads/GSOPs
GSOPs is a free Houdini plugin for Gaussian Splatting editing developed by David Rhodes & Ruben Diaz.
Current Test Status
︎Relight example file working
︎Animated character support confirmed
︎HDRI lighting input supported
Highlight of GSOPs: Coarse Meshing
Notes: .ply works fine by using provided example files but crashed tons if using out source, should look into that and try more files.
︎Update (1/29): Fixed by optimizing splats before convert to VDB
Bake position and color information into textures, then apply to Niagara FX, still in working progress.
├── File Parameter (point to .PLY)
├── Camera Controls
└── renderTOP
├── Alpha Threshold ( for performance )
└── Bitonic Sort
Animation driven by noise
Next Steps:
Look development for shot3 and shot4.
Documenting everything. Writing up technical findings, successful workflows, dead ends we hit. Making it clear and shareable.
