SplatMart Blog

Guides, tutorials and news for 3D Gaussian Splatting.

• How to Hire a 3D Scanning Service (Gaussian Splatting Guide, 2026) (2026-06-17) — Need a photoreal 3D scan but don't want to learn the whole pipeline? Here's how to hire a professional 3D scanning service in 2026 — what gaussian splatting changes, what to look for, what it costs, and how to brief a splatter so you get files you can actually use.
• How Much Does 3D Scanning Cost? (2026 Pricing Guide) (2026-06-17) — "How much does 3D scanning cost?" is the question everyone asks first. Here's honest 2026 pricing for gaussian splatting and photogrammetry work — by project type (real estate, product, construction, events), what pushes the price up or down, and how to avoid overpaying.
• Matterport Alternatives: Gaussian Splat 3D Tours for Real Estate (2026-06-17) — Matterport defined the virtual tour, but gaussian splatting now delivers true free-roam, photoreal walkthroughs that often look better for less. Here's an honest comparison for real estate, plus how to hire someone to capture your listing.
• 3D Scanning for Construction: Digital Twins, As-Builts & Progress Capture (2026-06-17) — Gaussian splatting makes site capture fast and photoreal — walkable digital twins, as-built records, and progress documentation from a phone or drone. Here's how construction and AEC teams use it, and how to hire a scanning pro.
• 3D Product Scanning for E-commerce: Photoreal 3D Models That Sell (2026-06-17) — Shoppable 3D and AR product views lift conversion — and gaussian splatting captures real products with real materials far faster than CAD modelling. Here's how 3D product scanning works for online stores, and how to commission it.
• 3D Scanning for Events, Weddings & Venues (Beyond the Photo Booth) (2026-06-17) — From 3D photo booths to full venue and wedding captures, gaussian splatting turns a moment or a space into a photoreal scene people can revisit in their browser. Here's what's possible, and how to hire a splatter for your event.
• Become a Splatter for Hire: Get Paid to Make Gaussian Splats (2026-06-17) — If you can capture clean gaussian splats, people will pay you to scan their listings, products, sites and events. Here's how to turn the skill into paid work — what to charge, how to find clients, and how to get hired on SplatMart.
• Where to Download Gaussian Splats: Free & Paid Sources (2026) (2026-06-11) — Looking for ready-made gaussian splats? Here's an honest rundown of every place to download splat files in 2026 — free community galleries, capture-app showcases, and marketplaces — plus what to check before you hit download.
• Does Splat Count Matter? Why More Gaussians ≠ Better Quality (2026-06-11) — It's the first spec everyone looks at — but a 60M-splat scene isn't automatically better than a 5M one. Here's what splat count actually controls, where quality really comes from, and how to pick the right count for web, VR, and offline work.
• The Best 3D Gaussian Splatting Software in 2026 (Including Free Postshot Alternatives) (2026-06-10) — The 3DGS tool landscape shifted hard this year: Postshot went subscription-only and free alternatives surged. Here's the current best software for capturing, training, editing, and viewing gaussian splats — with a fully free pipeline that rivals paid tools.
• Gaussian Splatting for Real Estate: Virtual Tours That Actually Feel Like Being There (2026-06-10) — Real estate is the biggest commercial use of gaussian splatting right now. Here's why splat tours beat 360 photos, how the capture-to-web workflow looks, what it costs, and an honest take on when a splat tour is (and isn't) worth it.
• What Is Gaussian Splatting? A Plain-English Guide to 3DGS (2026-06-09) — Gaussian splatting is a way to turn photos or video of a real scene into a photorealistic 3D model you can fly through in real time. Here's how it works, what it's used for, and how it compares to NeRF and photogrammetry.
• NeRF vs Gaussian Splatting: What's the Difference? (2026-06-09) — NeRF and Gaussian splatting both turn photos into 3D scenes, but they work very differently. We break down speed, quality, editability, and when to use each — in plain English.
• Luma AI for Gaussian Splatting: A Capture Guide (2026-06-09) — Luma AI is one of the easiest ways to make a Gaussian splat from your phone. This guide covers capturing, exporting a .splat / .ply file, and getting the cleanest result.
• 4D and 2D Gaussian Splatting Explained (2026-06-08) — Beyond standard 3D splats there's 4D (splats that move over time) and 2D (flat disc primitives for sharper surfaces). Here's what each means and when it matters.
• Best Gaussian Splat Viewers (Web, Desktop & Mobile) (2026-06-07) — How to open and view a .splat or .ply file — the best free web viewers, desktop apps, and engine plugins for Gaussian splats, and how to share them.
• Gaussian Splat File Formats: .ply, .splat, .spz & .sog (2026-06-11) — A practical guide to Gaussian splat file formats — what .ply, .splat, .spz and .sog are, how they differ in size and support, and how to convert between them.
• How to Make a Gaussian Splat: A Step-by-Step Guide (2026-06-05) — Make your first Gaussian splat from a phone video — capture technique, the apps and tools to use, processing, and how to avoid floaters and blur.
• Postshot for Gaussian Splatting: A Quick-Start Guide (2026-06-04) — Postshot is a fast desktop app for training Gaussian splats and NeRFs on your own machine. Here's what it does, who it's for, and how a basic workflow looks.
• Getting Started with 3D Gaussian Splatting: A Beginner's Guide (2025-05-20) — Learn how 3D Gaussian Splatting works, how it differs from NeRF and traditional photogrammetry, and what tools you need to create your first splat.
• Polycam vs. Luma AI: Which Capture App Produces Better Splats? (2025-05-14) — We ran a side-by-side comparison of Polycam Pro and Luma AI across five scene types — architecture, nature, objects, food, and characters. Here's what we found.
• How to Price Your 3DGS Assets: A Seller's Guide (2025-05-07) — Pricing 3D Gaussian Splats is tricky. We analysed 900+ successful listings to find what actually drives sales — and it's not always the lowest price.
• What Makes a Great Splat? 7 Quality Signals Buyers Look For (2026-06-11) — Point density, lighting conditions, movement artefacts, file size — we break down the five things experienced buyers check before purchasing a 3DGS asset.
• Using SplatMart Assets in Unreal Engine 5.4 (2025-04-18) — UE5.4 added native Gaussian Splat support. We walk through importing a .splat file from SplatMart, optimising for real-time performance, and lighting it with Lumen.
• Community Showcase: Best Splats of April 2025 (2025-04-05) — This month we saw incredible architectural captures, forest scapes, and a jaw-dropping Roman ruin series from ArchSplats. Here are our picks.