Following our earlier article on Gaussian Splatting and how it works, as well as comparing it to photogrammetry workflows, the question we're hearing most is: where does this fit in production pipelines?
2026 is the inflection point where Gaussian Splatting moves from research curiosity to production-grade visualization tool. And Unreal Engine is emerging as the platform of choice for many teams.
This is largely thanks to Unreal's extensible architecture. Epic designed an engine that enables specialized tools to integrate deeply, and the Gaussian Splatting ecosystem has taken full advantage. Teams can evaluate Gaussian Splatting in Unreal today with tools that are stable, documented, and actively supported. Training workflows have simplified, key limitations are being addressed by commercial developers, and the broader Unreal ecosystem provides the visualization infrastructure these workflows depend on.
As an Unreal Engine Silver Partner, we've been tracking this shift closely. The question for most organizations is no longer "is this viable?" but "where does this fit in our workflow?"
For teams in architecture, automotive, and product visualization, the answer is becoming clear: Gaussian Splatting adds a capability that didn't exist before. Photorealistic, interactive environments from photographs, rendered at 90+ frames per second, with turnaround times measured in hours rather than weeks.
Traditional photogrammetry workflows require mesh cleanup, UV unwrapping, texture baking, and optimization before you get to interactive visualization. Gaussian Splatting skips most of that. Capture images, train a model overnight, import into Unreal Engine, and you're reviewing results the next day.
Architecture and Construction
Capture a construction site, renovation project, or existing facility and have an immersive walkthrough ready within 24-48 hours. Clients can explore spaces in VR before drawings are finalized. Project teams can review as-built conditions without waiting for full photogrammetry processing. Progress documentation becomes something stakeholders actually engage with.
Automotive
Showroom visualization, heritage vehicle documentation, and design review all benefit from the speed and fidelity. A dealership can capture their inventory and offer virtual walkthroughs. Design teams can review physical prototypes in immersive environments the same week they're built. Classic car collectors can preserve vehicles as interactive digital assets.
Product and Retail
Capture retail environments, trade show booths, or product displays and recreate them as interactive experiences. Store planning teams can walk through proposed layouts. Marketing can build immersive brand experiences from real photography rather than synthetic renders.
Gaussian Splatting isn't a replacement for photogrammetry or CAD. It's a different tool with different strengths. Current Unreal implementations use Niagara particle systems to render splats, which brings specific characteristics worth understanding.
Rendering approach. Plugins render Gaussian Splats through Niagara, which provides the flexibility needed for custom rendering but operates alongside rather than within Unreal's core pipeline. You don't get editable geometry, and the output is an appearance model rather than a geometric model.
Lighting considerations. Splats don't currently participate in Lumen Global Illumination, which can make blending splat scenes with traditional Unreal assets more complex. Dynamic relighting is supported (you can add lights that affect the scene), but shadow behavior differs from mesh-based geometry. Commercial plugins are actively developing hybrid lighting solutions.
Scale and performance. Current plugins handle most scenes well, but very large environments may need to be split into sections to manage memory, which can sometimes create visible seams at the boundaries. File sizes can reach 1GB or more for complex captures, and GPU memory requirements are significant.
If you want to evaluate Gaussian Splatting for your workflows, the barrier to entry has dropped significantly.
The XScene-UEPlugin from XVERSE provides free, open-source integration for Unreal Engine 5.3+. Commercial options like the 3D Gaussians Plugin on Epic's Fab marketplace offer additional stability and support.
For training, tools range from the original INRIA research implementation (free, requires some technical setup) to commercial packages like Postshot and Polycam that handle the complexity for you.
Epic's community learning platform includes tutorials covering the complete workflow from plugin installation through scene optimization, with practical tips for cropping, point cloud sizing, and post-processing.
Unreal has structural advantages that make it the natural home for Gaussian Splatting workflows. Unreal has become a dominant platform for AEC and automotive visualization specialists. The integrated toolset is geared toward high-end cinematic results. And the ecosystem of commercial plugins, training tools, and community resources continues to grow.
Several capabilities are moving from research to commercial availability this year:
4D Gaussian Splatting for dynamic scenes. Leading commercial plugins are integrating research breakthroughs into stable, deployable features. Early solutions already achieve real-time rendering of dynamic scenes at 82+ FPS, with recent optimizations pushing past 1,000 FPS. For AEC, this means capturing active construction sites or occupied facilities. For automotive and retail, it enables capturing spaces with people and activity rather than empty environments.
Compression and portability. Current splat files can be large (hundreds of megabytes for complex scenes). Commercial tools and research implementations are targeting mobile devices and web browsers. This matters for client-facing applications: imagine sending a link rather than requiring a VR headset or high-end workstation.
Hybrid workflows. Rather than choosing between photogrammetry and Gaussian Splatting, production pipelines are evolving to use both. The same image set can produce geometric meshes for measurement and BIM integration, plus splat models for visualization, managed within unified scene graphs through platforms like NVIDIA Omniverse.
Improved lighting and compositing. Plugin developers are actively enhancing integration with Unreal's rendering pipeline, including hybrid lighting solutions and improved compositing with traditional assets like CAD geometry and architectural models.
For teams evaluating this technology now, the timing is right. The ecosystem has matured, workflows are documented, and early adopters are seeing results. Building internal expertise today positions you to capitalize on these capabilities as they become standard practice.
For readers who want to understand the technical foundations, we've published a companion piece that explains how Gaussian Splatting actually works: How Gaussian Splatting Works: A Technical Foundation.
As an Unreal Engine Silver Partner, 4D Pipeline helps teams in architecture, automotive, and product visualization adopt Gaussian Splatting workflows. We evaluate plugins, build integration pipelines, and help you understand where this technology fits alongside your existing Unreal workflows.
Contact us to discuss how Gaussian Splatting might enhance your visualization capabilities.