Splat Journal

Algorithmic imprints of disappearing spaces

Tag: Orcières Merlette

  • French Alps — Ghost artifacts on the ski trail

    French Alps — Ghost artifacts on the ski trail

    Field notes — Orcières Merlette, Hautes-Alpes, French Alps

    → English below

    Les skieurs qui avancent sur la piste créent des artefacts qui révèlent les limites de ce que l’algorithme peut reconstruire à partir d’éléments en mouvement dans le dataset. Capture réalisée à ski, caméra sur perche balancée de gauche à droite, un geste pour élargir le point de vue. Ce mouvement pendulaire introduit une variation latérale dans le dataset, mais aussi une instabilité propre au dispositif : flou de mouvement, changements d’angle rapides, reconstruction partielle des alentours.

    Ghost-like traces in the reconstructed scene. Skiers moving ahead on the trail create artifacts that reveal the limits of what the algorithm can reconstruct from moving elements in the dataset. Single-path capture on skis, camera swung left to right on a pole, a gesture to broaden the viewpoint. This pendular motion introduces lateral variation into the dataset, but also instability inherent to the device: motion blur, rapid angle changes, partial reconstruction of the surroundings.

    1 — Interactive 3D viewer

    Gaussian Splatting — navigable scene (SuperSplat viewer)

    2 — Training timelapse

    Gaussian Splatting training — 48k iterations (PostShot, × 20 timelapse)

    3 — Traveling through the reconstructed scene

    Traveling through the reconstructed environment — Unreal Engine, XV3DGS plugin

    Training

    Method: Gaussian Splatting (PostShot)
    Images: 962
    Splats: 1.6M
    Iterations: 48k
    Alignment: RealityCapture — 898 aligned images

    Processing

    Post-clean: none

    Capture

    Camera: Insta360 X4
    Projection: equirectangular
    Capture duration: 2:00 min
    Location: Orcières Merlette, Hautes-Alpes, French Alps — outdoor / ski resort

    4 — 360° capture excerpt

    Source footage — Insta360 X4, equirectangular projection, swing motion, 2:00 min

    5 — Scene captures

    Ghost artifacts — skiers ahead on the trail | viewpoint-dependent reconstruction
    Distant valley — reconstruction instability | out of focus
    Radiance field frontier — lateral view
    Radiance field — top view, abstract capture

    Part of an ongoing research on reconstruction instabilities and viewpoint-dependent artifacts in Gaussian Splatting.

    Nicolas Mimault, Bagnolet / Paris · nmimault@gmail.com

  • French Alps — Avatar gameplay & Single-Path Scene Reconstruction

    French Alps — Avatar gameplay & Single-Path Scene Reconstruction

    Field notes — Orcières Merlette, Hautes-Alpes, French Alps

    → English below

    En se déplaçant dans la scène, l’avatar fait apparaître la structure même de l’archive : les splats se dispersent à son passage, révélant la nature instable et construite de la reconstruction volumétrique, proche d’un souvenir qu’on peine à saisir. Capture réalisée à ski dans un paysage de montagne ouvert, caméra sur perche balancée de gauche à droite — la reconstruction ne capte que ce qu’un seul passage avec la camera 360 en mouvement peut voir.

    —

    As the avatar moves through the scene, it reveals the very structure of the archive: splats scatter at its passage, exposing the unstable and constructed nature of volumetric reconstruction, like a memory we struggle to hold onto. Skiing through an open mountain landscape, camera swung left to right on a pole, the reconstruction captures only what a single moving path can see with a 360 camera.

    1 — Avatar interaction & particle forces

    Avatar interaction & particle forces — Unreal Engine / TouchDesigner
    Music: John Lemke — Vessel

    Interaction

    Player interaction: Unreal Engine — XV3DGS plugin
    Particle system forces controlled via TouchDesigner — MIDI to OSC

    Training

    Method: Gaussian Splatting (PostShot)
    Images: 962
    Splats: 1.6M
    Training iterations: 48k steps
    Alignment: RealityCapture — 898 aligned images

    Processing

    Post-clean: none

    Capture

    Camera: Insta360 X4
    Projection 360: equirectangular
    Capture duration: 2:00 min
    Location: Orcières Merlette, Hautes-Alpes, French Alps — outdoor / ski resort

    A terrain experiment extending the volumetric research beyond urban spaces — into open mountain landscapes.

    Nicolas Mimault, Bagnolet / Paris · nmimault@gmail.com