Steepest Descent Density Control for Compact 3D Gaussian Splatting

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2505.05587v1
• Date: Thu, 08 May 2025 18:41:38 GMT
• Title: Steepest Descent Density Control for Compact 3D Gaussian Splatting
• Authors: Peihao Wang, Yuehao Wang, Dilin Wang, Sreyas Mohan, Zhiwen Fan, Lemeng Wu, Ruisi Cai, Yu-Ying Yeh, Zhangyang Wang, Qiang Liu, Rakesh Ranjan,
• Abstract summary: 3D Gaussian Splatting (3DGS) has emerged as a powerful real-time, high-resolution novel view.<n>We propose a theoretical framework that demystifies and improves density control in 3DGS.<n>We introduce SteepGS, incorporating steepest density control, a principled strategy that minimizes loss while maintaining a compact point cloud.
• Score: 72.54055499344052
• License: http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/
• Abstract: 3D Gaussian Splatting (3DGS) has emerged as a powerful technique for real-time, high-resolution novel view synthesis. By representing scenes as a mixture of Gaussian primitives, 3DGS leverages GPU rasterization pipelines for efficient rendering and reconstruction. To optimize scene coverage and capture fine details, 3DGS employs a densification algorithm to generate additional points. However, this process often leads to redundant point clouds, resulting in excessive memory usage, slower performance, and substantial storage demands - posing significant challenges for deployment on resource-constrained devices. To address this limitation, we propose a theoretical framework that demystifies and improves density control in 3DGS. Our analysis reveals that splitting is crucial for escaping saddle points. Through an optimization-theoretic approach, we establish the necessary conditions for densification, determine the minimal number of offspring Gaussians, identify the optimal parameter update direction, and provide an analytical solution for normalizing off-spring opacity. Building on these insights, we introduce SteepGS, incorporating steepest density control, a principled strategy that minimizes loss while maintaining a compact point cloud. SteepGS achieves a ~50% reduction in Gaussian points without compromising rendering quality, significantly enhancing both efficiency and scalability.

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