Not too long after they exploded onto the scene with a 2023 whitepaper, I have been experimenting with gaussian splats at a prosumer level. I haven’t seen a technology turn around into full integration on existing platforms so quickly before - it seems like everyone who was already active in the LiDAR/volumetric space had working splat integrations in their platforms within weeks. So too was the evolution from command line and Python-based desktop computer platforms like NerfStudio and PostShot to stuff you can casually do on your phone with apps like Niantic Scaniverse, Polycam, Apple’s RealityComposer and Luma AI lightning fast.

I have not been captivated by a new technology this hard since the rebirth of consumer VR over a decade ago. I love the idea of “immersive memory capture.” I was a longtime user - long past its shelf life - of Google’s Cardboard Camera, grabbing stereoscopic panoramas with mono audio loops at every vacation spot or interesting curio my partner and I stopped at along the road. I love what Apple has been doing with Spatial Videos and SHARP, which I see as a continuation of this kind of artifact.

Recently, I’ve made it a goal to learn how to capture and render splats completely locally using tools like RealityScan and LichtFeld Studio. That has been empowering on a whole other level than relying on cloud-based rendering services and mobile app UI. As the 2020s plod on, I am increasingly weary of becoming overleveraged on platforms that I do not control, so the ability to generate these locally with a good GPU is precious to me, and it’s been helpful in backfilling my understanding of every revolution in photogrammetry that has been taking place since NVIDIA CUDA became a thing ~15 years ago or so.

Anyway, this stuff fascinates me, and increasingly I am feeling compelled to chase after it as the ground underneath VR begins to erode following Meta’s gradual divestment that began in 2025. I think it’s a great opportunity to recenter immersive art around documentary work, and to place the attention back on humanist stories when tech seems increasingly headed in the direction of maximum personal alienation from community.

This reel is a snapshot of some highlights of the playing around that I’ve been doing since I jumped in in April of 2024, and it cuts off in early May of 2026. I may add more to this page as my research continues.