Research map / 3D vision / Gaussian splatting
Reflective Gaussian Splatting
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Proposes Ref-Gaussian, a 2D Gaussian splatting framework with physically based deferred rendering (split-sum) and mesh-traced Gaussian-grounded inter-reflection for real-time reflective object reconstruction.
Problem
Real-time, high-quality novel view synthesis and inverse rendering of reflective objects that accounts for inter-reflection, which prior NeRF and 3DGS methods handle poorly or slowly.
Approach
Combines pixel-level deferred PBR shading with split-sum approximation, 2D Gaussian primitives, and an indirect-light term whose visibility is computed by ray tracing against a periodically extracted TSDF mesh, plus an initial per-Gaussian shading stage and material-aware normal propagation.
Key results
- Ref-Gaussian reports average PSNR 30.33, SSIM 0.958, LPIPS 0.049 on Glossy-Blender vs NeuS 27.86 and NeRO 29.73, with 122 FPS.
- Normal MAE of 2.15 vs 2.62 for 3DGS-DR and 2.74 for ENVIDR, and training time 0.58 h vs 5.84 h for ENVIDR.
- On NDE comparison (Shiny Blender), Ref-Gaussian PSNR 35.04 is slightly below NDE's 35.48 but renders at 122 FPS vs 66 FPS.
Measured effects reported in the paper
| What was changed | Where | Measured | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Use Ref-Gaussian instead of NeRO | novel view synthesis · Glossy Blender | PSNR: 29.73 -> 30.33 | Helped |
| Use Ref-Gaussian instead of NDE | novel view synthesis · Shiny Blender | FPS: 66 -> 122 | Helped |
| Add physically based rendering (ablation) | Ref-Gaussian · Glossy Synthetic | PSNR: 29.84 -> 30.33 | Helped |
| Add inter-reflection (ablation) | Ref-Gaussian · Glossy Synthetic | PSNR: 30.14 -> 30.33 | Helped |
| Add deferred rendering (ablation) | Ref-Gaussian · Glossy Synthetic | PSNR: 28.85 -> 30.33 | Helped |
| Add per-Gaussian shading initial stage (ablation) | Ref-Gaussian · Glossy Synthetic | PSNR: 29.94 -> 30.33 | Helped |
| Use material-aware normal propagation instead of original normal propagation (ablation) | Ref-Gaussian · Glossy Synthetic | PSNR: 29.68 -> 30.33 | Helped |
| Use 2D Gaussian representation instead of 3DGS (ablation) | Ref-Gaussian · Glossy Synthetic | Normal MAE: 4.45 -> 2.15 | Helped |
| Add per-Gaussian shading initial stage (ablation) | Ref-Gaussian · Glossy Synthetic | Normal MAE: 3.53 -> 2.15 | Helped |
| Use material-aware normal propagation instead of original normal propagation (ablation) | Ref-Gaussian · Glossy Synthetic | Normal MAE: 3.86 -> 2.15 | Helped |
| Add physically based rendering (ablation) | Ref-Gaussian · Glossy Synthetic | Normal MAE: 3.81 -> 2.15 | Helped |
Surprising findings
- On the Shiny Blender comparison with NDE, Ref-Gaussian has lower PSNR and SSIM than NDE, trading quality for speed.
Limitations
- Designed for reflective scenes; may not excel on non-specular scenes.
- Visibility approximated using reflected direction over the whole specular lobe, which can add noise to material estimation.
- Relies on periodically extracted TSDF mesh for ray-traced visibility.
Experimental setup
Datasets: Shiny Blender Glossy Synthetic Ref-Real NeRF-Synthetic
Benchmarks: Shiny Blender Glossy Synthetic Ref-Real NeRF-Synthetic
Metrics: PSNR SSIM LPIPS MAE FPS training time
Baselines: Ref-NeRF ENVIDR 3DGS 2DGS GShader R3DG 3DGS-DR NeRO NeuS NDE
Builds on: 2D Gaussian splatting 3DGS-DR Ref-NeRF Disney BRDF split-sum approximation
Closest papers by meaning
- MaterialRefGS: Reflective Gaussian Splatting with Multi-view Consistent Material Inference (NeurIPS 2025 · similarity 0.94)
- GS-2DGS: Geometrically Supervised 2DGS for Reflective Object Reconstruction (CVPR 2025 · similarity 0.93)
- Subsurface Scattering for Gaussian Splatting (NeurIPS 2024 · similarity 0.91)
- Ref-GS: Directional Factorization for 2D Gaussian Splatting (CVPR 2025 · similarity 0.91)
- SpecTRe-GS: Modeling Highly Specular Surfaces with Reflected Nearby Objects by Tracing Rays in 3D Gaussian Splatting (CVPR 2025 · similarity 0.90)
- IBGS: Image-Based Gaussian Splatting (NeurIPS 2025 · similarity 0.90)
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