Validation & Export: Quality Assessment and Format Selection

After training, scenes often contain 'floaters' — airborne, unrelated Gaussian points scattered above the main subject, typically caused by moving objects, reflections, or occlusion during capture. SuperSplat offers a browser-based visual editor with lasso selection and batch deletion. Workflow: load .ply or .splat → switch to Edit mode → lasso floater regions → Delete → export the cleaned file. Check from multiple viewpoints to avoid accidentally deleting valid Gaussians near subject edges. SuperSplat exports to .ply and .splat formats.

splat-transform, developed by the PlayCanvas team, is a CLI tool that converts between .ply, .splat, .spz and other mainstream formats — currently one of the most reliable open-source format conversion solutions. Basic usage: splat-transform input.ply output.splat; the tool automatically handles byte order and attribute mapping. Before converting to a lossy format (such as spz), freeze a .ply master first. After conversion, validate lighting and opacity in the target viewer (e.g., browser-based GaussianSplats3D), as different formats have varying spherical harmonics storage precision, which can cause subtle visual differences.

The three metrics measure different dimensions of reconstruction quality: PSNR (Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio) measures pixel-level error — higher is better (25 dB+ is a common acceptable threshold); SSIM (Structural Similarity) measures combined luminance, contrast and structure similarity on a 0-1 scale, closer to 1 is better; LPIPS (Learned Perceptual Image Patch Similarity) uses deep features that better match human perception — lower is better. These metrics are typically output together by training frameworks (e.g., Nerfstudio's eval command). For production delivery, compare held-out test set images against corresponding rendered frames to quickly assess whether reconstruction meets delivery standards.

Before delivery, verify: ① Floaters cleaned — visually inspect from front/back/left/right with no obvious artifacts; ② File format compatible with downstream viewer or engine (see format trade-off section above); ③ .ply master backup retained, lossy-converted versions saved separately, both files with version number or date; ④ If delivery includes web embedding, load speed and rendering verified in target browsers and devices; ⑤ If real people or sensitive locations are involved, necessary portrait or usage rights have been obtained. This checklist is a general guide — adapt it to your specific delivery requirements.