Gaussian Splatting plugin by KIRI Engine v1.0.0

Installation Notes

Most users will want to use the plugin 'as is' without any scripting or technical knowledge required.

Those instructions are given next.

For users that wish to modify or build their own version of the plugin, instructions to do are available following the Easy Installation.

Easy Installation

Windows Installation

Copy the .aex plugin files into the After Effects Plug-ins folder.

The default Windows location is usually:

The current plugin package may include:

Windows

• Kiri_GaussianSplatting.aex
• Kiri_PlyImporter.aex

After copying the plugin files, restart After Effects.

macOS Installation

Copy the .plugin plugin files into the After Effects Plug-ins folder.

The default macOS location is usually:

The current plugin package may include:

• Kiri_GaussianSplatting.plugin
• Kiri_PlyImporter.plugin

After copying the plugin files, restart After Effects.

If macOS blocks the plugin from loading, you may need to allow the plugin in macOS security settings. This behavior depends on the macOS version and how the plugin was packaged.

Developer's Build

Download

Requirements

Common

• CMake 3.5 or newer.
• C++20 compiler.
• Python 3 interpreter. Kiri_GaussianSplatting uses Python to generate shader headers during build.
• Adobe After Effects SDK under extern/AESDK.
• Third-party dependencies are expected to be available through git submodules in extern/.

Windows

• Visual Studio / MSVC toolchain.
• cl must be available for preprocessing .r resource files.
• Windows graphics dependencies are built from submodules: glad and glfw.
• The build generates .aex plug-ins.

macOS

• Xcode.
• macOS deployment target is set to 11.0.
• Universal build is configured for arm64;x86_64.
• Homebrew LLVM is required by Kiri_PlyImporter through brew --prefix llvm.
• rez must be available for PiPL/resource generation.
• macOS graphics/system dependencies include Cocoa, OpenGL, and metal-cpp.
• The build generates .plugin bundles.

Build

macOS

Windows

Then open Kiri_AE_3DGS.xcodeproj / Kiri_AE_3DGS.sln , select the Release configuration, and run ALL_BUILD to build the project.

Only the Release build products are currently expected to run correctly in After Effects.

After building , you should put the following products into your local AE plugins folder.

The default AE plugin path is as follows:

The default log file path is as follows:

Quick Start: Your First Splat In After Effects

This quick start walks through the basic setup: create a comp, add the effect, select your splat file, and view it through an AE camera.

Step 1: Create A Composition

Create a new After Effects composition.

Choose the resolution, frame rate, and duration you want for your shot. For a first test, use a normal comp size such as 1920 x 1080 so it is easy to preview.

Step 2: Add A Solid Layer

Create a new solid layer.

This solid will hold the KIRI_GaussianSplatting effect. The solid itself is just a host layer; the plugin will render the splat scene through the effect.

Step 3: Add A Camera

Create a new After Effects camera.

The plugin is designed to work with AE camera movement, so a camera is needed for viewing and animating the splat scene.

Step 4: Import A Splat File

Import your Gaussian Splat .PLY file into the After Effects project.

After importing it, add the splat footage to the composition stack.

You can turn off the footage layer visibility since you are only using it as the source for the plugin.

Step 5: Apply The Effect

Select the solid layer.

In the Effect Controls panel, apply the KIRI_GaussianSplatting effect.

It should appear under the Kiri Innovation plugin category.

Step 6: Select The Splat Footage

In the KIRI_GaussianSplatting effect controls, find Select Footage.

Choose the imported splat footage from the dropdown.

This tells the plugin which splat scene to render.

Step 7: Align And Frame The Splat

Use the Align and Transform controls to place the splat in the shot.

If the scene appears too large, too small, rotated incorrectly, or outside the camera view, start with the Align controls first, then use Transform controls for creative placement.

Step 8: Add A Simple Camera Move

Animate the AE camera to create a basic flythrough, orbit, push-in, or reveal.

Once the scene is visible and framed correctly, you can begin styling it with color, crop, opacity, noise, displacement, and density controls.

Interface Overview

The plugin interface is organized around a few main areas:

• Splat Enable
• Select Footage
• Align
• Transform
• Effect
• Advanced

Each area controls a different part of the workflow, from selecting the splat source to styling the final look.

Splat Enable

Splat Enable turns the splat render on or off.

Use this as a quick visibility switch while setting up the scene, comparing before and after looks, or checking whether the plugin is active.

Select Footage

Select Footage chooses the imported splat source that the plugin should render.

Align

The Align section is used to correct the base position, scale, and rotation of the imported splat scene.

Use Align when the splat first comes in and needs to be corrected before creative animation.

For example, the scan may appear rotated, offset, too large, too small, or facing the wrong direction.

Align is best thought of as "setup correction" transforms.

Align Anchor Point

Moves the base anchor point of the splat scene.

Use this when the scene needs to be shifted into a better starting position before applying normal transforms.

Align Scale

Adjusts the base scale of the imported scene.

Align Rotation X, Y, And Z

Rotates the imported scene on each axis.

Transform

The Transform section is used to place and animate the splat in the composition.

After the scene is aligned, use Transform controls the way you would use normal creative placement controls: position, scale, and rotation.

Transform is best thought of as the "shot placement" as opposed to the align settings correction transforms.

Position

Moves the splat scene in the composition.

Scale

Changes the overall size of the splat scene.

Use this for creative shot framing once the scene has been roughly corrected with Align Scale.

Rotation X, Y, And Z

Rotates the splat scene in the composition.

Effect

The Effect section contains the main creative styling tools.

These controls let you change the look and behavior of the splat scene.

The main effect groups are:

• Render
• Crop
• Splat Scale
• Splat Noise
• Splat Opacity
• Splat Displacement
• Splat Density

Advanced

The Advanced section contains extra controls for camera feel, depth of field and visibility range.

Feature Guide

Render And Color

The Render section controls the base look of the splat and allows custom color styling.

Use this section when you want to preserve the scan's original look, recolor the scan, create stylized gradients, or turn realistic capture into graphic artwork.

SH Degree

SH Degree affects how much of the splat's captured color response is used.

In artist terms, this can change how rich or detailed the original scan color appears when viewed from the camera.

For simple looks, lower settings may feel more direct. For richer captured appearance, higher settings may preserve more of the scan's original visual character.

Color Enable

Color Enable turns the plugin's custom color styling on or off.

When Color Enable is off, the splat uses its normal captured color look. When it is on, the Color Gradient, Color Ramp, and Color Shape controls can be used to recolor parts of the splat.

Color Gradient

Color Gradient lets you create a custom color blend.

Selecting a square tab under the gradient bar will open a new window allowing you to select a color.

New tabs can be added to the gradient by double clicking in the space below the gradient bar.

Ctrl/Cmd + left click can be used to remove tabs.

The maximum number of tabs allowed is 20. The minimum required number of tabs is 2.

Color Ramp

Color Ramp controls how strongly the color effect appears across the selected area.

In simple terms:

• The gradient controls the colors.
• The ramp controls how those colors fade in and out.

Color Shape Controls

The Color Shape controls - Shape Size, X, Y, Z and center location - define where the color effect appears in 3D space.

These controls let you position and shape the area affected by the color treatment. This makes it possible to recolor only part of a scan instead of changing the entire scene at once.

Crop

Crop hides or reveals parts of the splat using a 3D area.

Use this when you want to isolate part of a scan, remove unwanted areas, or create a reveal effect.

Crop Enable

Turns the crop effect on or off.

Crop Invert

Switches which side of the crop area is visible.

This is useful when you want to alternate between hiding the inside of the crop area and hiding the outside.

Crop Shape Controls

The Crop Shape controls - Shape Size, X, Y, Z and center location - define the size, scale, and center of the crop area.

Use these controls to place the crop region around the part of the scan you want to hide or reveal.

Splat Scale

Splat Scale changes the size and visual feel of splats in a selected area.

This can make parts of the scan feel softer, chunkier, sharper, more abstract, or more particle-like.

Scale Enable

Turns the scale effect on or off.

Scale Size

Controls how large or small the affected splats become.

Use this to push the scan toward a more visible point-based or particle-like look.

Scale Ramp

Controls how the scale effect fades through the selected area.

Use this to create a soft scale transition instead of a sudden change.

Scale Shape Controls

The Scale Shape controls - Shape Size, X, Y, Z and center location - define where the splat scaling happens.

Use these controls to affect only part of the scene, such as the center of an object, the edge of a scan, or a region moving through the scene.

Splat Noise

Splat Noise adds organic distortion and motion-like variation to the splat.

This is one of the most expressive creative sections. It can make a scan shimmer, ripple, glitch, break apart, or feel alive.

Noise Enable

Turns the noise effect on or off.

Noise Shape Controls

The Noise Shape controls - Shape Size, X, Y, Z and center location - define where the noise effect appears.

Use these controls to localize the noise so only part of the splat becomes unstable or animated.

Noise Strength

Controls the overall strength of the noise effect.

Higher values create stronger distortion. Lower values create more subtle motion.

Noise Strength X, Y, And Z

Controls the direction of the noise effect.

Use these controls to push the distortion more horizontally, vertically, or in depth.

Noise Octaves

Controls the detail level of the noise.

Lower values can feel simpler and smoother. Higher values can feel more detailed and turbulent.

Noise Persistence

Controls how much smaller noise detail remains visible.

Use this to shape whether the noise feels smooth or layered.

Noise Lacunarity

Controls the spacing and frequency feel of the noise.

Use this to adjust whether the noise feels broad and slow or more detailed and active.

Splat Opacity

Splat Opacity fades parts of the splat in or out.

Use this when you want transparent, ghostly, dissolving, or soft reveal effects.

Opacity Enable

Turns the opacity effect on or off.

Min Opacity

Sets the lowest opacity level for the affected area.

Use this to prevent the splat from disappearing completely, or set it low for a more dramatic fade.

Max Opacity

Sets the highest opacity level for the affected area.

Use this to control how solid the visible part of the splat can become.

Opacity Ramp

Controls how the opacity fades through the selected area.

Use this to create soft transitions, hard fades, or stylized transparency effects.

Opacity Shape Controls

The Opacity Shape controls - Shape Size, X, Y, Z and center location - define where the opacity effect appears.

Use these controls to fade only part of the scan rather than the entire scene.

Splat Displacement

Splat Displacement pushes, scales, or rotates areas of the splat.

This section is useful for creating warps, pulls, spatial bends, explosion-like transitions, and animated transformation effects.

Displacement Enable

Turns the displacement effect on or off.

Displacement Offset

Moves the affected splats away from their original position.

Use this to push part of the scan outward, pull it in a direction, or create a separation effect.

Displacement Offset Ramp

Controls how the offset fades through the selected area.

Use this to make the displacement feel soft and gradual instead of abrupt.

Displacement Scale

Scales the affected area of the splat.

Use this to make part of the scene expand, shrink, or pulse.

Displacement Scale Ramp

Controls how the scale displacement fades across the selected area.

Displacement Rotation X, Y, And Z

Rotates the affected area of the splat.

Use this for twisting, bending, or turning parts of the scan.

Displacement Rotation Ramp

Controls how the rotation effect fades through the selected area.

Displacement Shape Controls

The Displacement Shape controls - Shape Size, X, Y, Z and center location - define where the displacement happens.

Use these controls to isolate the effect to one part of the scan.

Splat Density

Splat Density controls how dense or sparse the splat appears in a selected area.

Use this to thin out parts of the scan, create particle-like breakup, or build digital-decay effects.

Density Enable

Turns the density effect on or off.

Density

Controls how much of the splat remains visible in the affected area.

Lower density can create a sparse, dissolving, or broken-up look. Higher density keeps more of the original scan visible.

Density Ramp

Controls how the density effect fades through the selected area.

Use this to create smooth density transitions or more graphic breakup effects.

Density Shape Controls

The Density Shape controls - Shape Size, X, Y, Z and center location - define where the density effect appears.

Use these controls to thin out one region while leaving the rest of the scan intact.

Advanced

The Advanced section provides extra controls for camera feel and visibility range.

Most users should begin with the normal setup controls first. Use Advanced when the splat is visible but does not feel correctly framed or matched to the camera.

Camera Focal Length

Adjusts the camera feel used by the plugin.

Use this if the splat perspective feels too wide, too tight, or mismatched with the composition.

Splat Crop Near

Controls how close splats can be before they are hidden.

Use this if parts of the splat are too close to the camera or creating unwanted near-camera artifacts.

Splat Crop Far

Controls how far splats can be before they are hidden.

Use this if very distant parts of the scene need to be removed or if the visible range needs adjustment.

Splat Crop Max Scale And Min Scale

These controls help filter splats by their size.

Use them when certain splats appear too large, too small, or visually distracting. These are more advanced cleanup controls and may not be needed in a normal first setup.

Depth of Field

Areas of the splat can be blurred depending on their distance from the camera - simulating camera lens blur

Depth of Field Enable

Turns the depth of field effect on or off.

Focus Distance

Sets the focal point by distance from the active camera.

Aperture

Controls how deep or shallow the depth of field is. The values do not correspond to camera fStops, a higher value creates a shallow depth of field (more blur).

Blur

Adjust the total strength of blur in out of focus areas.

Troubleshooting / FAQs

The Splat Does Not Appear

Check the following:

• Splat Enable is turned on.
• The splat footage is selected in Select Footage.
• A camera exists in the comp.
• The splat is positioned in front of the camera.
• The splat layer source is available in the project.

If the scene is still not visible, try resetting the Transform values and using Align Scale to bring the scene into a manageable size.

I can't add more tabs to the color gradient

The maximum number of tabs allowed is 20.

The minimum required number of tabs is 2.

Playback Feels Slow

Because AE will use any memory and disk as much as it can for the frame cache, pc will quickly lag due to limited memory. This is not caused by any program memory leak.

Try to release the cache when AE starts to freeze or lag