Realtime Lighting in Gaussian Splatting Scenes using Geometry-Based Light Probe Placement

Realtime Lighting in Gaussian Splatting Scenes using Geometry-Based Light Probe Placement | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Realtime Lighting in Gaussian Splatting Scenes using Geometry-Based Light Probe Placement Maurice Teuber, Christian Kunert, Tobias Schwandt, Wolfgang Broll This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6353662/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 11 Sep, 2025 Read the published version in The Visual Computer → Version 1 posted 11 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract To achieve realistic lighting in augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and similar applications especially with stringent realtime constraints, environmental lighting is often captured and stored in light probes, which are strategically placed throughout the scene. This study explores the optimal positioning of light probes to enhance the realism of extended realities. A novel spatial geometry-based method for light probe placement is proposed and compared against three alternative techniques, evaluated across various real-world environment reconstructions with different probe densities. The findings demonstrate that the careful placement of a minimal number of probes can effectively replicate realistic lighting in complex environments. The geometry-based optimization method outperforms the alternatives in indoor environments by providing an efficient realtime solution with fewer probes. This optimized approach is suitable for direct implementation in realtime applications such as AR, VR, game development, and virtual productions, offering both improved lighting realism and optimized computational efficiency. Light probes Gaussian Splatting Radiance fields Lighting Geometry-based optimization Extended reality Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 11 Sep, 2025 Read the published version in The Visual Computer → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 22 May, 2025 Reviews received at journal 21 May, 2025 Reviews received at journal 16 May, 2025 Reviews received at journal 13 May, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 30 Apr, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 26 Apr, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 23 Apr, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 02 Apr, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 02 Apr, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 02 Apr, 2025 First submitted to journal 01 Apr, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6353662","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":446787538,"identity":"854920a0-5f2e-489d-b40d-e2b04499dc2a","order_by":0,"name":"Maurice Teuber","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA+klEQVRIiWNgGAWjYLCCBAjFBsQ2QMzYeIAoLTwQLWkgLQ2EtTAgtBwGc/Bq0W0/Y/bhQY0Ngz17j9mDj3vO261tPwy0pcYmGpcWszM5xjMSjqUx8PCcMTec8ex28rYziUAtx9JyG3BpOZBjzJDYcJiBRyLHTJrnwO1kswNALYwNh3FrOf8GpOU/A4/8GzPpPwfOJZudf0hAyw2wLQeAtvCYSTMcOGBndoOQLTeeFTMkHEsGeiWt3LDnQHKC2Q2gLQn4/HI+eTPjjxo7Ofb2w9se/DhgZ292Pv3hgw81Nji1wAAPjJEIVplAQDkKsCdF8SgYBaNgFIwMAACftGC+CqCw9AAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Maurice","middleName":"","lastName":"Teuber","suffix":""},{"id":446787540,"identity":"67103f3a-a8de-4667-9bca-d569474ed06a","order_by":1,"name":"Christian Kunert","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Ilmenau University of Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Christian","middleName":"","lastName":"Kunert","suffix":""},{"id":446787546,"identity":"e1e137ab-c3ab-4613-b2cd-811c40bc0946","order_by":2,"name":"Tobias Schwandt","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Ilmenau University of Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Tobias","middleName":"","lastName":"Schwandt","suffix":""},{"id":446787547,"identity":"9e98dbcb-4ff9-41ec-83ac-8371bb7b6f1e","order_by":3,"name":"Wolfgang Broll","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Ilmenau University of Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Wolfgang","middleName":"","lastName":"Broll","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-04-01 13:38:19","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6353662/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6353662/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[{"content":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00371-025-04124-z","type":"published","date":"2025-09-11T15:57:35+00:00"}],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":91359101,"identity":"4c8ede58-3a98-4df8-b748-6436ca089eaa","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-09-15 16:05:11","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":5684628,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"PaperReview.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6353662/v1_covered_90aecfd1-7d81-4803-bbee-7f856cc71ec8.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Realtime Lighting in Gaussian Splatting Scenes using Geometry-Based Light Probe Placement","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"the-visual-computer","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"tvcj","sideBox":"Learn more about [The Visual Computer](http://link.springer.com/journal/371)","snPcode":"371","submissionUrl":"https://submission.nature.com/new-submission/371/3","title":"The Visual Computer","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Springer Hybrid","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"Light probes, Gaussian Splatting, Radiance fields, Lighting, Geometry-based optimization, Extended reality","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6353662/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6353662/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"To achieve realistic lighting in augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and similar applications especially with stringent realtime constraints, environmental lighting is often captured and stored in light probes, which are strategically placed throughout the scene. This study explores the optimal positioning of light probes to enhance the realism of extended realities. A novel spatial geometry-based method for light probe placement is proposed and compared against three alternative techniques, evaluated across various real-world environment reconstructions with different probe densities. The findings demonstrate that the careful placement of a minimal number of probes can effectively replicate realistic lighting in complex environments. The geometry-based optimization method outperforms the alternatives in indoor environments by providing an efficient realtime solution with fewer probes. This optimized approach is suitable for direct implementation in realtime applications such as AR, VR, game development, and virtual productions, offering both improved lighting realism and optimized computational efficiency.","manuscriptTitle":"Realtime Lighting in Gaussian Splatting Scenes using Geometry-Based Light Probe Placement","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-04-24 09:15:32","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6353662/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"decision","content":"Revision requested","date":"2025-05-22T04:38:07+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-05-21T07:04:52+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-05-16T12:45:56+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-05-13T08:37:09+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"319881009960663719139309839040100857341","date":"2025-04-30T07:57:05+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"26414657324915426120481637232457750851","date":"2025-04-26T06:39:36+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"57154687467583634494637085532462372046","date":"2025-04-23T08:33:45+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2025-04-03T02:51:16+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorAssigned","content":"","date":"2025-04-02T11:56:15+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2025-04-02T10:59:03+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"The Visual Computer","date":"2025-04-01T13:31:13+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"the-visual-computer","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"tvcj","sideBox":"Learn more about [The Visual Computer](http://link.springer.com/journal/371)","snPcode":"371","submissionUrl":"https://submission.nature.com/new-submission/371/3","title":"The Visual Computer","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Springer Hybrid","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"e9aface0-367a-4c76-930e-88671dc3f66c","owner":[],"postedDate":"April 24th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"published-in-journal","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-09-15T16:02:35+00:00","versionOfRecord":{"articleIdentity":"rs-6353662","link":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00371-025-04124-z","journal":{"identity":"the-visual-computer","isVorOnly":false,"title":"The Visual Computer"},"publishedOn":"2025-09-11 15:57:35","publishedOnDateReadable":"September 11th, 2025"},"versionCreatedAt":"2025-04-24 09:15:32","video":"","vorDoi":"10.1007/s00371-025-04124-z","vorDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00371-025-04124-z","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-6353662","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-6353662","identity":"rs-6353662","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}