Can a Gaussian splat look furry—and stay furry when it moves? 🐈
That question led to this little cat-and-ball experiment.
The first attempts were underwhelming. The fur barely showed up, its length was too uniform, and parts of the silhouette still looked like a smooth mesh. Converting it to a splat made the missing detail even more obvious.
So I went back to the groom: better direction, varied lengths, clumps, thicker strands and colours inherited from the cat’s texture. The goal was to get that soft, slightly untidy outline that makes an animal feel furry.
Then came the fun part: giving the cat something to watch.
A colourful rolling ball, a curious head turn and a swaying tail. I tried a paw movement too, but it looked awkward—so I removed it. Sometimes a smaller gesture tells the story better.
The video shows the resulting rig-driven 4D Gaussian splat, playing inside Maya through Arnold. The trained Gaussians follow the cat’s rig, with a PLY sequence carrying the motion frame by frame.
It’s an early experiment, but it leaves me with a bigger question: could animated splats become a convincing fur layer for animal characters in games?
Model and texture credit: iRahulRajput — Medium poly Cat In Motion 3d Model Free, shared under CC Attribution (CC BY). I added the XGen groom, custom animation and Gaussian splat conversion.
#4DGS #GaussianSplatting #Maya #XGen #TechnicalArt #GameDevelopment