This guide walks through turning aerial or drone video into an interactive 3D Gaussian splat on Volugraph. Watch the video above, then use the steps below on your own footage.
Why aerial video works for 3DGS
Aerial passes give wide context around buildings, sites, and landscapes. When overlap and lighting are good, video from a drone or elevated gimbal can reconstruct large outdoor scenes that would take far longer to cover on foot, and the result is a splat you can navigate freely in the browser, not a fixed tour path.
What you need
- Smooth, stable footage with strong overlap between frames.
- Consistent altitude and gimbal angle within each pass.
- Even lighting when possible; avoid harsh single-direction shadows across the whole site.
- A Volugraph account and a project to upload into.
Workflow overview
- Capture. Fly your pattern (orbit or parallel sweeps) with enough overlap between passes.
- Upload. Export your clip at full resolution, trim takeoff/landing wobble if needed, then upload the video to your Volugraph project.
- Process. Volugraph runs structure-from-motion and Gaussian splat training in the cloud. Most aerial captures finish within about an hour, depending on length and resolution.
- Review and share. Open the splat in the browser, navigate freely, and share a link with your team or embed it on a project page.
Tips for cleaner splats
Prefer one continuous session per lighting condition. Add a second pass at the same height instead of mixing very different altitudes. If the result looks soft, your next lever is usually more overlap, lower vibration, or softer light, not only higher resolution.