feat: Support for exporting generated 3D Gaussians to .ply or .splat formats

[Bangkah]

Problem: Currently, SHARP produces high-quality 3D reconstructions from single images, but the output is primarily consumed within the provided inference scripts. There is no straightforward way to use these results in external 3D software.

Proposed Solution: Add a utility script or an argument in predict.py to export the generated 3D Gaussian Splats into industry-standard formats such as:

. ply: For compatibility with Gaussian Splatting viewers (like Polycam or SuperSplat).
. splat: For web-based WebGL renderers.

Value: This would enable researchers and creators to integrate SHARP into their 3D pipelines (Blender, Unity, Unreal Engine) immediately after inference.

[ftaghiyev]

Hi Bangkah,

I am not 100% sure but I think the current sharp predict CLI already exports 3D Gaussians as .ply files via save_ply(...) into the output directory, and these are compatible with existing Gaussian Splat viewers. A separate .splat exporter doesn’t exist though, so if you had a particular .splat spec/viewer in mind, more details would help.

Also, have you tried to run sharp predict?

[Bangkah]

Hi @ftaghiyev,

Thank you for the quick response and for pointing that out!

1. Regarding .ply

You are right. After a closer look at the code, I see that save_ply is indeed implemented. I will test the output with existing viewers like SuperSplat to verify the compatibility and visual quality.

2. Regarding .splat

The reason I suggested a separate .splat exporter is primarily for web-based optimization. While .ply is the standard for high-fidelity research, the .splat format (as popularized by Luma AI and Antimatter15) is more efficient for the following reasons:

• File Size: Often more lightweight for web delivery.
• Pre-sorting: Optimized for real-time WebGL rendering without heavy client-side processing.
• Workflow: Saves an extra conversion step for developers building interactive web experiences.

Next Steps

I'll try to run sharp predict now and verify the .ply output. If it works seamlessly with common viewers, a native .splat exporter might be less urgent, but it would still be a valuable "nice-to-have" feature for production-ready web performance.

Thanks again for the clarification!

[ftaghiyev]

@Bangkah sounds good to me, would be great to have as command argument to specify output format.

[prodigious-diego]

got ya @Bangkah
#24