SkySplat Blender Installation

This guide will walk you through installing the SkySplat Blender addon and all required dependencies for 3D Gaussian Splatting support.

Requirements

• Blender 4.0.0 or newer
• COLMAP (for reconstruction features)
• Brush App from Arthur Brussee

Note: The Brush App for Gaussian Splatting is now bundled with the addon - no separate installation required!

Installation

1. Download and Install SkySplat

1. Download the latest release zip file from SkySplat Releases

   OR

   Download the latest development version via the GitHub Download ZIP link under the code button at skysplat_blender

   

2. Open Blender and navigate to Edit → Preferences → Add-ons

3. Click “Install…” and select the downloaded ZIP file

4. Enable the addon by checking the box next to “3D View: SkySplat: 3DGS Blender Toolkit”

2. Install COLMAP

COLMAP is required for the Structure from Motion reconstruction features. Choose the installation method for your operating system:

macOS (Recommended: Homebrew)

brew install colmap

The executable will be installed to /opt/homebrew/bin/colmap (Apple Silicon) or /usr/local/bin/colmap (Intel).

Linux (Package Manager)

Ubuntu/Debian:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install colmap

Fedora/RHEL:

sudo dnf install colmap

Arch Linux:

sudo pacman -S colmap

The executable will typically be installed to /usr/bin/colmap.

Windows (Pre-compiled Binary)

1. Download the latest Windows release from COLMAP GitHub Releases
2. Extract the ZIP file to a location like C:\Program Files\COLMAP\
3. The executable will be at C:\Program Files\COLMAP\bin\colmap.exe
4. Optionally, add the bin directory to your system PATH for easier access

Note: For SkySplat to work properly, you’ll need to know the path to the COLMAP executable. The addon will attempt to auto-detect common installation paths, but you can manually specify the path in the COLMAP panel if needed.

3. Install Brush app

The brush app from brush app is needed for the 3DGS training of the scene. The brush binaries for all mac/linux/windows are included with this addon, however, when Blender installs an addon via a zip file, it changes the permissions on the extracted files (this is for everyone’s benefit), and these cannot be executed by default.

You have 3 options for running brush from this addon:

Option 1: Fix Permissions on Bundled Binaries (Recommended)

After installing the SkySplat addon, you’ll need to make the bundled brush binaries executable:

macOS/Linux:

1. Open Terminal

2. Navigate to your Blender addons directory:

   • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Blender/4.0/scripts/addons/skysplat_blender/binaries/
   • Linux: ~/.config/blender/4.0/scripts/addons/skysplat_blender/binaries/

3. Make the binary executable:

   # For macOS
   chmod +x brush_app_mac
   

   # For Linux
   chmod +x brush_app_linux
   

Windows: Windows executables should work without permission changes, but if you encounter issues, right-click on brush_app_windows.exe → Properties → Security → and ensure your user has “Full control” permissions.

Option 2: Download Pre-compiled Binaries

If you prefer to download the binaries separately, you can get them directly from the Brush repository releases:

1. Windows: Download brush_app_windows.exe from Brush Releases
2. macOS: Download brush_app_macos from Brush Releases

On macos, if you get an error something to the effect of “Apple could not verify “brush_app_mac” you may need to remove the quarantine from the downloaded file. This applies to downloads from the brush repo as well as the skysplat repo.

xattr -d com.apple.quarantine /path/to/brush_app_mac

3. Linux: Download brush_app_linux from Brush Releases

You can also get the compiled binaries in the skysplat_blender repo

1. Windows: brush_app_windows.exe
2. macOS (Apple silicon): brush_app_mac
3. linux: brush_app_linux

Important: You will need to know the full path to where you downloaded these binaries, as you’ll need to specify this path in the SkySplat 3DGS panel’s “Brush Executable” field.

Option 3: Clone and Build Brush from Source

For the most up-to-date version or if you want to modify the source code:

1. Install Rust (if not already installed):

   curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh
   source ~/.cargo/env
   

2. Clone and build Brush:

   git clone https://github.com/ArthurBrussee/brush.git
   cd brush
   cargo build --release
   

3. Locate the executable:

   • Windows: target/release/brush_app.exe
   • macOS/Linux: target/release/brush_app

Important: You will need to know the full path to the compiled executable (e.g., /home/username/brush/target/release/brush_app) as you’ll need to specify this path in the SkySplat 3DGS panel’s “Brush Executable” field.

Note: The SkySplat addon will automatically attempt to detect the bundled binaries first, then fall back to common build locations like ~/projects/brush/target/release/brush_app. If none are found, you can manually specify the path in the 3DGS panel.

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Running Blender from Command Line

To monitor the detailed output of COLMAP processing, Brush training, and other operations, it’s recommended to run Blender from the command line. This allows you to see real-time console output and debug information that isn’t visible in the Blender GUI.

Command Line Usage

macOS:

/Applications/Blender.app/Contents/MacOS/Blender

Linux:

blender

Windows:

"C:\Program Files\Blender Foundation\Blender 4.0\blender.exe"

Benefits of CLI Usage

• COLMAP Output: See detailed reconstruction progress, feature detection statistics, and any error messages
• Brush Training: Monitor training iterations, loss values, and performance metrics in real-time
• Debug Information: View Python error traces and addon-specific logging
• Process Monitoring: Track subprocess execution and completion status

When running operations like “Run COLMAP” or “Run Brush Training”, the detailed output will appear in the terminal where you launched Blender, making it much easier to troubleshoot issues or monitor progress.

Verification

After installation, verify the addon is working:

1. Check the panel

   • Open the sidebar in the 3D View (press N)
   • Look for the “SkySplat” tab

2. Test the tools

   • Try loading a video file in the Video Loader panel
   • Verify COLMAP path is detected in the COLMAP panel

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Addon doesn’t appear after installation

• Ensure you’re using Blender 4.0 or later
• Check that the addon is enabled in Preferences
• Restart Blender

COLMAP not found

• Verify COLMAP is installed correctly
• Manually set the COLMAP executable path in the COLMAP panel
• Check the console for error messages

Brush executable permission denied (macOS/Linux)

• Follow Option 1 instructions to fix permissions with chmod +x
• Or download binaries separately and specify the path

Performance issues

• Ensure your GPU supports the required features
• Try reducing image resolution in training parameters
• Monitor system resources during processing

Getting Help

• Report issues on GitHub
• Join community discussions
• Check the SkySplat website for updates

Next Steps

• Complete Workflow Walkthrough
• Explore the example videos and datasets
• Join the community and share your results!