3D BLOG/INTERVIEWS/KIRI ENGINE TRANSFORMING MOBILE 3D SCANNING WITH GAUSSIAN SPLATTING

KIRI Engine Transforming Mobile 3D Scanning with Gaussian Splatting

Oct 29, 2025

Article by Filip Radivojevic

We had the opportunity to speak with Jack Wang, CEO and Co-founder of KIRI Engine, to learn how their technology is changing the game for digital creators everywhere. By bringing advanced scanning tools such as Gaussian Splatting and mesh conversion to a simple smartphone workflow, KIRI Engine is making it easier than ever for artists, game developers, and 3D enthusiasts to capture real-world objects and turn them into stunning, production-ready assets.

Let's start with the basics. What is KIRI Engine, and what motivated you to create it?

KIRI Engine is a 3D scanner app that you can download on both your Android and iOS phone. The mission is simple: empower creators to turn anything into photo-realistic 3D content with ease and affordability.

What motivated us? Well, traditionally, creating professional-level 3D assets was super tedious and required expensive equipment. You needed hardcore photogrammetry rigs, powerful computers, and honestly, a lot of technical knowledge. We thought, "Why not put this power right in everyone's pocket?" With more than 2 million users worldwide now, I'd say we're on the right track.

For those new to the term, can you explain what 3D Gaussian Splatting is and how it differs from traditional 3D scanning or photogrammetry techniques?

Alright, so this needs some explanation. When we generally say "3D model," we mean mesh and textures, right? You have these little points called point clouds, and between the points, you have grids that connect them-that's mesh. Then you wrap colors and materials on top-that's texture.

But 3D Gaussian Splatting? Completely different story. If you zoom all the way into a mesh, you'll see perfectly closed surfaces. But if you zoom into 3DGS, you'll see these weird colorful spikes overlapping each other. These are 3D Gaussians. When millions of these spikes overlap from different angles, they create a visually represented 3D model without using mesh at all.

The cool and huge thing is 3DGS can capture transparent water bottles, shiny objects, even things with really simple colors that photogrammetry just can't handle. It's not that 3DGS will replace traditional modeling, but it's a massive improvement for scanning things that were simply impossible before.

How is KIRI Engine utilizing Gaussian Splatting in its technology, and what advantages does it bring to users compared to conventional scanning methods?

KIRI Engine utilizes 3D Gaussian Splatting in three key ways that fundamentally change what users can scan and how they can use it.

First, the scanning capability itself. Traditional photogrammetry struggles with transparent, reflective, or low-texture objects because it relies on finding matching feature points on surfaces. But our 3DGS implementation doesn't need those feature points. It can successfully scan glass bottles, shiny metals, plain white objects, things that were simply impossible to capture before. We're pretty proud to say KIRI Engine was one of the first apps to bring this technology to smartphones.

Second, we're the only app that lets you edit and crop 3DGS directly on your phone. You can use sphere selectors, plane cutters, or brush tools to remove backgrounds and isolate objects right in the app. This turns a whole 3DGS scene into usable standalone assets without needing a computer.

Third, and this is huge, we introduced the world's first mesh-inclusive 3D Gaussian Splatting. Here's why that matters: 3DGS looks stunning, but most production workflows like games, animation, 3D design, they're all built around mesh. You need mesh for editing, physics, lighting, animation. So we developed technology to convert 3DGS into high-quality mesh. Best of both worlds, right? Scan impossible objects with Gaussian Splatting, then use them like any traditional 3D asset in Blender or Unreal Engine.

And in our 3.13 update, we drastically improved the quality. We're talking 50% smaller file sizes but actually higher fidelity. When I compared our results with other 3DGS apps, I was like, "Wait, KIRI might actually have the best 3DGS quality out there now."

We also built the 3DGS Render Add-on for Blender. This add-on offers two dedicated Gaussian Splatting modes. The Edit Mode has all the editing tools and modifiers you're familiar with, camera culling, decimation, crop boxes, manual mesh edits, even geometry node edits. Then there's the Render Mode, which gives you real-time performance and playback. The cool part? Any changes you make in Edit Mode automatically update in the high-quality Render Mode. You can literally reframe and rephotograph your scanned world inside Blender with full depth of field support.

You can learn more about how KIRI Engine uses 3DGS on our website.

One of the most impressive aspects of the KIRI Engine is the ability to scan using just a smartphone. What challenges did your team face in making mobile 3D scanning so accessible and powerful?

You know, what really defines KIRI isn't just one technology - it's the way we keep breaking our own limits. From the very beginning, our goal was to bring cutting-edge research out of the lab and put it straight into people's hands.

We've always kept an eye on the frontier - when photogrammetry was the standard, we built one of the fastest mobile pipelines in the world.

When 3D Gaussian Splatting emerged, we didn't wait and we became one of the first to bring it to smartphones, and later pushed it even further with 3DGS-with-Mesh, combining the realism of splatting with the usability of traditional 3D workflows.

We also started using AI-enhanced LiDAR and intelligent scene understanding to help users capture complex environments more accurately, not by relying on sensors alone, but by letting AI learn how light and geometry interact.

That's what makes KIRI different - we don't just follow trends, we connect them, and turn raw innovation into real, practical tools.

Every year, every update, we try to make something that felt impossible last year become normal today. That's what drives us - constant progress, and bringing the future of 3D creation a little closer to everyone.

If you're curious about our AI-enhanced LiDAR technology, you can watch this video:

And if you want to see how 3DGS-to-Mesh works in action, check out this one:

Can you walk us through the typical scanning workflow in the KIRI app, from capture to export, especially when using Gaussian Splatting?

Sure thing. For 3DGS, it's actually super straightforward.

Just like how we do photo scanning with photogrammetry, you simply take a video circling around the object. The key is to move slowly - videos always have motion blur, so you really need to take your time.

I recommend doing three rotations at different heights: top, middle, and bottom. This ensures you capture all sides and angles. The video length is limited to 2 minutes for server optimization, but that's more than enough for a good scan.

Once you upload, our server gets to work right away, and before long you'll have a fully reconstructed 3DGS model ready to explore. From there, you can use our cropping tools to remove backgrounds and clean up the scan right in the app.

For export, you have multiple options: you can save the pure 3DGS as a .PLY file for web or visualization, or use our 3DGS-to-Mesh feature to generate an .OBJ file with baked textures and PBR-ready maps, perfect for Blender, Unreal Engine, or even 3D printing.

Gaussian Splatting has generated a lot of buzz recently. Where do you see this technology heading in the next few years, especially in the context of gaming, digital art, and virtual production?

Honestly? We're barely scratching the surface. Right now, 3DGS has limitations - no physics, no relighting, no LOD. At GDC 2024, I actually gave a talk about using 3DGS in game development, and I was pretty transparent about these challenges.

But here's the thing: 3DGS builds on a point-based representation, so we could leverage everything we've already developed for point cloud processing and visualization. That means we already know a lot about how to manipulate it. In just one year since its introduction, we've achieved so much. We went from basic 3DGS viewing to full editing capabilities, to mesh generation. And now with our Blender Add-on, you can either convert an OBJ into a 3DGS file or import a 3DGS PLY straight into Blender. And the cool part is, you can animate, edit, and even render it in real time with the new rendering mode.

In the next few years, I expect we'll solve the relighting problem, add proper physics interaction, and achieve true integration with game engines. Imagine being able to walk into a 3DGS scene in Unreal Engine and have it respond to lighting and physics just like mesh objects.

And we're also exploring 4D Gaussian Splatting - adding the time dimension to capture dynamic scenes and motion. Think about scanning a person walking or an object moving, and being able to replay that motion in your 3D environment. That's the next frontier we're actively researching.

For digital art and virtual production, 3DGS is already changing the game. Photo-realism is unmatched. Once we crack the technical limitations, you won't be able to tell the difference between the real world and the digital one.

How does KIRI Engine balance between high-end results and user-friendly experience, especially for those who aren't necessarily 3D professionals?

This is actually core to our philosophy. Our design principle is simple: default to easy, but allow for depth.

We give beginners tools to create beautiful scans in minutes. But underneath, professionals can tweak parameters, export raw data, and integrate everything into their own workflows. This dual-layer approach is exactly what makes the KIRI Engine both accessible and powerful.

Take our free version, for example. KIRI Engine Basic is completely free - unlimited 3D scans, unlimited exports, millions of vertices, same algorithm as the pro version. You can create professional-quality 3D models without spending a dime.

But we also know professionals need more control. That's why KIRI Engine Pro exists. You get advanced features like 3DGS with Mesh conversion, Featureless Object Scan for those impossible transparent and shiny surfaces, PBR-ready texture maps, quad-based topology, plus early access to all our experimental features.

The interface itself follows the same principle. Big plus button, intuitive scanning modes, real-time feedback - anyone can start scanning immediately. But if you want to explore this further? Manual camera controls, advanced export options, geometry processing tools - they're all there.

Even our 3DGS editing tools embody this philosophy. Sphere selector, plane cutter, brush tool - simple enough for anyone to use, but powerful enough for professionals to create production-ready assets right on their phone.

We also provide templates, tutorials, and presets tailored to specific use cases - whether you're scanning sneakers, statues, or interior spaces. You don't need to figure everything out from scratch. Just pick your scenario and start scanning.

That's how KIRI Engine balances high-end results with user-friendly experience. Easy to start, deep to master.

As a company on the forefront of accessible 3D technology, how do you see KIRI's role in shaping the future of the 3D creator economy?

We see KIRI as the gateway to 3D creation.

We're lowering the barrier so that anyone - not just studios - can contribute to the 3D economy. Whether you're a creator selling digital twins in marketplaces, or a filmmaker building virtual sets, KIRI gives you the tools to start fast and scale up.

Until recently, creating professional 3D assets required either being a skilled modeler or hiring one. Now? Anyone with a smartphone can create photo-realistic 3D content. That's democratization in action.

And we're not stopping at the app. We've just launched the KIRI Engine API, which opens up our technology to developers, entrepreneurs, and innovators across industries. Whether you're building an e-commerce platform that needs product visualization, an educational program teaching 3D modeling, or a heritage preservation project - our API makes it possible. With a scalable REST API, anyone can integrate our scanning technology seamlessly, regardless of their industry or programming language.

As spatial computing evolves - from AR glasses to 3D social platforms - we'll continue building the infrastructure for creators to thrive. I see KIRI as that infrastructure layer for the 3D creator economy. Just like AWS provides cloud infrastructure, we're providing the 3D scanning infrastructure that powers the next generation of spatial experiences.

What kinds of creative or professional projects have you seen people build using KIRI Engine, and have any use cases surprised you in terms of how the technology is being applied?

Oh man, we've seen some incredible stuff. We have universities using it to teach 3D scanning and modeling like Chinese University of Hong Kong and an all-girls school are running programs where students scan products and build virtual e-shops.

We've seen game developers using our 3DGS-to-mesh feature to create assets for Unreal Engine projects. Heritage preservation groups scan cultural artifacts. E-commerce vendors using our API to add 3D product visualization to their Shopify stores.

You can see how our 3DGS AP is being used here:

What really surprised me? The 3D printing community. We have people scanning their own heads, cleaning them up in Blender, and printing mini-me statues. One user even created an entire animated scene in Blender using 3DGS assets as backgrounds mixed with mesh characters - that was next level.

And honestly, every time we do our community giveaways on Discord, I'm blown away by the creative submissions. People use KIRI in ways we never even imagined.

Finally, for creators and studios who haven't yet explored Gaussian Splatting, why should they care now, and what would you say is the easiest way to get started using KIRI Engine?

Because technology is ready, and you're already behind if you're not experimenting with it.

Look, 3DGS isn't perfect yet - I've been very transparent about its limitations. But it can do things right now that were completely impossible a year ago. Scan a transparent bottle? Done. Capture reflective surfaces? Easy. Create photo-realistic environments in minutes instead of hours? That's reality.

And here's the kicker - KIRI Engine makes it stupid simple to start. Download the app. Take a video of an object. Twenty minutes later, you have a 3DGS model. Export it to Blender with our add-on, integrate it into Unreal Engine, embed it on your website - the possibilities are endless.

For studios specifically, think about your production pipeline. Instead of spending weeks modeling realistic environments, you could scan them in an afternoon. Instead of hiring expensive 3D modelers for every asset, your team could capture real-world objects directly.

The question isn't whether 3DGS will be part of the future - it already is. The question is: are you going to be early to the party, or are you going to show up after everyone else has already figured it out?

Start with KIRI Engine. It's powerful. And honestly, it's fun as hell to use. What are you waiting for?

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