Capture Hardware

360 Camera

A 360 camera can cover an interior quickly, but Gaussian Splatting pipelines often need extracted perspective views rather than raw equirectangular video alone.

Stage: CaptureRoomsFast coverageVirtual tours

Open official link360Extractor GitHub->

What It Does

360 cameras are attractive because they reduce missed coverage. For rooms and real estate-style captures, that can be a huge advantage.

The tradeoff is projection. Many SfM and 3DGS tools expect normal perspective images, so you may need a tool like 360Extractor or a platform that handles 360 input directly.

How To Use It In 3DGS

Capture slowly with stable exposure and avoid walking too close to walls or mirrors.
Extract perspective images from the 360 footage or use a 360-aware training service.
Align the extracted images and inspect whether camera poses cover the space cleanly.
Train, then crop mirrors, tripod artifacts, or ceiling/floor noise in an editor.

Things To Watch

Equirectangular distortion can confuse pipelines that expect pinhole cameras.
Low-light 360 footage often has more noise and compression artifacts than DSLR photos.
Tripods, the camera operator, mirrors, and windows are common cleanup problems.

Official And Related Links

360Extractor GitHub 360Gaussian FFmpeg

360-Specific Advice

Plan capture stations, not just a walk path: each station gives all-direction coverage but still needs baseline movement between positions.
If converting to perspective images, tune field of view and overlap so extracted views behave like a real camera set.
Use 360 capture for rooms and tours; use DSLR or phone stills when close detail and low noise matter more than speed.