3D Gaussian Splatting for the VertexNova ecosystem, built from first principles

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Vne3dgs

vne3dgs (vne::gs) is a C++20 library that implements 3D Gaussian Splatting (3DGS) on the VertexNova stack, step by step: the math and a CPU reference renderer first, then a real-time GPU renderer on vnerhi (Metal / Vulkan / WebGPU), then training.

It is also a learning project. Every step is a task file with its own learning material. Start here: docs/vertexnova/gs/roadmap.md.

The earlier Python prototype (a thin wrapper around gsplat) is preserved at git tag python-prototype.

Status

Phase	What	Status
0	Scaffold (this repo layout, build, CI)	done
1–3	3DGS math + CPU reference renderer	not started
4	Real-time GPU viewer (vnerhi)	not started
5	Training (COLMAP, PyTorch, gsplat, own backward pass)	not started
6	vnegfx integration (optional)	not started

Per-task status lives in the roadmap.

Directory layout

Path	Description
include/vertexnova/gs/	Public API headers (gs.h is the umbrella header)
src/vertexnova/gs/	Implementation
tests/	Unit tests (Google Test)
testdata/	Tiny hand-made fixtures for tests (committed; real scenes are not)
examples/	One example per learning task (00_hello_gs, 01_gaussians_2d, …)
docs/vertexnova/gs/	Roadmap, task files, learning notes, glossary, references
cmake/vnecmake/	Shared CMake modules (submodule)
deps/internal/	VertexNova libs: vnecommon, vnelogging, vnemath (submodules)
deps/external/	Third-party deps: googletest (submodule)
configs/	Configured headers (config.h.in)
scripts/	Build, format and docs scripts

Prerequisites

• CMake 3.19 or newer
• C++20 compiler (GCC 10+, Clang 10+, MSVC 2019+)
• Doxygen (optional, for API docs)

Getting the code

git clone --recursive https://github.com/vertexnova/vne3dgs.git
# or, in an existing clone:
git submodule update --init --recursive

See deps/README.md for what each submodule is.

Build

Builds use build/shared or build/static (one library type per directory). When vne3dgs is the top-level project, VNE_GS_DEV defaults to ON, which builds tests and examples.

# Shared library (default)
cmake -B build/shared -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug
cmake --build build/shared

# Static library
cmake -B build/static -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug -DVNE_GS_LIB_TYPE=static
cmake --build build/static

Or use the platform scripts:

./scripts/build_macos.sh -t Debug -a configure_and_build
./scripts/build_macos.sh -l static -t Release -a configure_and_build
./scripts/build_linux.sh -t Debug -a configure_and_build      # e.g. on the DGX Spark
.\scripts\build_windows.ps1 -BuildType Debug -Action configure_and_build

Options: -t build type, -a action (configure, build, configure_and_build, test, …), -l lib type (static | shared), -clean, -j N. The macOS script also supports -xcode.

Test

ctest -C Debug --test-dir build/shared --output-on-failure
# or
./scripts/build_macos.sh -a test

Run the hello example:

./build/shared/bin/examples/example_00_hello_gs                                  # plain cmake -B build/shared
./build/shared/Debug/build-macos-clang-*/bin/examples/example_00_hello_gs        # scripts/build_macos.sh

Format and tidy

• clang-format (CI pins clang-format 17; see .clang-format):

  ./scripts/format.sh          # format src, include, examples, tests in place
  ./scripts/format.sh -check   # check only (same as CI)

• clang-tidy: configure with -DCMAKE_EXPORT_COMPILE_COMMANDS=ON, then clang-tidy -p build/shared <file>.

Documentation

• Learning roadmap and tasks: docs/vertexnova/gs/roadmap.md
• Library overview: docs/vertexnova/gs/gs.md
• API docs: cmake -B build/shared -DENABLE_DOXYGEN=ON && cmake --build build/shared --target vne3dgs_doc_doxygen (output in build/shared/docs/html/index.html), or ./scripts/generate-docs.sh.

CI

GitHub Actions runs on push and pull requests to main: format check, clang-tidy, and build/test on Linux (GCC, Clang), macOS and Windows. See .github/workflows/ci.yml.

Part of VertexNova

Link
Engine docs	learnvertexnova.com
Research site	vertexnova.github.io
GitHub org	github.com/vertexnova

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for build, test and style, and CODING_GUIDELINES.md for C++ conventions. We follow the Contributor Covenant Code of Conduct.

License

Apache License 2.0