# BiGS: Bidirectional Gaussian Primitives for Relightable 3D Gaussian Splatting

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.13370 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.13370/

## Key facts

- Cited by 8 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 23 of its 40 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 23 Aug 2024.

## Builds on (most cited first, 23 of 23)

- [3D Gaussian Splatting for Real-Time Radiance Field Rendering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.04079/) (2023)
- [Mip-NeRF 360: Unbounded Anti-Aliased Neural Radiance Fields](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2111.12077/) (2021)
- [NeuS: Learning Neural Implicit Surfaces by Volume Rendering for Multi-view Reconstruction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.10689/) (2021)
- [2D Gaussian Splatting for Geometrically Accurate Radiance Fields](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.17888/) (2024)
- [Volume Rendering of Neural Implicit Surfaces](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.12052/) (2021)
- [SuGaR: Surface-Aligned Gaussian Splatting for Efficient 3D Mesh Reconstruction and High-Quality Mesh Rendering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.12775/) (2023)
- [Nerfstudio: A Modular Framework for Neural Radiance Field Development](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.04264/) (2023)
- [Ref-NeRF: Structured View-Dependent Appearance for Neural Radiance Fields](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.03907/) (2021)
- [NeRV: Neural Reflectance and Visibility Fields for Relighting and View Synthesis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2012.03927/) (2020)
- [GaussianShader: 3D Gaussian Splatting with Shading Functions for Reflective Surfaces](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.17977/) (2023)
- [BakedSDF: Meshing Neural SDFs for Real-Time View Synthesis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.14859/) (2023)
- [Ref-NeuS: Ambiguity-Reduced Neural Implicit Surface Learning for Multi-View Reconstruction with Reflection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.10840/) (2023)
- [ReLight My NeRF: A Dataset for Novel View Synthesis and Relighting of Real World Objects](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.10448/) (2023)
- [Relighting Neural Radiance Fields with Shadow and Highlight Hints](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.13404/) (2023)
- [Neural Radiance Transfer Fields for Relightable Novel-view Synthesis with Global Illumination](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2207.13607/) (2022)
- [NeMF: Inverse Volume Rendering with Neural Microflake Field](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.00782/) (2023)
- [Learning Object-Centric Neural Scattering Functions for Free-Viewpoint Relighting and Scene Composition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.06138/) (2023)
- [NEMTO: Neural Environment Matting for Novel View and Relighting Synthesis of Transparent Objects](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.11963/) (2023)
- [Neural Relightable Participating Media Rendering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2110.12993/) (2021)
- [Unified Gaussian Primitives for Scene Representation and Rendering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.09733/) (2024)
- [Fast Image-based Neural Relighting with Translucency-Reflection Modeling](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.09322/) (2023)
- [MetaGS: A Meta-Learned Gaussian-Phong Model for Out-of-Distribution 3D Scene Relighting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.20791/) (2024)
- [ESR-NeRF: Emissive Source Reconstruction Using LDR Multi-view Images](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.15707/) (2024)

## Built on by (most cited first, 8 of 8)

- [LightSwitch: Multi-view Relighting with Material-guided Diffusion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.06494/) (2025)
- [LuxRemix: Lighting Decomposition and Remixing for Indoor Scenes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.15283/) (2026)
- [HumanOLAT: A Large-Scale Dataset for Full-Body Human Relighting and Novel-View Synthesis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.09137/) (2025)
- [OLATverse: A Large-scale Real-world Object Dataset with Precise Lighting Control](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.02483/) (2025)
- [MatSpray: Fusing 2D Material World Knowledge on 3D Geometry](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.18314/) (2025)
- [Radiometrically Consistent Gaussian Surfels for Inverse Rendering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.01491/) (2026)
- [GSBF: Gaussian Splatting for Environment-Aware Beamforming](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.05896/) (2026)
- [Yesnt: Are Diffusion Relighting Models Ready for Capture Stage Compositing? A Hybrid Alternative to Bridge the Gap](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.23494/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

We present Bidirectional Gaussian Primitives, an image-based novel view synthesis technique designed to represent and render 3D objects with surface and volumetric materials under dynamic illumination. Our approach integrates light intrinsic decomposition into the Gaussian splatting framework, enabling real-time relighting of 3D objects. To unify surface and volumetric material within a cohesive appearance model, we adopt a light- and view-dependent scattering representation via bidirectional spherical harmonics. Our model does not use a specific surface normal-related reflectance function, making it more compatible with volumetric representations like Gaussian splatting, where the normals are undefined. We demonstrate our method by reconstructing and rendering objects with complex materials. Using One-Light-At-a-Time (OLAT) data as input, we can reproduce photorealistic appearances under novel lighting conditions in real time.