# Vid2Sim: Generalizable, Video-based Reconstruction of Appearance, Geometry and Physics for Mesh-free Simulation

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.06440 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.06440/

## Key facts

- Cited by 20 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 53 of its 67 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 6 Jun 2025.

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 53)

- [Adam: A Method for Stochastic Optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1412.6980/) (2014)
- [High-Resolution Image Synthesis with Latent Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.10752/) (2021)
- [3D Gaussian Splatting for Real-Time Radiance Field Rendering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.04079/) (2023)
- [Gaussian Error Linear Units (GELUs)](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1606.08415/) (2016)
- [Stable Video Diffusion: Scaling Latent Video Diffusion Models to Large Datasets](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.15127/) (2023)
- [Objaverse: A Universe of Annotated 3D Objects](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.08051/) (2022)
- [D-NeRF: Neural Radiance Fields for Dynamic Scenes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2011.13961/) (2020)
- [VideoMAE: Masked Autoencoders are Data-Efficient Learners for Self-Supervised Video Pre-Training](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.12602/) (2022)
- [Nerfies: Deformable Neural Radiance Fields](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2011.12948/) (2020)
- [4D Gaussian Splatting for Real-Time Dynamic Scene Rendering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.08528/) (2023)
- [Fast and Accurate Deep Network Learning by Exponential Linear Units (ELUs)](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1511.07289/) (2015)
- [HyperNetworks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1609.09106/) (2016)
- [WorldSimBench: Towards Video Generation Models as World Simulators](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.18072/) (2024)
- [LRM: Large Reconstruction Model for Single Image to 3D](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.04400/) (2023)
- [Deformable 3D Gaussians for High-Fidelity Monocular Dynamic Scene Reconstruction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.13101/) (2023)
- [LGM: Large Multi-View Gaussian Model for High-Resolution 3D Content Creation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.05054/) (2024)
- [Dynamic 3D Gaussians: Tracking by Persistent Dynamic View Synthesis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.09713/) (2023)
- [Google Scanned Objects: A High-Quality Dataset of 3D Scanned Household Items](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.11918/) (2022)
- [Scientific Machine Learning through Physics-Informed Neural Networks: Where we are and What's next](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.05624/) (2022)
- [Real-time Photorealistic Dynamic Scene Representation and Rendering with 4D Gaussian Splatting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.10642/) (2023)
- [Non-Rigid Neural Radiance Fields: Reconstruction and Novel View Synthesis of a Dynamic Scene From Monocular Video](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2012.12247/) (2020)
- [Lumiere: A Space-Time Diffusion Model for Video Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.12945/) (2024)
- [Dynamic View Synthesis from Dynamic Monocular Video](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2105.06468/) (2021)
- [Space-time Neural Irradiance Fields for Free-Viewpoint Video](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2011.12950/) (2020)
- [PhysGaussian: Physics-Integrated 3D Gaussians for Generative Dynamics](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.12198/) (2023)
- [GS-LRM: Large Reconstruction Model for 3D Gaussian Splatting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.19702/) (2024)
- [DiffTaichi: Differentiable Programming for Physical Simulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1910.00935/) (2019)
- [HyperNeRF: A Higher-Dimensional Representation for Topologically Varying Neural Radiance Fields](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.13228/) (2021)
- [PhysDreamer: Physics-Based Interaction with 3D Objects via Video Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.13026/) (2024)
- [Embodied Hands: Modeling and Capturing Hands and Bodies Together](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.02610/) (2022)

## Built on by (most cited first, 20 of 20)

- [PhysCtrl: Generative Physics for Controllable and Physics-Grounded Video Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.20358/) (2025)
- [PhysX-Anything: Simulation-Ready Physical 3D Assets from Single Image](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.13648/) (2025)
- [Real-to-Sim Robot Policy Evaluation with Gaussian Splatting Simulation of Soft-Body Interactions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.04665/) (2025)
- [Pixie: Fast and Generalizable Supervised Learning of 3D Physics from Pixels](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.17437/) (2025)
- [PhysX-Omni: Unified Simulation-Ready Physical 3D Generation for Rigid, Deformable, and Articulated Objects](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.21572/) (2026)
- [PhyCo: Learning Controllable Physical Priors for Generative Motion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.28169/) (2026)
- [MonoPhysics: Estimating Geometry, Appearance, and Physical Parameters from Monocular Videos](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.30320/) (2026)
- [NeuROK: Generative 4D Neural Object Kinematics](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.30347/) (2026)
- [M-PhyGs: Multi-Material Object Dynamics from Video](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.16885/) (2025)
- [UniPixie: Unified and Probabilistic 3D Physics Learning via Flow Matching](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.05399/) (2026)
- [Adaptive Volumetric Mechanical Property Fields Invariant to Resolution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.18231/) (2026)
- [MoSA: Motion-constrained Stress Adaptation for Mitigating Real-to-Sim Gap in Continuum Dynamics via Learning Residual Anisotropy](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.22597/) (2026)
- [PersistGS: Differentiable Physics for Object Permanence in 4D Gaussian Splatting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.03479/) (2026)
- [Beyond Thermal Imaging: Inferring Thermophysical Properties from Time-Resolved Thermal Observations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.07962/) (2026)
- [Analytic Dynamics: Learning Physics-Grounded Representation for Fast Intrinsic Dynamics Inference from Monocular Videos](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.31025/) (2026)
- [PhysMAS: Physics-Grounded Multi-Agent Synthesis of Compositional 4D Gaussians](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.07174/) (2026)
- [RealSimLoop: Online Real-to-Sim Adaptation via Differentiable Reduced-Order Simulation with Vision Feedback](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.09828/) (2026)
- [PowerSim: Differentiable Physics Simulation and Rendering with Power Diagrams](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.38153/) (2026)
- [PhysCodeGym: Benchmarking Coding Agents for Physically Verifiable 4D Reconstruction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.17288/) (2026)
- [Physical-Field-Bridged Material Parameter Inference from Multi-View Deformation Videos](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.17591/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Faithfully reconstructing textured shapes and physical properties from videos presents an intriguing yet challenging problem. Significant efforts have been dedicated to advancing such a system identification problem in this area. Previous methods often rely on heavy optimization pipelines with a differentiable simulator and renderer to estimate physical parameters. However, these approaches frequently necessitate extensive hyperparameter tuning for each scene and involve a costly optimization process, which limits both their practicality and generalizability. In this work, we propose a novel framework, Vid2Sim, a generalizable video-based approach for recovering geometry and physical properties through a mesh-free reduced simulation based on Linear Blend Skinning (LBS), offering high computational efficiency and versatile representation capability. Specifically, Vid2Sim first reconstructs the observed configuration of the physical system from video using a feed-forward neural network trained to capture physical world knowledge. A lightweight optimization pipeline then refines the estimated appearance, geometry, and physical properties to closely align with video observations within just a few minutes. Additionally, after the reconstruction, Vid2Sim enables high-quality, mesh-free simulation with high efficiency. Extensive experiments demonstrate that our method achieves superior accuracy and efficiency in reconstructing geometry and physical properties from video data.