# AttentionGS: Towards Initialization-Free 3D Gaussian Splatting via Structural Attention

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.23611 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.23611/

## Key facts

- Cited by 3 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 10 of its 20 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 30 Jun 2025.

## Builds on (most cited first, 10 of 10)

- [The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Deep Features as a Perceptual Metric](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1801.03924/) (2018)
- [3D Gaussian Splatting for Real-Time Radiance Field Rendering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.04079/) (2023)
- [Instant Neural Graphics Primitives with a Multiresolution Hash Encoding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.05989/) (2022)
- [Mip-NeRF: A Multiscale Representation for Anti-Aliasing Neural Radiance Fields](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.13415/) (2021)
- [DUSt3R: Geometric 3D Vision Made Easy](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.14132/) (2023)
- [BARF: Bundle-Adjusting Neural Radiance Fields](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.06405/) (2021)
- [MonST3R: A Simple Approach for Estimating Geometry in the Presence of Motion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.03825/) (2024)
- [Generative Gaussian Splatting for Unbounded 3D City Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.06526/) (2024)
- [SC-NeRF: Self-Correcting Neural Radiance Field with Sparse Views](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.05028/) (2023)
- [CBARF: Cascaded Bundle-Adjusting Neural Radiance Fields from Imperfect Camera Poses](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.09776/) (2023)

## Built on by (most cited first, 3 of 3)

- [You Only Gaussian Once: Controllable 3D Gaussian Splatting for Ultra-Densely Sampled Scenes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.21400/) (2026)
- [Pano2World: End-to-End 3D Generation via Unified Multi-View Sequences](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.00832/) (2026)
- [AdaptSplat: Adapting Vision Foundation Models for Feed-Forward 3D Gaussian Splatting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.10239/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

3D Gaussian Splatting (3DGS) is a powerful alternative to Neural Radiance Fields (NeRF), excelling in complex scene reconstruction and efficient rendering. However, it relies on high-quality point clouds from Structure-from-Motion (SfM), limiting its applicability. SfM also fails in texture-deficient or constrained-view scenarios, causing severe degradation in 3DGS reconstruction. To address this limitation, we propose AttentionGS, a novel framework that eliminates the dependency on high-quality initial point clouds by leveraging structural attention for direct 3D reconstruction from randomly initialization. In the early training stage, we introduce geometric attention to rapidly recover the global scene structure. As training progresses, we incorporate texture attention to refine fine-grained details and enhance rendering quality. Furthermore, we employ opacity-weighted gradients to guide Gaussian densification, leading to improved surface reconstruction. Extensive experiments on multiple benchmark datasets demonstrate that AttentionGS significantly outperforms state-of-the-art methods, particularly in scenarios where point cloud initialization is unreliable. Our approach paves the way for more robust and flexible 3D Gaussian Splatting in real-world applications.