# Plenoptic Condensation: A Novel Approach to Generalized Scene Reconstruction

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.18151 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.18151/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 18 of its 26 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 20 Jul 2026.

## Builds on (most cited first, 18 of 18)

- [3D Gaussian Splatting for Real-Time Radiance Field Rendering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.04079/) (2023)
- [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)
- [SuGaR: Surface-Aligned Gaussian Splatting for Efficient 3D Mesh Reconstruction and High-Quality Mesh Rendering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.12775/) (2023)
- [Neuralangelo: High-Fidelity Neural Surface Reconstruction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.03092/) (2023)
- [Gaussian Opacity Fields: Efficient Adaptive Surface Reconstruction in Unbounded Scenes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.10772/) (2024)
- [GS-IR: 3D Gaussian Splatting for Inverse Rendering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.16473/) (2023)
- [TensoIR: Tensorial Inverse Rendering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.12461/) (2023)
- [NeRO: Neural Geometry and BRDF Reconstruction of Reflective Objects from Multiview Images](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.17398/) (2023)
- [Relightable 3D Gaussians: Realistic Point Cloud Relighting with BRDF Decomposition and Ray Tracing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.16043/) (2023)
- [3D Gaussian Ray Tracing: Fast Tracing of Particle Scenes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.07090/) (2024)
- [IRGS: Inter-Reflective Gaussian Splatting with 2D Gaussian Ray Tracing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.15867/) (2024)
- [EnvGS: Modeling View-Dependent Appearance with Environment Gaussian](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.15215/) (2024)
- [TensoSDF: Roughness-aware Tensorial Representation for Robust Geometry and Material Reconstruction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.02771/) (2024)
- [Flash Cache: Reducing Bias in Radiance Cache Based Inverse Rendering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.05867/) (2024)
- [RT-Splatting: Joint Reflection-Transmission Modeling with Gaussian Splatting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.18263/) (2026)
- [GRay: Ray Tracing 3D Gaussians Near the Speed of Splats](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.30869/) (2026)
- [Generalized Scene Reconstruction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1803.08496/) (2018)

## Abstract (arXiv)

We present a novel Generalized Scene Reconstruction (GSR) approach called Plenoptic Condensation (PCon). PCon uses a multi-stage reconstruction pipeline, initially converting images into "soupy" scene elements with low (representational) power, then adaptively condensing the "soup" into "structured" elements of higher power capable of efficiently representing, for example, sharp edges and smooth reflective surfaces. PCon scene models called Reality Models (Relms) enable spatially varying representational power, which is essential for high-fidelity rendering, measurement, and scene understanding. We showcase several in-the-wild PCon reconstructions captured with consumer phone cameras and drones. In one case called "Damaged Fiat", PCon is benchmarked against two state-of-the-art (SOTA) GSR methods: NeRO and RT-Splatting. Referring to Figure 1 below, PCon reconstructs the car hood more than twice as accurately as the SOTA methods. But more importantly, the local damage profile error for PCon is 35 um (0.035 mm), whereas the two other SOTA methods are essentially unable to measure the damage at all. Our project website is available at https://quidient.github.io/pcon-2026.html.