Clear Angle Studios launches modular Gaussian splat rig for VFX

The transition to 4D Gaussian splatting addresses a critical bottleneck in high-end streaming production: the high cost and time required for realistic digital crowds and doubles. By preserving natural movements and lighting in a lightweight format, this system bypasses traditional geometry reconstruction and manual texturing. For the ecosystem, it signals a shift toward machine-learning-driven pipelines that favor data-rich capture over procedural animation. This allows studios to maintain high visual fidelity on compressed streaming timelines. Watch for the first major feature film release using this relightable crowd pipeline to benchmark real-world cost savings against traditional CG environments.

The launch of the VCR occurs as Gaussian splatting (3DGS) rapidly matures from a research curiosity into a practical production tool. Per FXPodcast in June 2026, Union VFX is currently the only studio providing truly relightable splats in a production environment, solving the traditional limitation where splats were 'baked' with the lighting of the capture room. This matches a broader industry trend toward volumetric efficiency; per Market Growth Reports in March 2026, AI-based VFX tools have already improved processing speeds by roughly 40%, helping to mitigate persistent talent shortages that delayed nearly 48% of studio projects in the previous year.

Simultaneously, the global volumetric video market is expanding beyond high-end film into broader spatial computing. Per Fortune Business Insights in June 2026, the market is projected to reach $5.29 billion this year, driven by the demand for immersive content on headsets like the Meta Quest and Apple Vision Pro. Recent technical milestones, such as Meta’s Hyperscape launch in late 2025, have demonstrated that high-fidelity volumetric scans can now be experienced on consumer-grade hardware. Clear Angle’s move to synchronize this with top-tier film workflows via its 'TopoTrack' system—which integrates DI4D’s markerless facial capture—suggests a convergence where high-fidelity performance data becomes portable across film, gaming, and virtual reality pipelines.