The Gaussian Splat shader controls the appearance of Gaussian splat datasets at render time. Where the Gaussian Splat shape provides the geometric representation of the splats (position, scale, orientation, opacity), this shader determines how each splat is shaded and how its stored color or radiance data is interpreted, tinted, and combined into the final image.

Emission Weight

Scales the contribution of each splat's stored radiance, treating splat color as emitted light. A value of 1.0 renders splats at their captured brightness; 0.0 disables the emission contribution.

Emission Tint

Applies a color multiplier to the emission component of each splat. White preserves the original captured color; other values shift the emitted appearance for look development, grading, or matching scene lighting.

Diffuse Weight

Scales the diffuse shading contribution from scene lights. Use a non-zero value to have splats respond to Arnold lights; set to 0.0 for an unshaded, radiance-only look.

Note that the fish in the example below is a polygon mesh. This demonstrates that Gaussian splats can be mixed with meshes, curves, and volumes in the same scene, while still supporting ray-traced effects such as reflections and refractions.

Diffuse Tint

Applies a color multiplier to the diffuse component of each splat.

Diffuse Roughness

Controls the roughness of the diffuse response. Higher values produce a flatter, more uniform diffuse falloff across each splat.