A New Era of Realism: Transforming Digital Twins with Gaussian Splatting

• 13 March 2026
• Construction Focus
• 135 Views

Digital twins, the virtual replicas of physical infrastructure, are undergoing a major transformation thanks to a new technology called Gaussian splatting.

Traditionally, these models were built using “meshes,” which acted like a hollow, polygonal skin stretched over objects. While useful, meshes often struggled to capture fine details like thin wires, complex lighting, or reflective surfaces, limiting how realistic and accurate a digital twin could be.

Gaussian splatting changes this by moving away from hollow skins and instead representing a scene as a dense, volumetric cloud made of millions of intelligent particles called “splats.”

Each of these particles holds detailed information about its position, color, size, and opacity. When these particles are rendered together, they blend to create a highly accurate, photorealistic field that captures the real world with much higher fidelity.

This allows engineers to clearly see and model complex features like antennas and cables that were previously difficult to represent accurately.

To make this technology practical for infrastructure professionals, Bentley has integrated Gaussian splatting into its iTwin Capture platform. This integration offers flexibility, allowing users to choose the workflow that best fits their project.

Professionals can use desktop software for precise, hands-on control, utilize cloud services to process massive datasets, or leverage a web-based workflow for rapid sharing and collaboration.

Beyond just the software, Bentley is also working with industry experts to help establish open, universal standards for this technology. By making these highly detailed models interoperable, they ensure that the data remains usable across different platforms for years to come.

This shift marks a significant leap forward, moving digital twins from simple visual representations to highly trustworthy, data-rich tools that allow engineers to better understand and manage infrastructure.

• Bentley
• Digital Twin
• Bentley Systems
• iTwin Capture
• Gaussian Splatting