Full detail and streaming: how many splats to target

Every splat scene you upload is prepared by Kroscloud in two forms: a full-detail version that draws every splat you uploaded, and a streaming version that loads in levels of detail. When someone opens your scene, the viewer looks at their device and picks the right form for them — automatically, from your one upload. There's nothing to set up. What you do decide is how many splats your capture has, and that decides which of your visitors see every single splat. This page explains the rules, so you can pick a splat count that fits the people you want to reach.

Full detail and streaming in a nutshell

Full detail is the simple, best-looking option: the whole optimized scene downloads once, behind your loading screen, and every splat is drawn. Streaming uses level of detail (LOD) — the technique games and map apps use for huge worlds: the part of the scene the visitor is looking at and the things close to them get the most detail, things further away lighter, simplified versions, so even a 20-million-splat scene fits in a phone's memory.

You never upload two files and never pick a mode: Kroscloud builds both forms from your single upload, and the loading screen looks the same either way — your own text and logo.

Who sees what: the rules

Two things decide what a visitor gets: the kind of device they use and the splat count of your scene (the number Kroscloud shows on the upload page when you pick your file).

The limits include the number itself: a scene of exactly 2,000,000 splats counts as "up to 2 million". Without WebGPU, streaming shows up to 2 million splats at a time on computers and up to 1 million on phones and tablets. *Simplified color is explained in What phones and tablets do differently.

Which devices count as phones and tablets?

• Phones — iPhone and Android.
• Tablets, including every iPad (iPad Pro included, also when it asks for the desktop version of websites) and Android tablets in desktop mode.
• The browsers of VR headsets such as Meta Quest and Pico.

Everything else — desktops, laptops (with or without a touch screen) and Chromebooks — counts as a computer.

Which browsers have WebGPU?

WebGPU is the modern graphics technology in today's browsers, and Kroscloud uses it for its fastest and sharpest splat rendering. Current Chrome and Edge on Windows, Mac and Chromebooks, Safari 26 on Mac, iPhone and iPad, and Firefox on Windows have it, and so does Chrome on many recent Android phones. Visitors whose browser or graphics hardware doesn't offer WebGPU — for example an older browser, an iPhone not yet updated to iOS 26, some Linux setups, or a few phones Kroscloud deliberately keeps on the streaming version — still see your scene, as a streaming scene.

Choosing your target splat count

Start from the people you want to reach, then pick the splat count that gives them full detail:

Rules of thumb

• More splats isn't automatically better. Extra splats only help when they carry real detail. Beyond that they mean a bigger download and more work for the visitor's device — a clean, well-trained capture often looks better than a larger, noisier one.
• Just above a limit? Trim it. A scene of 2.3 million splats streams on every phone; trimmed to 2 million, it shows in full detail on phones whose browser supports WebGPU. The same goes for 5.3 million on computers.
• Crop what visitors don't need. Distant background, sky and stray "floater" splats can take a large share of a capture's splats while adding little but noise. Removing them brings the count down and often makes the scene look cleaner.
• The first view matters most. Whatever the form, visitors judge your scene by its opening view — set it in the editor's camera settings.

How to reach your target count

• When you train or export the splat. Many desktop training tools (Postshot, for example) let you limit the number of splats before training. This gives the best result: the capture is trained for the count you want. Phone capture apps decide the count themselves; if yours offers a quality or detail setting, it changes the count.
• In the free SuperSplat editor. Crop the capture to the area that matters and delete floaters and distant background, then export again.
• Check before you save. The splat upload page shows your plan's splat limit, checks your file the moment you pick it and shows its splat count while it uploads — before you save the scene.
• Already published? Replace the file with Update source file (in the scene's menu on My board) — your points of interest, settings and link stay as they are. Export the new file from the same project, so it keeps the same position and scale and your points of interest stay where you placed them. Kroscloud then rebuilds both forms: for a few minutes the scene shows as Processing and visitors see a "being prepared" notice.

What phones and tablets do differently

• Simplified view-dependent color. Splats can change color slightly as you move around them — that's how they show reflections, sheen and changing light. Phones and tablets show a simplified version of this effect, both in full detail and when streaming. It saves memory and battery, and on most scenes the difference is subtle. Computers show the full effect.
• A lower streaming budget. When a phone or tablet streams, it shows up to 1 million splats at a time (computers up to 4 million), so a large scene looks softer in the distance on a phone than on a computer.
• Mobile data. Full detail downloads the whole scene before it appears. On phones and Android tablets your scene already waits for a tap before it downloads anything (unless you tick Load immediately in the share options); the Ask to download share option adds that tap on every device, iPads and computers included.

When the viewer switches to streaming on its own

In most failure cases the viewer switches to the streaming version by itself:

• If the full-detail download fails or the file can't be read, the viewer quietly switches to the streaming version.
• If a device can't cope with full detail — for example a computer with weak built-in graphics opening a scene of a few million splats — the browser tab can crash or reload once. From then on, that browser tab shows your scenes as streaming.
• A browser that blocks this site's storage gets the streaming version, because the viewer then can't protect it against such a crash.
• Rarely, a device that runs short of graphics memory shows an empty scene instead of switching. A smaller splat count avoids it.

Showing full detail on purpose: the "LOD off" share option

For a controlled demo — a trade-show screen, a client presentation on a strong computer — the LOD off option in the editor's share options creates a link that opens the scene in full detail at any size, in every browser with WebGPU — phones and tablets included — even a 20-million-splat scene. It skips the automatic choice by scene size, so a weaker device may fail to open a very large scene with it. Keep it for the screens you control; use the normal link for the public.

In the editor

The editor uses the same rule as the viewer to choose between full detail and streaming, so on your computer you see what visitors on a similar computer see.

Plan limits

A scene can hold up to 5 million splats on Free and Premium — so every Free and Premium scene normally shows in full detail on computers with WebGPU — and up to 20 million on Business and Enterprise. The file size limit is 1.5 GB on Free and Premium and 5 GB on Business and Enterprise (compare plans). See Upload your first Gaussian Splat scene for formats and the upload steps.

Frequently asked questions

Why does my scene look sharper on my computer than on my phone?

Most likely your scene has more than 2 million splats: computers show it in full detail, phones and tablets get the streaming version. Trim it to 2 million or fewer and phones with WebGPU show it in full detail too. Another cause is a phone browser without WebGPU — for example an iPhone not yet on iOS 26 — which always gets the streaming version. Phones also use simplified view-dependent color, which is usually subtle.

My scene has 3 million splats. Will my iPad show it in full detail?

No — every iPad counts as a tablet, and tablets show full detail up to 2 million splats. At 3 million the iPad gets the streaming version. A computer whose browser supports WebGPU shows the same scene in full detail.

Why does part of my scene sharpen after the loading screen lifts?

That visitor is seeing the streaming version. The loading screen waits until the main subject in view is mostly sharp (at most about 25 seconds on a slow connection); the rest of the view keeps sharpening in front of the visitor, and more detail arrives as they move. In full detail nothing sharpens afterwards — the picture is final when the loading screen lifts.

Can I choose full detail or streaming for a scene myself?

Not for the public: the viewer chooses for each visitor's device, so everyone gets the best version their device can show. Your control is the splat count. For a demo on a screen you control, use the LOD off share option.

A visitor says my scene was slow to appear. What can I do?

In full detail the whole scene downloads before it appears, so a slow connection keeps the loading screen up longer. A smaller splat count means a smaller download; cropping unneeded areas helps the most. For heavy scenes, the Ask to download share option lets visitors start the download when they're ready.

Do I need to upload a separate version for phones?

No. Kroscloud builds the full-detail and the streaming forms from your one upload, and every device gets the right one automatically.