Tortuise is a terminal-based 3D Gaussian splatting viewer that renders complex 3D scenes directly inside a text terminal. Rather than relying on a conventional graphical windowing environment, it displays 3D Gaussian splat data using terminal characters and colour output. The project is designed to show how modern rendering techniques can be adapted for a console environment while still allowing interactive scene exploration.
The software is aimed at users who want an unusual but technically impressive way to visualise 3D scenes without needing a traditional desktop graphics viewer.
This is free and open source software.
Key Features
- Interactive navigation for exploring 3D scenes directly from the terminal.
- Support for Gaussian splatting scene formats including .ply and .splat.
- CPU-based rendering pipeline designed for terminal output.
- Multiple character-based rendering modes for different visual styles.
- Truecolor terminal rendering with support for rich visual output.
- Built-in demo scene for quickly testing the viewer.
- Runs without requiring a traditional graphical desktop viewer.
Website: github.com/buildoak/tortuise
Support:
Developer: Nick Oak
License: MIT License
tortuise is written in Rust. Learn Rust with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
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