Converting 3DGS PLY to 3D Tiles via Cesium Ion REST API

[cccCesium]

Hello Cesium Support Team,

I would like to ask whether it is currently possible to convert a 3DGS ply file to 3D Tiles using the Cesium Ion REST API. If not, is this functionality planned for future support?

Thank you

[Fordi]

The Ion REST API supports everything the Ion application does, which, as of very recently, does include 3D gaussian splats in PLY form.

Here’s the upload documentation to get you started. https://cesium.com/learn/ion/rest-api/#operation/postAssets

[cccCesium]

Hello Fordi and the Cesium Support Team,

Thank you for your response.

I reviewed the linked page, but I couldn’t find any documentation regarding the sourceType setting for converting PLY data into 3D Tiles using 3D Gaussian splats. Is there an updated version of the documentation that includes this information?

Thank you

[cccCesium]

Hello,

I looked at the URL you provided, but there was no description of what to specify as the option (sourceType) when creating a 3DGS using the REST API, so I don’t understand.
I would appreciate it if you could tell me.

Best Regards,

2025年7月12日(土) 3:45 Bryan Elliott via Cesium Community <notifications@cesium.discoursemail.com>:

[Marco13]

To my understanding, the sourceType should be POINT_CLOUD. And I think that ion will automatically handle .ply files accordingly, and try to treat them as Gaussian splats. (Some details of the documentation indeed have to be updated)

[Ankit_Trehan]

Hi,

I apologize for any confusion that was caused, the REST API documentation is out of date. I have created an update to address this. If your source PLY file has gaussian splat data, you can specify the source type as POINT_CLOUD and pass a gaussianSplats: true value in the options object along with it.

Thanks,
Ankit

[cccCesium]

Hello,

Thank you for the additional information.
I was able to convert the PLY file.

However, it seems that the converted 3DTiles data is tilted 90 degrees to the side.

Is it possible to fix this using the API conversion options, etc.?

Best Regards,

2025年7月15日(火) 3:32 Ankit Trehan via Cesium Community <notifications@cesium.discoursemail.com>:

[Ankit_Trehan]

Hi,

Would you be able to share any screenshots of what you are seeing? I can pass that feedback along to the tiling team.

Thanks,
Ankit

[cccCesium]

Hello,

My 3dgs data is
(home view)

(left side view)

The tree rotates sideways.

2025年7月15日(火) 23:35 Ankit Trehan via Cesium Community <notifications@cesium.discoursemail.com>:

[Ankit_Trehan]

Hi,

Thank you for providing me with this information. I have opened an issue with the tilers team for them to take a look at. I apologize for not asking this earlier but could you please also share the asset id for the above asset.

Thanks,
Ankit

[cccCesium]

Hello,

Asset ID : 3546820

Best Regards

2025年7月17日(木) 4:15 Ankit Trehan via Cesium Community <notifications@cesium.discoursemail.com>:

[cccCesium]

Hello,

Additional question:

I tried to archive the assets I created using the REST API, but it didn’t work.
（404 Client Error: Not Found for url: https://api.cesium.com/v1/archives）

It’s mentioned in the API documentation, but is it not possible to use it?

What should I do?

Best Regards,

2025年7月17日(木) 9:26 畑中達也 <ccccesium2020@gmail.com>:

[Ankit_Trehan]

Hi,

That is the correct endpoint for creating archives and you should be able to create one. Can you share which options you are supplying to the API with your post request?

Thanks,
Ankit

[cccCesium]

Hello,

My code(python) is below,

ACCESS_TOKEN = “XXXXXX”

ASSET_ID = 3546820

HEADERS = {
“Authorization”: f"Bearer {ACCESS_TOKEN}",
“Content-Type”: “application/json”
}

ARCHIVE_API_URL = “https://api.cesium.com/v1/archives”

payload = {
“type”: “FULL”,
“assetIds”: [asset_id],
“format”: “TILESET”
}

response = requests.post(ARCHIVE_API_URL, json=payload, headers=HEADERS)

By the way, I also created an asset in the same way, and it worked without any problems.

Best Regards,

2025年7月18日(金) 0:05 Ankit Trehan via Cesium Community <notifications@cesium.discoursemail.com>:

[Ankit_Trehan]

Hi,

Thanks for providing me the options for your request. Looking at the request, you are trying to create a FULL archive of your data. The format for that should be ZIP since that is the only one supported currently for full archives.

The tileset option is for a clip archive. You can read more about the options here Ion REST API documentation – Cesium

Thanks,
Ankit

[cccCesium]

Hello,

I also tried ZIP, but got the same error.

404 Client Error: Not Found for url: https://api.cesium.com/v1/archives

2025年7月22日(火) 2:44 Ankit Trehan via Cesium Community <notifications@cesium.discoursemail.com>:

[Ankit_Trehan]

Hi,

After checking the codebase, I think this issue might be related to your token. Can you double check that the token has a archives:write scope? The API is returning a 404 but should be returning an invalid credentials error to make it more obvious.

Thanks,
Ankit

[cccCesium]

Hello,

Thank you.
After reviewing the access token, it was successful.

Because it was a token with the authority to create assets, I mistakenly thought that archiving would also be possible.
I created a token with the authority to archive again and it was successful.

Regards,

2025年7月22日(火) 22:48 Ankit Trehan via Cesium Community <notifications@cesium.discoursemail.com>: