npm package: @myned-ai/gsplat-flame-avatar-renderer
Description: FLAME-enabled Gaussian Splatting library for animated avatars with ARKit blendshape support
Author: Myned AI
Latest version: 1.2.0

# GSplat FLAME Avatar Renderer

[![npm version](https://img.shields.io/npm/v/@myned-ai/gsplat-flame-avatar-renderer.svg)](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@myned-ai/gsplat-flame-avatar-renderer)

A specialized Gaussian Splatting JavaScript library for rendering animated 3D avatars in the browser with FLAME parametric head model support, LAM (Large Avatar Model) head avatars, and ARKit blendshape compatibility.

---

## Features

- **52 ARKit Blendshapes** — Complete facial expression control
- **FLAME Model Support** — Full integration with FLAME parametric head model
- **Animation State Machine** — Built-in states (Idle, Listening, Thinking, Responding)
- **GPU Optimized** — WebGL-based rendering with WebAssembly sorting
- **Three.js Integration** — Works seamlessly with Three.js
- **LAM Head Avatars** — Support for Large Avatar Model based head avatars
- **ZIP Asset Loading** — Load compressed avatar assets directly
- **Real-time Animation** — Smooth blendshape interpolation at 30fps
- **Conditional Iris Occlusion Fix** — Optional iris fade during eye blinks via iris_occlusion.json

---

## Installation

```bash
npm install gsplat-flame-avatar-renderer three jszip
```

---

## Quick Start

```javascript
import { GaussianSplatRenderer } from 'gsplat-flame-avatar-renderer';

const container = document.getElementById('avatar-container');

// Create a new renderer instance (v1.0.6+)
const renderer = await GaussianSplatRenderer.create(
  container,
  './path/to/avatar.zip',
  {
    backgroundColor: '0x000000',
    getChatState: () => 'Idle',
    getExpressionData: () => ({
      jawOpen: 0.5,
      mouthSmileLeft: 0.3,
      mouthSmileRight: 0.3,
      // ... other ARKit blendshapes
    })
  }
);

// Don't forget to clean up when done!
// renderer.dispose();
```

---

## API Reference

### GaussianSplatRenderer

The main class for rendering Gaussian splat avatars.

#### `GaussianSplatRenderer.create(container, assetPath, options)`

Creates a new renderer instance with proper resource isolation.

| Parameter | Type | Description |
|-----------|------|-------------|
| `container` | `HTMLDivElement` | Container element for the canvas |
| `assetPath` | `string` | Path to the ZIP file containing avatar assets |
| `options` | `object` | Configuration options |

**Options:**

| Option | Type | Description |
|--------|------|-------------|
| `backgroundColor` | `string` | Hex color string (e.g., '0x000000') |
| `getChatState` | `() => string` | Callback returning current animation state |
| `getExpressionData` | `() => object` | Callback returning blendshape weights |
| `loadProgress` | `(progress: number) => void` | Loading progress callback |
| `downloadProgress` | `(progress: number) => void` | Download progress callback |

### Animation States

The renderer supports the following states via `getChatState`:

| State | Description |
|-------|-------------|
| `'Idle'` | Default idle animation |
| `'Listening'` | Listening state animation |
| `'Thinking'` | Processing/thinking animation |
| `'Responding'` | Speaking/responding animation |

### ARKit Blendshapes (52)

```
browDownLeft, browDownRight, browInnerUp, browOuterUpLeft, browOuterUpRight,
cheekPuff, cheekSquintLeft, cheekSquintRight, eyeBlinkLeft, eyeBlinkRight,
eyeLookDownLeft, eyeLookDownRight, eyeLookInLeft, eyeLookInRight, eyeLookOutLeft,
eyeLookOutRight, eyeLookUpLeft, eyeLookUpRight, eyeSquintLeft, eyeSquintRight,
eyeWideLeft, eyeWideRight, jawForward, jawLeft, jawOpen, jawRight,
mouthClose, mouthDimpleLeft, mouthDimpleRight, mouthFrownLeft, mouthFrownRight,
mouthFunnel, mouthLeft, mouthLowerDownLeft, mouthLowerDownRight, mouthPressLeft,
mouthPressRight, mouthPucker, mouthRight, mouthRollLower, mouthRollUpper,
mouthShrugLower, mouthShrugUpper, mouthSmileLeft, mouthSmileRight, mouthStretchLeft,
mouthStretchRight, mouthUpperUpLeft, mouthUpperUpRight, noseSneerLeft, noseSneerRight,
tongueOut
```

---

## Asset Format

The avatar ZIP file should contain:

```
avatar.zip
├── avatar/
│   ├── offset.ply             # Gaussian splats point cloud (required)
│   ├── animation.glb          # Animation clips (required)
│   ├── skin.glb               # Skinning/skeleton data (required)
│   ├── vertex_order.json      # Vertex ordering data (required)
│   └── iris_occlusion.json    # Iris occlusion ranges (optional)
```

### Optional: Iris Occlusion

To enable iris fade during eye blinks if the iris is still visible, include `iris_occlusion.json` in your avatar folder to apply a fix.

An example of `iris_occlusion.json` :

```json
{
  "right_iris_north": [
    [4000, 4050],
    ...
  ],
  "right_iris_south": [
    [4051, 4100],
    ...
  ],
  "left_iris_north": [ ... ],
  "left_iris_south": [ ... ]
}
```

Each array `[start, end]` defines a range of Gaussian splat indices that belong to the iris. When eye blink blendshapes (eyeBlinkLeft, eyeBlinkRight) increase, these splats will smoothly fade out to prevent visual artifacts during eye closure.

If `iris_occlusion.json` is not present, the renderer will work normally without iris occlusion.

---

## Rendering Pipeline

### Overview

```
Loading (PLY) → Initialization (Viewer) → Scene Setup (SplatMesh) → Animation (FLAME)
→ Transform Update → Sorting (WebAssembly) → Drawing (WebGL)
```

1. **Loading**: Assets fetched from ZIP, PLY parsed via INRIAV1PlyParser
2. **Initialization**: Viewer creates WebGL context, materials, sort worker
3. **Scene Setup**: SplatMesh uploads data to GPU textures
4. **Animation**: FlameAnimator updates bone matrices, AnimationManager handles state transitions
5. **Transform Update**: Scene transforms applied, camera matrices computed
6. **Sorting**: WebAssembly radix sort produces depth-sorted indices
7. **Drawing**: Instanced rendering of sorted splats with alpha blending

### FLAME Integration

The library supports hybrid rendering where Gaussian Splat positions are deformed by FLAME's skeleton:

- **5 bones**: Root, Neck, Jaw, Left Eye, Right Eye
- **52 blendshapes**: Full ARKit compatibility for face tracking
- **LBS Skinning**: Splat positions transformed via bone matrices and blend weights
- **GPU-based**: All deformation computed in vertex shader via texture lookups
- **Iris Occlusion**: Optional dynamic iris fade during eye blinks (configured per-avatar via JSON)

---

## Browser Compatibility

### Desktop
| Browser | Version | WebGL 2 | SharedArrayBuffer | Status |
|---------|---------|---------|-------------------|--------|
| Chrome | 80+ | ✓ | ✓ (with headers) | Fully Supported |
| Firefox | 75+ | ✓ | ✓ (with headers) | Fully Supported |
| Safari | 14+ | ✓ | ✓ (macOS 11.3+) | Fully Supported |
| Edge | 80+ | ✓ | ✓ (with headers) | Fully Supported |

### Mobile
| Browser | Version | Performance | Notes |
|---------|---------|-------------|-------|
| Safari iOS | 14.5+ | Good | Enable WebGL 2 in Settings |
| Chrome Android | 80+ | Good | May require reduced splat count |
| Samsung Internet | 13+ | Fair | Limited SharedArrayBuffer support |

**Known Limitations:**
- iOS Safari: WebGL context may be lost during backgrounding
- Android: Performance varies significantly by device
- Firefox Android: SharedArrayBuffer requires site isolation
---

## Credits & Attribution

This library is built upon the work of several open-source projects:

### Three.js
**The foundation for all 3D rendering.**
- Website: https://threejs.org/
- License: MIT
- Used for: WebGL rendering, scene graph, cameras, materials, geometry, animation mixer

### @mkkellogg/gaussian-splats-3d
**Base Gaussian Splat rendering engine.**
- Repository: https://github.com/mkkellogg/GaussianSplats3D
- Author: Mark Kellogg
- License: MIT
- Used for: Core splat rendering, buffers, loaders, raycaster, sorting worker, utilities

### gaussian-splat-renderer-for-lam
**FLAME avatar extensions and high-level API.**
- npm package: https://www.npmjs.com/package/gaussian-splat-renderer-for-lam
- License: MIT
- Used for: FLAME model integration, animation state machine, FlameAnimator, FlameTextureManager, GPU skinning shaders

### FLAME Model
**Parametric head model for facial animation.**
- Website: https://flame.is.tue.mpg.de/
- Institution: Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems
- Used for: 5-bone skeleton, 52 ARKit blendshapes, LBS skinning weights