Atlas World Model blog
News within 48 hours of World Labs announcements, plus hands-on tutorials for the Marble World API and, soon, Atlas.
guide ·
Image to 3D: object generators and scene generators are not the same tool
Object generators return one mesh you can drop into a scene. Scene generators return a space you can move through. How to tell which one your task needs.
guide ·
Which Atlas? Telling the Atlas world model apart from the other Atlases
“Atlas” is a world model, a humanoid robot, a browser, a database and a book of maps. How to tell World Labs’ Atlas world model from the rest in one table.
analysis ·
Is Atlas real-time? No — it renders a camera path you hand it in advance
No. Atlas renders a camera path you submit in advance; Genie 3 is the real-time one. Where the mix-up starts, and why the two "minutes" are not comparable.
guide ·
Gaussian splat tools explained: what each one actually does in the pipeline
Polycam, Luma, Postshot, Nerfstudio, Spark and Marble do different jobs. The four stages of a Gaussian splat pipeline, and which tool belongs to each.
analysis ·
World model APIs in 2026: which world models you can actually call from code
Seven headline world models, checked one by one for a public API you can call today: what each takes in, what it returns, and what a call costs.
guide ·
Gaussian splat file formats: .ply, .spz, .splat and .ksplat
A 1M-splat scene is 248 MB as .ply, about 25 MB as .spz and 32 MB as .splat. What each format stores, what it throws away, and when to use which.
analysis ·
3D Gaussian splatting vs NeRF
Splatting renders in real time and trains in minutes; NeRF is compact and still better at some hard optics. A practical comparison, not a history lesson.
tutorial ·
How to open a .ply or .spz Gaussian splat file
Drop the file into a browser viewer and it renders locally, no upload and no install. Plus what to do when a splat loads black, upside down or not at all.
guide ·
GWM Worlds 2 pricing and access: what Runway has and has not published about its world model
GWM Worlds 2 has no public pricing, no self-serve access and no API. What Runway has actually said, how to request access, and what to use instead.
analysis ·
GWM Worlds 2 vs Genie 3: which real-time world model to use
GWM Worlds 2 (Runway) vs Genie 3 (DeepMind): both stream 720p at 24 fps, but only one generates audio and takes arbitrary actions. Specs and verdict.