diff --git a/examples/simple_trainer_2dgs.py b/examples/simple_trainer_2dgs.py
index 109008587..19c8011fb 100644
--- a/examples/simple_trainer_2dgs.py
+++ b/examples/simple_trainer_2dgs.py
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@
 
 from gsplat.rendering import rasterization_2dgs, rasterization_2dgs_inria_wrapper
 from gsplat.strategy import DefaultStrategy
-
+from gsplat.utils import save_ply
 
 @dataclass
 class Config:
@@ -67,6 +67,10 @@ class Config:
     eval_steps: List[int] = field(default_factory=lambda: [7_000, 30_000])
     # Steps to save the model
     save_steps: List[int] = field(default_factory=lambda: [7_000, 30_000])
+    # Whether to save ply file (storage size can be large)
+    save_ply: bool = False
+    # Steps to save the model as ply
+    ply_steps: List[int] = field(default_factory=lambda: [7_000, 30_000])
 
     # Initialization strategy
     init_type: str = "sfm"
@@ -170,6 +174,7 @@ class Config:
     def adjust_steps(self, factor: float):
         self.eval_steps = [int(i * factor) for i in self.eval_steps]
         self.save_steps = [int(i * factor) for i in self.save_steps]
+        self.ply_steps = [int(i * factor) for i in self.ply_steps]
         self.max_steps = int(self.max_steps * factor)
         self.sh_degree_interval = int(self.sh_degree_interval * factor)
         self.refine_start_iter = int(self.refine_start_iter * factor)
@@ -265,6 +270,8 @@ def __init__(self, cfg: Config) -> None:
         os.makedirs(self.stats_dir, exist_ok=True)
         self.render_dir = f"{cfg.result_dir}/renders"
         os.makedirs(self.render_dir, exist_ok=True)
+        self.ply_dir = f"{cfg.result_dir}/ply"
+        os.makedirs(self.ply_dir, exist_ok=True)
 
         # Tensorboard
         self.writer = SummaryWriter(log_dir=f"{cfg.result_dir}/tb")
@@ -724,6 +731,25 @@ def train(self):
                     f"{self.ckpt_dir}/ckpt_{step}.pt",
                 )
 
+            if (
+                step in [i - 1 for i in cfg.ply_steps]
+                or step == max_steps - 1
+                and cfg.save_ply
+            ):
+                rgb = None
+                if self.cfg.app_opt:
+                    # eval at origin to bake the appeareance into the colors
+                    rgb = self.app_module(
+                        features=self.splats["features"],
+                        embed_ids=None,
+                        dirs=torch.zeros_like(self.splats["means"][None, :, :]),
+                        sh_degree=sh_degree_to_use,
+                    )
+                    rgb = rgb + self.splats["colors"]
+                    rgb = torch.sigmoid(rgb).squeeze(0)
+
+                save_ply(self.splats, f"{self.ply_dir}/point_cloud_{step}.ply", rgb, is_2dgs=True)
+
             # eval the full set
             if step in [i - 1 for i in cfg.eval_steps] or step == max_steps - 1:
                 self.eval(step)
diff --git a/examples/simple_viewer.py b/examples/simple_viewer.py
index 5d513dc18..9e913fffe 100644
--- a/examples/simple_viewer.py
+++ b/examples/simple_viewer.py
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
 
 from gsplat._helper import load_test_data
 from gsplat.distributed import cli
-from gsplat.rendering import rasterization
+from gsplat.rendering import rasterization, rasterization_2dgs
 
 
 def main(local_rank: int, world_rank, world_size: int, args):
@@ -169,6 +169,8 @@ def viewer_render_fn(camera_state: nerfview.CameraState, img_wh: Tuple[int, int]
 
         if args.backend == "gsplat":
             rasterization_fn = rasterization
+        elif args.backend == "gsplat-2dgs":
+            rasterization_fn = rasterization_2dgs
         elif args.backend == "inria":
             from gsplat import rasterization_inria_wrapper
 
@@ -176,7 +178,7 @@ def viewer_render_fn(camera_state: nerfview.CameraState, img_wh: Tuple[int, int]
         else:
             raise ValueError
 
-        render_colors, render_alphas, meta = rasterization_fn(
+        render_colors, render_alphas, _, _, _, _, meta = rasterization_fn(
             means,  # [N, 3]
             quats,  # [N, 4]
             scales,  # [N, 3]
diff --git a/gsplat/utils.py b/gsplat/utils.py
index f103e07bb..3df3a13f6 100644
--- a/gsplat/utils.py
+++ b/gsplat/utils.py
@@ -7,13 +7,15 @@
 import numpy as np
 
 
-def save_ply(splats: torch.nn.ParameterDict, dir: str, colors: torch.Tensor = None):
+def save_ply(splats: torch.nn.ParameterDict, dir: str, colors: torch.Tensor = None, is_2dgs: bool = False):
     # Convert all tensors to numpy arrays in one go
     print(f"Saving ply to {dir}")
     numpy_data = {k: v.detach().cpu().numpy() for k, v in splats.items()}
 
     means = numpy_data["means"]
     scales = numpy_data["scales"]
+    if is_2dgs:
+        scales[:, 2] = np.log(1e-6)
     quats = numpy_data["quats"]
     opacities = numpy_data["opacities"]