In various embodiments, a differentiable rendering application enables an inverse rendering application to infer attributes associated with a 3D scene. In operation, the differentiable rendering application renders an image based on a first set of points associated with the 3D scene. The differentiable rendering application then generates an artificial gradient that approximates a change in a value of a first pixel included in the image with respect to a change in an attribute of a first point included in the first set of points. Subsequently, the inverse rendering application performs optimization operation(s) on the first point based on the artificial gradient to generate a second set of points. Notably, an error associated with the second set of points is less than an error associated with the first set of points.