A method and decoder for point cloud decoding. The method includes receiving and decoding a bitstream into multiple frames that include patches corresponding to respective clusters of points from a 3D point cloud. The method also includes generating a grid that includes a plurality of 3D cells, wherein the 3D point cloud is within the grid. The method further includes identifying a first cell of the plurality of 3D cells that includes a query point corresponding to a pixel on a boundary of one of the patches. The method additionally includes identifying a luminance value of the first cell. The method also includes performing color smoothing on the query point based on comparison of the luminance value of the first cell to a threshold.