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Yep, there's a similar refrain amongst 3D artists who are begging for AI tools which can effectively speed up the tedious parts of their current process like re

Yep, there's a similar refrain amongst 3D artists who are begging for AI tools which can effectively speed up the tedious parts of their current process like retopo and UV unwrapping, but all AI researchers keep giving them are tools which take a text prompt or image and try to automate their entire process from start to finish, with very little control and invariably low quality results.

aDyslecticCrow 2y ago
There have been some really nice AI tools to generate bump and diffusion maps from photos. So you could photograph a wall and get a detailed meshing texture with good light scatter and depth. That's the kind of awesome tech that got me into AI in the first place. But then prompt generators took over everything.
- jsheard 2y ago
  Denoising is another good practical application of AI in 3D, you can save a lot of time without giving up any control by rendering an almost noise-free image and then letting a neural network clean it up. Intel did some good work there with their open source OIDN library, but then genAI took over and now all the research focus is on trying to completely replace precise 3D rendering workflows with diffusion slot machines, rather than continuing to develop smarter AI denoisers.
treyd 2y ago
Because the investors funding development of those AI tools don't want to try to empower artists and give them more freedom, they want to try to replace them.
- ChadNauseam 2y ago
  The investors want to make money, and if they make a tool that is usable by more people than just experienced 3D artists who are tired of retopologizing their models, that both empowers many more people and potentially makes them more money. Aside from that, it's impossible to tools replace artists. Did cameras replace painting? I'm sure they reduced the demand for paintings, but if you want to create art and paint is your chosen medium it has never been easier. If you want to create art and 3D models are your chosen medium, the existence of AI tools for 3D model generation from a prompt doesn't stop you. However, if you want to create a game and you need a 3D model of a rock or something, you're not trying to make "art" with that rock, you're trying to make a game and a 3D model is just something you need to do that.

aDyslecticCrow 2y ago

There have been some really nice AI tools to generate bump and diffusion maps from photos. So you could photograph a wall and get a detailed meshing texture with good light scatter and depth. That's the kind of awesome tech that got me into AI in the first place. But then prompt generators took over everything.

jsheard 2y ago
Denoising is another good practical application of AI in 3D, you can save a lot of time without giving up any control by rendering an almost noise-free image and then letting a neural network clean it up. Intel did some good work there with their open source OIDN library, but then genAI took over and now all the research focus is on trying to completely replace precise 3D rendering workflows with diffusion slot machines, rather than continuing to develop smarter AI denoisers.

treyd 2y ago

Because the investors funding development of those AI tools don't want to try to empower artists and give them more freedom, they want to try to replace them.

ChadNauseam 2y ago
The investors want to make money, and if they make a tool that is usable by more people than just experienced 3D artists who are tired of retopologizing their models, that both empowers many more people and potentially makes them more money. Aside from that, it's impossible to tools replace artists. Did cameras replace painting? I'm sure they reduced the demand for paintings, but if you want to create art and paint is your chosen medium it has never been easier. If you want to create art and 3D models are your chosen medium, the existence of AI tools for 3D model generation from a prompt doesn't stop you. However, if you want to create a game and you need a 3D model of a rock or something, you're not trying to make "art" with that rock, you're trying to make a game and a 3D model is just something you need to do that.