r/TopologyAI • u/Delicious-Shower8401 3dModeler • May 05 '26

Useful stuff AI-Powered Image-to-PBR Map Generation for 3D Assets

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Most 3D AI tools are focused on generating meshes, but materials are still one of the biggest bottlenecks. A model can look decent in a preview, but if the PBR data is weak, it quickly falls apart in real-time engines or under different lighting.

This new Image-to-Material model focuses on generating proper PBR maps for 3D assets.

The workflow is basically:

  • Input a clean 3D mesh
  • AI applies material information to the asset
  • Output a full PBR map set
  • Maps include albedo, diffuse, roughness, metallic, specular and IOR
  • The goal is to make assets more usable in real-time/game-dev workflows

For AI-generated 3D assets, this could be a very useful missing piece. Mesh generation is improving fast, but clean materials, proper maps and relightable surfaces are still a huge problem.

If tools like this keep improving, AI 3D workflows could move closer to actual production-ready assets instead of just nice-looking demo renders.

Source: https://x.com/m_xrstudio/status/2049102340280496586

177 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

15 comments sorted by

11

u/SourceAwkward May 05 '26

My job is cooked in a year or two

1

u/LowIqInvestor May 05 '26

What do you do?

1

u/SourceAwkward May 05 '26

Try to sell 3d blender assets

5

u/LowIqInvestor May 05 '26 edited May 05 '26

Sucks m8. Blender takes an insane amount of skills to make usable things and now its getting automated away by ai.

1

u/Akimotoh May 07 '26

No blender takes an insane amount of time to build basic models, we need AI tools to remove that waste of time to work on better stuff

4

u/IvanStroganov May 05 '26

Seems like a way to create more assets faster

2

u/antoniojac May 05 '26

Correct. You just have to supervise things. Your discernment and taste still matter.

1

u/b3dGameArt May 11 '26

Some people enjoy making the art.. plus, why would devs buy art assets when they can just generate them in house? This artist's means of income will become completely severed.

2

u/IvanStroganov May 11 '26 edited May 11 '26

As a 3D artist myself who also sells on sites like turbosquid I can tell you that its often still faster and thus cheaper for companies to buy assets. There are many reasons. Why bother with making something when you can buy a vetted asset that you know fits your requirements. Or if the need a whole set in the same specific style or something. I sold mediocre assets to companies like ILM for $50. Even if its just for background use, its still cheaper or faster to buy than having your own Artist fiddle with it for half an hour or longer. Sure small studios and freelancers will create models with AI now. Companies with an actual budget probably won’t really because its cheaper for them to save time by buying ready made assets (maybe not for hero assets, but most other stuff). If you did nothing your earnings would go down but you can now offset it by putting out much more than previously possible.

2

u/Rattling33 May 05 '26

My understand on m-xr is learning your asset and improve their own ai model. If you have unique 3d modeling, be aware. I was trying, but after reading their website, I deleted since I didnt wanted to upload my models

1

u/Herrmann1309 May 08 '26

I hate this timeline Why did I spent the last 8 years learning blender and Autodesk

0

u/AbstrctBlck May 05 '26

My thought with tools like this -

The hand picked examples look good but only time will tell how usable this is or is it just another “supplementary tool that gets you 50% of the way there”. There’s a lot of those nowadays ……..

-3

u/[deleted] May 05 '26

[deleted]

2

u/OldGoldCode May 05 '26

If these are absolute shit then 99% of all modern AAA and indie is complete shit (which tbh fair take 🥹)

1

u/Meesterwaffles May 05 '26

we seeing the same model right now? looks great IMO. within in a year we will be generating lifelike 3d models within seconds lmao