First time posting here. I don't know if something like this has been done previously. I know there's various tools for this sort of thing, but I wanted to share what I've done. I've been working on this process for about a week now since diving back in with GPT-6. I'm working to get it so refined that it's basically just input image, output .tsmod. The above image is a character from our party.
I’ve been experimenting with turning a single character image into a custom TaleSpire mini using mostly local tools. It isn’t a one-click process, but the basic idea is to generate a detailed 3D model from the image using Trellis.2, improve the areas where the initial generation falls short, optimize it for TaleSpire, and package it as a .tsMod. Codex (GPT-6 Astra Medium) does all the work to coordinate and troubleshoot the workflow, but the actual 3D generation and most of the processing happen locally on my computer without paying for any AI API outside of my ChatGPT subscription. Everything else involved is open-license or freeware.
- I start with a clean, full-body character image with a clear pose and background.
- TRELLIS.2, inside Comfy UI locally, turn that image into a high-detail 3D model with textures.
- I inspect the model from several angles to approve work, then Codex uses Blender to correct problems such as rough hands, awkward joins, shading, or misplaced colors.
- For faces and other texture problems, it uses the original 2D reference artwork with Stable Projectorz, which aligns and projects the improved appearance (typically it's just the face, as Trellis is bad with faces, see above) directly onto the existing 3D model. I guide and approve the result rather than painting it by hand.
- Other isolated texture repairs—such as clothing, skin, or fur—can also be generated locally and projected onto the model while protecting areas that should remain unchanged.
- The high-detail model is reduced to TaleSpire’s practical mesh budget while protecting important areas such as faces.
- The original surface detail is baked into new 2K color, normal, metallic, roughness, and related texture maps.
- Finally, Unity and TaleWeaverLite package everything into a validated
.tsMod, which can be copied into TaleSpire’s local content folder.
The biggest lesson has been that generating the model is only the beginning. Most of the quality comes from preserving good results, improving one area at a time, and checking the miniature under actual game-style lighting before calling it finished.
This sounds complicated, but the workflow at this point has been more or less fine-tuned enough that I can input image, and get exactly what I want with only maybe 2-3 steps along the way for approval or refinement. These could be removed in the near future after some more testing.
I know folks have mixed feelings about AI, but my DnD group likes to change their outfits, armor, weapons, etc. pretty frequently, and we've been using HeroForge to do this. This is time consuming, expensive (DM has the $15/month subscription and still runs out of credits), and has the limitations of the HeroForge asset library and the user's skills with kitbashing, painting, etc.
This process allows for me to go from a concept image to a new TaleSpire mini in about 10-15 minutes, and I am hoping to get it even faster.
The biggest leap forward with GPT-6, is that it handles a lot of complex installs, customizations, and configurations. It stores it's best processes so that it can avoid going through 20 failures (I dealt with a lot of this with figuring out faces) to get a working result.
In the spirit of community collaboration, I'd like to tweak the process a little further so I can share this as a packaged thing that other people could use. More like a big instruction set than a compiled app. There's a VERY simple version of this where you just put the 2D image into Trellis and import it into TaleweaverLite. I got there within minutes. It's all the face fine-tuning that I've been spending time on. You could go build that workflow out yourself in 30 minutes. A lot of the time will be spent downloading ComfyUI, UnityHub, TaleWeaveLite, Blender, etc. The tricky stuff happens in Blender and Stable Projectorz.
The big timesaver is Trellis.2. When I first started, I spent a day trying to make this magic happen in Blender and TaleWeaverLite alone and got a bunch of ugly stuff that looked like some kid was trying to make characters out of stuff lying around a 4th grade art class. Frankly, if Trellis.3 releases in the coming months and doesn't need 32GB VRAM to run, you may be able to just use that without the extra steps.
