3D Assets
Tools to generate 3D models and textures.
| Rank | Model | Price | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|
|
1
|
Paid | The Geometry King. While others make blobs, Rodin generates clean, quad-based topology usable in production pipelines (Maya/Blender). Its 'Hyperhuman' update creates game-ready characters with separate clothing meshes. | |
|
2
|
Open Source | The Open Source Standard. Released Jan 2025, this model brings SOTA 3D generation to local GPUs (runs on RTX 4090). It separates geometry and texture generation steps, allowing for 'Retexturing' existing assets without changing their shape. | |
|
3
|
Paid | The Texture Specialist. It excels at 'Text-to-Texture', applying PBR (Physically Based Rendering) maps—roughness, metallic, normal—to untextured meshes. It is the fastest way to populate a background scene in Unity. | |
|
4
|
Open Source | The Structured Latent. A research breakthrough available as a Windows installer. It generates 'Structured Latents' that can be decoded into either Nerfs (for viewing) or Meshes (for editing), solving the trade-off between look and utility. | |
|
5
|
Freemium | The Mobile Studio. The best 'Image-to-3D' for quick captures. You can take a photo of a shoe on your phone, and Genie 2 will generate a textured GLB file in the cloud in under 10 seconds. | |
|
6
|
Freemium | The Drafting Engine. It focuses on volume. It can generate 10 variations of a prompt simultaneously in under 30 seconds. Perfect for 'blocking out' a level before committing to high-fidelity assets. | |
|
7
|
Free (Beta) | The Designer's Bridge. It isn't for game devs; it's for graphic designers. It turns 2D vectors (Illustrator SVGs) into 3D geometry non-destructively, allowing you to change lighting and camera angles for 2D export. | |
|
8
|
Freemium | The Hard Surface Specialist. Unlike diffusion models that 'guess' shapes, Sloyd uses parametric generators AI-tuned for weapons, furniture, and architectural props. It guarantees UVs are perfect every time. | |
|
9
|
Paid | The Pipeline Tool. It uses a 'Human-in-the-Loop' approach (machine generates, human fixes) to guarantee shipment-ready assets. It automates the LOD (Level of Detail) creation process for game engines. | |
|
10
|
Freemium | The World Builder. Common Sense Machines (CSM) focuses on environment assets. Its 'Cube' engine is unique for its ability to generate seamless tiling 3D terrain and vegetation patches from a single image. |
Just the Highlights
Rodin (Deemos)
The Geometry King. While others make blobs, Rodin generates clean, quad-based topology usable in production pipelines (Maya/Blender). Its 'Hyperhuman' update creates game-ready characters with separate clothing meshes.
Hunyuan 3D 2.0 (Tencent)
The Open Source Standard. Released Jan 2025, this model brings SOTA 3D generation to local GPUs (runs on RTX 4090). It separates geometry and texture generation steps, allowing for 'Retexturing' existing assets without changing their shape.
Meshy-4
The Texture Specialist. It excels at 'Text-to-Texture', applying PBR (Physically Based Rendering) maps—roughness, metallic, normal—to untextured meshes. It is the fastest way to populate a background scene in Unity.
Microsoft TRELLIS
The Structured Latent. A research breakthrough available as a Windows installer. It generates 'Structured Latents' that can be decoded into either Nerfs (for viewing) or Meshes (for editing), solving the trade-off between look and utility.
Luma Genie 2
The Mobile Studio. The best 'Image-to-3D' for quick captures. You can take a photo of a shoe on your phone, and Genie 2 will generate a textured GLB file in the cloud in under 10 seconds.
Tripo 3.0
The Drafting Engine. It focuses on volume. It can generate 10 variations of a prompt simultaneously in under 30 seconds. Perfect for 'blocking out' a level before committing to high-fidelity assets.
Adobe Project Neo
The Designer's Bridge. It isn't for game devs; it's for graphic designers. It turns 2D vectors (Illustrator SVGs) into 3D geometry non-destructively, allowing you to change lighting and camera angles for 2D export.
Sloyd
The Hard Surface Specialist. Unlike diffusion models that 'guess' shapes, Sloyd uses parametric generators AI-tuned for weapons, furniture, and architectural props. It guarantees UVs are perfect every time.
Kaedim 3.0
The Pipeline Tool. It uses a 'Human-in-the-Loop' approach (machine generates, human fixes) to guarantee shipment-ready assets. It automates the LOD (Level of Detail) creation process for game engines.
CSM Cube 2
The World Builder. Common Sense Machines (CSM) focuses on environment assets. Its 'Cube' engine is unique for its ability to generate seamless tiling 3D terrain and vegetation patches from a single image.