I don't know who helped me (or even if they were from this forum), but thank you.
The Frog Refuge thanks you. The community is growing.
Hello everyone.
I think we can talk about Meshy.AI.
Yes, it's an artificial intelligence tool for generating 3D models, but before getting into all that, let me give you a sneak peek, some evidence — because I walk the talk, haha...
From left to right, and then bottom to top:
All little frogs 🐸
I can't reveal yet what I'm going to do with them, and it's not even about spoilers — it's because I haven't properly defined the storyline yet.
The only thing I know is that, since I really like the character Frog from Chrono Trigger (SNES), I decided to include a village of frogs, a refuge away from the judgmental eyes of the rest of humanoid society.
Yes, I know a good modeler does exquisite work that can't be compared to automated results, but I'm a programmer, not an artist! And hiring a freelancer isn't cheap for me.
I could buy assets, it's true, but my experience with this tool — writing the prompt I want, the way I want, with the details I want — has left me quite satisfied.
By the way, I do have purchased assets, but sometimes what we want isn't even available for sale. Example: a female humanoid frog commoner (as in the picture). Maybe it's for sale now, haha, but when I looked last year, it wasn't. And if you want a ninja with a leopard's body, a horse's head, a fish's tail, and pink eyes, you're unlikely to find it for sale (or maybe you will, haha), but if you write that prompt, the tool will give you a model that, even if you don't love it, will have those characteristics.
Well, after not finding what I was looking for, I did some research and found this tool that's been a real lifesaver for me.
The models aren't perfect, but you can import them into Blender, make the necessary small adjustments, and fine-tune them your way — even without being an artist, just by moving vertices.
The texture is also created according to the prompt. Of course, you can open the file in GIMP/Photoshop and edit it; in fact, I'll do that because what I initially envisioned differs slightly in the details of each outfit. But even so, the texture is very good, with a level of detail and clarity that really impresses me.
Since I'm using the free plan (yes, I intend to upgrade to the pro plan at some point), I'm creating models little by little, month by month, because the free plan gives you 200 credits per month that aren't cumulative: if you don't use them, you won't have 400 the next month. But if you use them all, they'll be replenished the following month. Bonus credits (for publishing, reviewing, etc.) are cumulative.
You use real money to buy credits (via subscription), and you use credits to generate models.
It's not feasible for me to subscribe right now because I won't be diving into the project head-on anytime soon due to my new job. So, in a relaxed pace, I'm creating the assets, but we can help each other out.
If you sign up for the free plan using my link here (a pop-up might appear — don't be intimidated/afraid and feel free to allow it) and create any model, I get 100 bonus credits, and you get 100 bonus credits too. But you need to register and make at least one model. It's a way for you to start with about 300 credits, and it also helps me not to wait until next month.
I'll share another creation of mine that I really like — this one might even be the protagonist, still unnamed:
Let me list the advantages I've found:
If you're not interested, just don't use it, but anyone who wants to try it out will be helping me a lot.
I've been using this AI for some time; if you have any questions before starting your prompts, I'm at your disposal.
Once more, my link.
Cheers!