I didn't realize that the “ready to use” 3D character would be interpreted differently in various
projects. I tried some different ways of working and found that maybe something that works
for 3-D printing won't work for animation, or maybe a detailed character is still too heavy to
use for a game engine.
For games I'd want to find ones with reasonable numbers of polygons, good topology,
efficient textures, and a good deforming skeleton. Requirements are similar for animation,
except that facial areas, joints, weight painting and bone hierarchy often warrant more
attention. Printing doesn't require rigging, textures or anything else, it just requires closed
geometry, adequate thickness, the correct scale, and an STL export file.
As I was trying out methods to design character base models faster, I stumbled upon Tripo
AI. It is capable of creating characters either from a text or from a reference image, and can
be used for texturing, basic rigging, preparing characters for animation and exporting like
FBX, GLB, OBJ, STL etc. But not all formats work for all assets: STL and OBJ conversion
won't work for rigged models, according to its documentation.
I would still consider the generated character to be a starting point and go over the topology,
proportions, rig deformation and printability before giving it the “all done” stamp of approval.
Have any of you played with an AI made character in a full game, animation or print? What
amount of clean up was required?
[link] [comments]