The 5 Best AI Tools for 3D Modeling You Need To Explore Today

Here at No Film School, we’ve been covering this AI revolution with sincere interest. In many ways, these new AI tech innovations are quite exciting, yet in other ways, they’re quite concerning or even frightening. The result might be up for debate, but what’s not arguable is simply the fact that AI is coming, and it’s changing major industries from the ground up.

One area in which AI is already wrecking a huge amount of havoc is 3D modeling and design. When we look particularly at video, there are already a ton of products and apps that have unlocked quite a bit of potential with the help of AI.

So, regardless of where you stand on the moral argument of AI, let’s take some time to highlight some of the best AI tools for 3D modeling which you should consider exploring—or possibly implementing—in your workflows today.

1. Luma AI

Alright, let’s move on from all the doom-and-gloom and focus on the cool and revolutionary potential of AI apps like Luma AI, which can let you capture any type of 3D object in the real world and make it available for you to work within any 3D software of your choice. This obviously offers huge potential for anyone looking to turn their walks in the park into real-world inspiration.

Unlike traditional photo-scanning methods, Luma AI can create its own reflections for objects on different surfaces. This means that once you’ve scanned your object, AI can do all of the legwork for you in figuring out how it would look and act in any other environment you bring it into.

With a new Luma AI app, you can also now unlock all of these potential AI powers on your smartphone, opening up a whole world of possibilities. 

2. Point-E

Second, on our list from the featured video from InspirationTuts, we have the Point-E app to highlight, which comes directly from OpenAI itself. Another open-source text-based 3D generator from these AI thought leaders. With its open source code, though, the possibilities for integrating the basic text-to-image functions to create a 3D point cloud for sophisticated 3D images is now available—theoretically, of course.

We’ll still have to wait and see how this AI app develops, but early returns are looking scarily good, and this could unlock a new future where these generative point clouds can be used as a starting point for 3D artists looking to quickly create entire landscapes and worlds with rich texture and deep designs.

3. PIFuHD

Now let’s move on to PIFuHD, a machine-learning model for generating reconstructions of human bodies from a single image. Off the bat, you can guess some of the 3D possibilities this can unlock for future 3D design and video projects. However, like some of these other apps, PIFuHD might be a little bit away from taking any jobs today.

But in the future, this app could be quite helpful in generating realistic human models, or at the very least cutting down modeling time and giving designers something to start with, which is much further along than just starting from scratch.

4. GET3D

It’s also interesting to see which companies and brands are getting into this AI space. NVIDIA has made great strides in the world of AI and one of their research papers showcases GET3D, another new 3D modeling app that has the potential to drastically change the nature of 3D design and work. Similar to some of the apps featured above, GET3D will be able to turn images into any manner of buildings, animals, characters, and more.

What’s impressive with this potential app is the speed at which it can create and design models, as this is a play worth following based on what it might be able to crunch out for larger maps and renders in the future.

5. DreamFusion

Finally, to wrap up our list we have another text-to-3D AI that comes from one of the biggest players in the game with Google’s DreamFusion. Similar to Luma AI and other apps on our list, DreamFusion is shooting for some crazy pie-in-the-sky stuff. Yet, with Google's backing and some promising early results, it’s looking quite promising in early tests.

What’s most exciting about this technology, though, is it’s much more connected to your creativity as a creator and less from working off of images or previous models.

Eventually, this tech could potentially create entire worlds based on a few sentences in your head.

Time will tell for many of these innovations, though, but in general, it’s exciting and perhaps necessary for any 3D designers or editors to keep tabs on these new technologies to see which ones might eventually be helpful for your workflows—if not at the very least to stay tuned to know which ones might replace much of your work in the future as well.