Production-grade Asset Workflows
Game and simulation engine-ready assets require high-fidelity geometry, topology, parts, textures, and UV maps. We have been collaborating with a network of artists and developers to produce human-level 3D assets by integrating Cube into their workflows. In preliminary experiments, we are seeing drastic improvements in reaching the final outputs compared to not using our tools. We are currently collecting quantitative data across a wide range of object types and artists and will have more information to share soon.
This document is informed by our internal experiments, which you or your team can use as a reference for your workflows. This page contains detailed tutorials to create a variety of assets typically found in real-world 3D production workflows. Each document starts by using one or more of our tools, and then exporting the outputs into third-party tools, including Blender, ZBrush, Substance, and other 3D editors, to do the finishing touches.
A typical workflow here involves breaking up the input into constituent parts or generating parts separately before assembling them [see here]. Then each whole or part can be retextured [see here], before sending it to our AI-assisted UV remapper [see here]. Finally, the meshes can be exported to third-party editors for post-processing.
Populate Your Game World in Unreal Engine's Fortnite Editor with Cube
Unreal Engine Fortnite Editor (UEFN) has opened up a world of possibilities for creators, allowing them to craft unique experiences within the Fortnite universe. Traditionally, developers have two primary methods for acquiring assets for their UEFN projects:
3D modelling: Creating custom assets from scratch using 3D modelling software.
Asset marketplaces: Purchasing pre-made assets from online stores like the Unreal Engine Marketplace.
But what if you need a specific asset that doesn't exist yet, or you're looking to dramatically accelerate your 3D modelling workflow? Whether you're a beginner exploring the world of 3D creation or a seasoned professional looking to streamline your workflow, Cube's custom-trained AI models and algorithms provide the right tools you need to craft stunning worlds in UEFN with unprecedented ease and efficiency.
In this tutorial, we'll walk you through using Cube to create custom assets for your UEFN projects, from concept to implementation. Here are a couple of examples of what your worlds could look like:
Image to 3D with Cube
Let’s start with creating assets using Cube's Image to 3D tool.
1. Upload your image in the Image to 3D tool at 3d.csm.ai. Here we take the following example:
The next step is to check that the right settings for Image to 3D are set:
It is recommended to enable “Manual Segmentation” for more control and to have the segmentation mask tight around the object colours - any unintended background can lead to artefacts in your 3D model.
For fast refines, we also recommend setting multiple variations - this allows you to pick the best result in the end.
Next to topology type and polycount settings, you can choose between slow and fast refines. Even though slow refines take more time, they can work better for furniture and thin structured objects.
This is what your settings tab could look like for a fast refine:
And this is what the final 3D model looks like 😍:
d. Retexturing (Optional): You can briefly touch up the textures of your 3D model within seconds by using the “Retexture” tool - its magic paintbrush allows you to paint colors, AI textures or even the original input image on your new 3D model, which enables control and perfect textures. Find a short video about it here.
e. Animation (Optional): You can directly rig and animate humanoid characters and import them into UEFN - for this we recommend your input image to show the character in t-pose:
f. Now you can download your 3D model in the Mesh Export section - for UEFN we recommend downloading it in FBX format:
Import your Cube asset into UEFN:
Launch the Unreal Editor for Fortnite
Open your current project - in our case we have loaded a little magical island populated with characters generated, rigged and animated in Cube (the blue alien has only been rigged and animated with Cube for an animation demo):
c. Now open the content drawer that is usually located at the very the bottom left of the editor - we made a folder for csm_assets which contains the folder csm_sloth_figurine as an example:
d. Click on “Import”:
e. Choose the “Import all” option:
f. Now you can see your imported asset in the asset folder:
g. Now you can drag and drop the Static Mesh model (the one that displays the 3D textured 3D model in its previews) into the scene:
Press “w” for translating the model
Press “e” for rotating the model
Press “r” for scaling the model
And our 3D model is in our own UEFN world - you can launch a Session in the editor and see what it looks like in-game - it seems like our lovely sloth figurine is enjoying a vibrant sunset 🌄.
Populate Your Game World in Roblox Studio with Cube
Roblox Studio has opened up a world of possibilities for creators, allowing them to craft unique experiences within the Roblox universe. Traditionally, developers have two primary methods for acquiring assets for their Roblox projects:
3D modelling: Creating custom assets from scratch using 3D modelling software.
Asset marketplace: Purchasing pre-made assets from the Roblox Marketplace.
But what if you need a specific asset that doesn't exist yet, or you're looking to dramatically accelerate your 3D modeling workflow? Whether you're a beginner exploring the world of 3D creation or a seasoned professional looking to streamline your workflow, Cube's custom-trained AI models and algorithms provide the right tools you need to craft stunning worlds in Roblox Studio with unprecedented ease and efficiency.
In this tutorial, we'll walk you through using Cube to create custom assets for your Roblox projects, from concept to implementation. Here are a couple of examples of what your worlds could look like:
Image to 3D with Cube
Let’s start with creating assets using Cube's Image to 3D tool.
1. Upload your image in the Image to 3D tool at 3d.csm.ai. Here we take the following example:
The next step is to check that the right settings for Image to 3D are set:
It is recommended to enable “Manual Segmentation” for more control and to have the segmentation mask tight around the object colours - any unintended background can lead to artefacts in your 3D model.
For fast refines, we also recommend setting multiple variations - this allows you to pick the best result in the end.
Next to topology type and polycount settings, you can choose between slow and fast refines. Even though slow refines take more time, they can work better for furniture and thin structured objects.
This is what your settings tab could look like for a fast refine:
And this is what the final 3D model looks like 😍:
d. Retexturing (Optional): You can briefly touch up the textures of your 3D model within seconds by using the “Retexture” tool - its magic paintbrush allows you to paint colors, AI textures or even the original input image on your new 3D model, which enables control and perfect textures. Find a short video about it here.
e. Animation (Optional): You can directly rig and animate humanoid characters and import them into Roblox - for this we recommend your input image to show the character in t-pose:
f. Now you can download your 3D model in the Mesh Export section - we recommend downloading it in FBX format:
Import your Cube asset into Roblox:
Launch Roblox Studio and open your game world
b. Import your downloaded FBX 3D model:
c. Feel free to assign it a custom name and click “Import”:
d. Use the shift, scale and rotate buttons to position your 3D model in your world:
And that’s it - now your Cube generated 3D model is uploaded to Roblox🪄:
Concepting Workflows
Cube enables rapid exploration of 3D content, allowing for high experimentation before the idea is sent for production. Instead of spending days and weeks on the wrong output, Cube allows users to visualize and prototype worlds in a matter of minutes. Our users are leveraging these capabilities to create minimum viable games, design prototypes for new products, rapidly generate new e-commerce content for UGC workflows, and explore numerous design ideas during the concepting phase.
Environmental Asset Packs
High-throughput 3D Exploration
Concepting Worlds in Unreal
Explore Motions with Text Prompts
3D Product Design
3D Print Prototyping
CAD Scanning from Single Images
Minimum Viable Casual Games
VFX Previsualization
Stylized Multi-modal 3D Generation
Cube is a multi-modal AI engine that can translate single images, turnaround sheets, text, and sketches into animation-ready and style-consistent 3D assets. In addition to generation, we offer a full suite of editors for AI-based retexturing and UV remapping. The typical workflow is to generate wholes or parts from one of the modalities, AI retextures them, then remap the UVs, followed by reassembly in Blender or a third-party tool. This mesh can be reimported into our 3D animation suite for rich behaviour generation from text prompts or video inputs (coming soon).
AI Retexturing
AI-assisted UVs
Parts-based Mesh Generation
Animation (Under Maintenance)
Frequently Asked Questions
Still have questions? Check out the FAQs.