Yep, hard to reason with industry people pushing slop on commercial production teams.
Low-poly re-mesh tools have been around for ages (some better than others), but there are good reasons pro's still do this step manually all the time. Primarily "good" is based on _where_ the quads, loops, and unavoidable n-gons end up in the model (or stuff ends up looking retro 90's.)
There is also the complex legal side of algorithms not being able to create copyrightable works in some jurisdictions. Talk with your IP lawyer, this area gets messy fast when something famous or trademarked is involved.
That's fair, as someone pretty proficient in 3D modelling I understand your point. However, it also boils down to the scale of the project.
Imagine recreating part of real life city, creating a digital twin, for scientific purposes (testing human behaviour in fire hazards, or simply iterating on better park planning and road design for greater perceived safety). There's a lot to be done, and it's difficult to use procedural building methods if your aim is for people to recognize that area.
I'm making such a thing myself, purely academic, but god I wish I could speed things up.
Procedural emission of textures, biomes and cities is not ML/AI generated... Also physics simulation of erosion for landscapes may look natural to most people.
The problem is when groups start gleaning styles and artwork from 3rd parties to make something in the same style... they cross an ethical line, and a legal one in some situations (even if the original work is completely isolated from the output.)
Thus, while a stochastic parrot may be able to dodge outright plagiarism, it cannot sidestep copyright laws in some Markets.
I'd rather pay folks for royalty free content like Poly Haven offers to the community. =3
Oh, for sure. Wholeheartedly agree. We are little by little eroding the foundations of an economic system which allows individuals to get recognized and rewarded for their hard work.
I may have not worded things well, I was trying to speak of modern 3D reconstruction methods, such as NeRF or Neuralangelo. I can see good uses for them, as I need to fool the senses reliably (participants will be taken to a VR world... mimicking a real place). But as many things in this field, the reality is that these methods aren't up to snuff. Still, it would be nice to be able to capture reality for non commercial purposes.
As for Polyhaven, haven't donated yet... but I hope to do so soon :)
Low-poly re-mesh tools have been around for ages (some better than others), but there are good reasons pro's still do this step manually all the time. Primarily "good" is based on _where_ the quads, loops, and unavoidable n-gons end up in the model (or stuff ends up looking retro 90's.)
There is also the complex legal side of algorithms not being able to create copyrightable works in some jurisdictions. Talk with your IP lawyer, this area gets messy fast when something famous or trademarked is involved.
Cheers, =3