image-to-3dlab

AssetFurnace is an open‑source pipeline that converts a single text prompt or picture into a fully textured, rigged and animated game character. The software runs on Apple Silicon Macs or on machines equipped with an NVIDIA GPU, and it also offers a low‑cost cloud service for users who do not have a powerful GPU locally.

The primary audience is indie game developers who need a steady supply of character assets that can be imported directly into their engine. You provide either a written description (for example, “a dwarf smith with a hammer”) or an image of a concept sketch. The system processes the input and, after roughly fifteen minutes on an M‑series MacBook, outputs a GLB file that contains a mesh, UV‑mapped textures, a humanoid skeleton of 34–52 bones and baked animation data. You can select the polygon budget, 5 k, 15 k, 40 k (the default) or 100 k triangles, and the texture resolution, which includes 2 K colour, normal and material maps at 2048 px. The GLB file opens in Unity, Unreal, Godot or three.js without any additional export steps, and the mesh is ready for use in a game scene.

For 3D artists the workflow emphasizes rapid iteration and flexibility. After uploading a concept image, the interface shows the source picture on the left and the generated 3D model on the right, allowing you to rotate and inspect the mesh in real time. You can stop after the textured mesh if you plan to sculpt further, or continue to the rigging and animation stages. The pipeline also supports generating multiple variants in a single session; you might create ten dwarf concepts, review each, and keep the one that fits your project. All outputs are standard GLB files, which load in Blender without requiring plugins, and each file carries metadata that records the licence of the underlying open‑source models, so you can verify downstream rights before shipping.

AssetFurnace includes a command‑line installer that works on macOS, Linux and Windows, and the installation script opens the application in your browser. The cloud option is priced at roughly 20 ¢ per generated asset, while the local version is free to run on your own hardware.