AI and future of 3d artists

rebtay · Aug 29 2025

hi there folks. newbie here. just getting into 3d since I'm extremely passionate about not starving to death. Tried graphic design and web dev but AI threw a wrench in that. Did a lot of research before giving up web dev. Really wanted to make a living makin flashy sites but with AI i don't see a future there. Currently, AI gen sites are garbage but like 5 years in the future, web dev is cooked. Pivoted to 3d. Goal is to make a buck and quick with freelancing. Having same doubts about AI taking the job in like 5 yrs? Can more experienced member shed some light on the situation?

poopipe · Aug 29 2025

We're currently 5 years into AI taking your coding job in six months..

It's all bullshit - all of it.

Also - there's no quick buck to be found here. making 3d models does not pay well

zetheros · Aug 29 2025

if the goal is to make money to pay bills right now, I can't recommend 3d modeling. Takes years of study and practice to get to a point where you can start making money, and that money is not good unless you're in the top 10% with good connections. The industry is in shambles, and competition is silly.

As for AI, as someone with 10+ years as a 3d artist and solo developer on the side; AI hasn't changed much since our crafts require 1:1 precision & iteration, context awareness, non-destructive workflows and optimization. Ethics and legal issues aside, AI is not the right tool for these things.

My advice for you is to pursue web design as a serious hobby that will evolve into a career, pick up a job that isn't absolute shit and that will sustain you financially, and ignore the 'threat' of AI for now. It's a bubble that will burst soon; you don't want to be caught in the blast radius of a multi-trillion dollar flop.

rebtay · Aug 29 2025

Wow, didn't expect this level of.....nihilism. appreciate you guys giving it to me straight. disagree about the AI part since jobs are being lost. im seeing AI commercials and graphics more & more frequently. A commercial that wud cost thousands of dollars and weeks of time done for like 50 buck in 5 min, and web dev will be dead in 5yrs. but for some reason everyone is in denail about AI

thomasp · Aug 29 2025

Quick buck with 3D and freelancing after pivoting just recently - presumably without connections and without years of experience? Yeah that's not going to help to ease the starving.

Might as well open up an OnlyFans and sell feet pix. 1000% better survival chances I reckon.

zetheros · Aug 29 2025

not really nihilism, just being realistic. It's easy to say to an artist or developer, "Why don't you use AI for that?", but a whole different thing to actually use the tech. I've tried, and found it unsuitable. If it were really as powerful as marketing would have you believe, I'd have a game published already, and would send you guys the link to my steam storepage. It's been... what, 2-3 years since the general public has had access to AI tech? Where is my game?

I think there are use cases for AI, just more limited in scope; mostly as a information search tool, and possibly to aid in detecting unusual player behaviour in games.

Eric Chadwick · 12:00AM

In my experience, Ai tools make sense to use as a shortcut for small bits of menial work. As long as the task is well-defined with plenty of decent-quality source material for the model to pull from. And only if I am able to filter the output using my own specific subject-matter expertise.

It's great at handling the filler, not so great at getting the specifics correct.

I recently was handed a writeup, created with AI, about my artwork. It took care of around 80% of the formatting and content, but failed miserably at the crucial meat of the post, the most important information we want to share with the audience. Without human editing on the result, the output would be totally incorrect.

Does it save us time? Sure, if we're creating content that's been made a thousand times before, and just needs to be tweaked to match the current subject.

Curious how this is going to play out with actual 3d content-creation work, and not just writing press releases. I suspect it'll end up in the same general area, great to speed up some of the drudgery, but always needing an adult at the wheel to steer us away from the cliff's edge.

edit... I still have major qualms about using AI models at all, since they're all sourced with tons of copyrighted content, without any author permission. It's still all so fucking wrong.

sacboi · 3:52AM

"Did a lot of research before giving up web dev. Really wanted to make a living makin flashy sites but with AI i don't see a future there. "

I might suggest another pivot toward CG programming or back-end IT stream, studios are still on the look out for tech artists/game engine software engineers...etc despite this current ai hype, I mean no one in their right mind would allow a bot let loose amidst their inhouse codebase...

https://madappgang.com/blog/chat-gpt-code-errors/

Note:

Just a personal observation from someone who was in your shoes during the dotcom boom mid 90s to early 2000s era, when I gave web dev a crack though hadn't the necessary attributes to exel at it but occasionally do still keep my hand in on minor stuff.

Joopson · 5:22AM

rebtay said:

Wow, didn't expect this level of.....nihilism.

From my perspective, your opinion seems the nihilist one-- "AI has already won, we're cooked" etc.

Like the others here, I think it's largely a bubble that will burst. I think like Erik says, it will stick for very specific well defined menial things, but I think people will realize it just doesn't get the job done well enough to replace skilled human beings.

Now, thirty years from now, who can say. But if a brand created a website today using only AI, I'd be offended by their choice, AND the website would suck. I could see AI improving squarespace type tools greatly, though, going forward. But even those need a person in the driver's seat.

In fact I'd argue anything worth anything needs someone in the driver's seat.

rebtay · 6:24AM

Right. Im not an expert which is why im here. Guess AI isnt that much of a threat to 3d space for now.
So my next most important question would be about making a quick buck. Look, even if i consistently make 100 bucks a month that would be a big win for me. Is that something that is possible? I have started learning around late August, is that possible by end September?
niche is going to be product modeling at the start and medical visualization later to get the big buck.

rebtay · 6:28AM

Joopson said:

rebtay said:

Wow, didn't expect this level of.....nihilism.
Now, thirty years from now, who can say.

Would you say that five years from now, would AI be able to replace 3d artists? If i get five years I will for sure be in a place where i wont worry about beign replaced by AI. Reason i didnt stick to webdev was that AI was already too advnaced and id be playing catchup for life

rebtay · 6:34AM

sacboi said:

I might suggest another pivot toward CG programming or back-end IT stream, studios are still on the look out for tech artists/game engine software engineers...etc despite this current ai hype, I mean no one in their right mind would allow a bot let loose amidst their inhouse codebase...

Too technical and will require too much time before results.

Eric Chadwick said:

In my experience, Ai tools make sense to use as a shortcut for small bits of menial work. As long as the task is well-defined with plenty of decent-quality source material for the model to pull from. And only if I am able to filter the output using my own specific subject-matter expertise.

It's great at handling the filler, not so great at getting the specifics correct.

Yeah that's what i was thinking too. Replacing what a bottom rung intern does

thomasp · 8:14AM

rebtay said:

Right. Im not an expert which is why im here. Guess AI isnt that much of a threat to 3d space for now.
So my next most important question would be about making a quick buck. Look, even if i consistently make 100 bucks a month that would be a big win for me. Is that something that is possible? I have started learning around late August, is that possible by end September?
niche is going to be product modeling at the start and medical visualization later to get the big buck.

Nah. That might have been possible in the mid-90's or so when this was an emerging art form with hype behind it and you somehow had access to the software and knew a guy locally. As in knew someone who would fork out money for your work.

You'll be paying those 100+ bucks monthly for subscriptions to the tools you need to do the job. And you don't just hop into freelancing after two months of picking up 3D. Who's going to pay an intern at that level? Who even needs the sort of work that such an intern could realistically produce? Seems more like a liability to me.

rebtay · 4:45PM

thomasp said:

Nah. That might have been possible in the mid-90's or so when this was an emerging art form with hype behind it and you somehow had access to the software and knew a guy locally. As in knew someone who would fork out money for your work.

You'll be paying those 100+ bucks monthly for subscriptions to the tools you need to do the job. And you don't just hop into freelancing after two months of picking up 3D. Who's going to pay an intern at that level? Who even needs the sort of work that such an intern could realistically produce? Seems more like a liability to me.

Right. Was not the answer i was hoping for but thats exactly why im here to set my mind and expectations straight

AI and future of 3d artists

Replies