Garden Railway Forum

Paul_in_Ricky wrote: Sun Dec 08, 2024 10:26 am
What's not so good is some files have multiple holes in them, so won't print. It seems there'll be some repair work needed before I can actually print one and a learning curve on how to do that :-(

Don't know if this might help?

The since I registered the other day I've had several emails from them and this link is from one of them. Haven't actually looked at it though so might not be quite what you want.

philipy wrote: Mon Dec 09, 2024 5:58 amDon't know if this might help?

Thanks, but that's not the problem I encountered.

Annoyingly the best of the models offered at my first attempt seems to be hollow (at least in places) with holes. I can't see any immediate easy way to fix that.
The next attempt gave a solid figure that ought to print OK.

Having found their YouTube channel, I'll have to work through anything relevant and do some more research before using any more credits. I don't want to subscribe as I can't see enough use for me, so I don't want to waste any.

<later>
Having done a little more research, sadly for us documentation seems pitched at the animation and fantasy market which isn't very helpful.
I've had another go;

First annoyance is the language model used. The AI just doesn't seem to understand some basic English terms, eg flat cap and bowler hat, both easily recognised by Google, but not understood by the AI. I'd assume there are a fair few more terms it won't understand and that will waste credits. Frustrating as there's no prior indication of this sort of failure.

Secondly, the models seem to vary in quality a lot. So my first one was hollow with holes and unprintable. Another one is crude, highly faceted and effectively useless for printing. Others seem OK to be resized and printed.

Not too happy with the results.
Uploaded a picture of the late M J Price in Deutsche Reichsbahn Unitorm and got......
a soldier that looks absolutely nothing like John.
I guess I expected too much of it.

Sometimes people generated from words have three legs or four arms. Strange phenomenon.

Scrat wrote: Tue Dec 10, 2024 2:45 pm Not too happy with the results.

The silly aspect is that there is no way of providing feedback to say whether the generated figure has any merit. Surely the point of AI is learning from it's own failures and improving it's success rate.

Paul_in_Ricky wrote: Mon Dec 09, 2024 11:39 am do some more research before using any more credits. I don't want to subscribe as I can't see enough use for me, so I don't want to waste any.

Paul,
Your various points are all correct, of course, and I don't intend to take a subscription either, but as I understand it, editing and altering things are available in the various subscriptions, and I'd guess the monthly credit limit is intended to get new users hooked enough ( frustrated enough?) to take out a sub . It isn't really in their commercial interest to have people just using their tools to generate good quality models for free.

That's how they get'cha! Be just useful enough to get you hooked, but not useful enough to get by indefinitely on the free plan.

Plus each generation feels like gambling with the credits: will this give me the result I'm looking for, or will I need to tweak the prompt and roll again? Next one's gonna be my lucky shot, I know it!

drewzero1 wrote: Wed Dec 11, 2024 4:12 am That's how they get'cha! Be just useful enough to get you hooked,

Maybe a bit unfair. Creating the software, hosting it and making it available has to be paid for somehow.
It's just the creation side of the site still seems a bit too 'beta'.

I suspect that 'our' requirements of accurate figures are a small percentage of most of the site's user's needs. Most items on the site are fantasy figures.

Paul_in_Ricky wrote: Wed Dec 11, 2024 7:15 am

drewzero1 wrote: Wed Dec 11, 2024 4:12 am That's how they get'cha! Be just useful enough to get you hooked,

Maybe a bit unfair. Creating the software, hosting it and making it available has to be paid for somehow.
It's just the creation side of the site still seems a bit too 'beta'.

I suspect that 'our' requirements of accurate figures are a small percentage of most of the site's user's needs. Most items on the site are fantasy figures.

Yes, I'm being a bit facetious. There's no secret or scandal that a demo version of a product is intended to showcase some features of a product, but not offer so many that there's no reason to buy the full version.

Just thought I'd use up this month's credits on Meshy before Christmas just to find they've a promotion with 50% off credits used. So a good time to experiment if you have any spare credits.

I've just returned to this thread for a specific reason, but first, Paul, Repetier-Host generally does a very good job of filling holes in meshes. Just open your stl in the prog, hit the little tools icon at the RHS, wait a minute or two until it finishes and then save the repaired file. Just occasionally it will also fill small holes that you actually wanted, so its as well to check, but carry then on to print it.

However, back to my 'reason':
Some of you may remember that waaaay back, I built a small rustic timber footbridge to cross my stream.

https://gardenrails.org/forum/viewtopic ... ge#p146443

Despite soaking everything in preservative for several months it hasn't really stood he test of time. I've repaired it several times but as of yesterday, it looked like this - all of the small timbers have disappeared completely )

I have thought before about 3d printing the timber but didn't know how to draw rough logs or branches so never pursued it. Yesterday morning I wondered if Meshy might help, so did a search for a suitable rustic bridge picture and uploaded it in and to my surprise it produced 4 fairly reasonable options. I took the one I Iiked best and went through the procedure and downloaded it as an stl. Then imported it to Sketchup and made a few alterations to get it the way I wanted, exported the stl, put it into Chitubox and printed it. I started looking for pictures at 9am yesterday morning and took it off the printer at 9pm last night! Nothing else to do but clean up the print and paint it.
Just for info, this is the picture I started with and this is what Meshy gave me before I altered it. Meshy obviously got a bit confused by all the horizontals, which is not unreasonable but is close enough for what I wanted. I did also add a couple of logs underneath to strengthen it.

All I need now are the three Billy Goats Gruff, to cross the rickety, rackety bridge!

philipy wrote: Sun Jan 26, 2025 10:31 am

All I need now are the three Billy Goats Gruff, to cross the rickety, rackety bridge!

Great work Philip, but please remember never to get greedy, you know the end...

Beware of the trolls!


I want one!

Phil.P

So, have I got this right? You upload a 2D image into Meshy and it turns it into a 3D file?
Presumably, you have to choose the 2D image carefully?

Rik

ge_rik wrote: Mon Jan 27, 2025 7:24 am So, have I got this right? You upload a 2D image into Meshy and it turns it into a 3D file?
Presumably, you have to choose the 2D image carefully?

Rik

Yes, you've got that right

Yes, it isn't perfect and the source picture is important, but as I said, the 'real' picture 2nd from the bottom is what I uploaded and the screenshot below it is what it produced. Actually it gives you 4 options and I picked this one. It gives you a choice of formats to download and I obviously picked stl.

A big, big thank you!

I glibly posted that 'I wanted one' and after an exchange of messages, I received my own custom-sized version of the bridge.


Phil.P

Having been impressed by the potential of Meshy to create 3D figures but then disappointed by the detail of the models, I had dismissed it. However I noticed there was a new AI model released (Meshy 6 preview) so I thought I’d give it another go. This 3D model is created from my profile picture and I have to say I am blown away. The detail is amazing with a good likeness, although the model me appears to have put on a few pounds! I will definitely try printing some models generated from Meshy now.

Wow!
As you say, it has put a few pounds on you, but it is recognisably the same 'person'. Definitely worth having a play with. Just out of interest, how realistic is the imagined rear view? That was understandably always a bit hit and miss with the original versions.

Blimey! Even the shoe laces show up!

Rik

Rear view here. The model has acquired some hair on top that the real me lost a long time ago, so I’ll take that in exchange for the added weight!

I just had a quick play using the same picture of SWMBO in a sparkly dress that I used in my original post on this thread (page 1). It seems to have done a good job with the detail, BUT, it has also added more than a few pounds to her... I ain't risking my life by posting it!