Using MeshyAI to create N scale figurines

[bbussey]

I saw earlier this week on FB that someone was creating period-appropriate figurines on the MeshyAI site using A.I. and that it works especially well.  You can create two ways, Text-to-AI and Photo-to-AI. With text, you describe the characteristics of what you want (age, gender, era, clothing, season, accessories etc) and then it renders a 3D figurine in a minute or so, which you then can export as STL or other formats.  I was trying to create people sitting on station pews and ascending and descending stairs.  The seated people it handled perfectly.  The stair-climbing was another issue, though I did get some people walking in period-appropriate and seasonal-appropriate clothing, so it wasn't a failure.

Next I wanted to see how well the Photo-to-AI worked.  It doesn't do well with objects but it does do extremely well with people.  I always had envisioned having a Kirk and Spock tucked away on some corner of the layout in New Haven or Bridgeport as an Easter egg.  I decided to try with Janice Rand and also hone my skills in Blender.  This behind-the-scenes on-location shot from the "Miri" episode was a great full hi-rez view of Rand the only time she was part of a landing party.  I cropped the photo and submitted to MeshyAI and was stunned at how well it created a Rand figurine from just the one view.  It was printable as is but I wanted to add the missing tricorder.

Because Trek TOS at the time was just starting, they still were short on having enough props to go around.  So in the scene, Spock and McCoy carried the only two tricorders that existed and Rand was empty-handed.  Since in every other appearance she carried a tricorder, I wanted to add one to her figurine.  I found a good pic of a closed tricorder online, and MeshyAI replicated it perfectly.  I imported both objects into Blend.  I removed the existing strap from the tricorder, positioned it on Rand's right hip and added the new strap around her shoulder using Bezier curve guidelines as the path for extruding the strap.  Once done, I exported the project as STL and imported into Chitubox.  I haven't printed yet as I am still adding to the print file.  But it appears these figurines will serve the purpose.  MeshyAI definitely works for period-specific and seasonal-specific figures you may need for layouts and dioramas.

[Jesse6669]

Those two guys in red won't make it..

[cgw277]

Nice work!. I like your idea of having Spock and Kirk on your layout for people to find. As a child of the 60's ,   there is only one Star Trek series. And you chose the correct one to model!
If your N scale rail fans get too close to the tracks, Spock could give them the Vulcan nerve pinch!
Scot

[Chris333]

Bernie did something similar:
https://usmrr.blogspot.com/

[basementcalling]

I saw earlier this week on FB that someone was creating period-appropriate figurines on the MeshyAI site using A.I. and that it works especially well.  You can create two ways, Text-to-AI and Photo-to-AI. With text, you describe the characteristics of what you want (age, gender, era, clothing, season, accessories etc) and then it renders a 3D figurine in a minute or so, which you then can export as STL or other formats.  I was trying to create people sitting on station pews and ascending and descending stairs.  The seated people it handled perfectly.  The stair-climbing was another issue, though I did get some people walking in period-appropriate and seasonal-appropriate clothing, so it wasn't a failure.

Next I wanted to see how well the Photo-to-AI worked.  It doesn't do well with objects but it does do extremely well with people.  I always had envisioned having a Kirk and Spock tucked away on some corner of the layout in New Haven or Bridgeport as an Easter egg.  I decided to try with Janice Rand and also hone my skills in Blender.  This behind-the-scenes on-location shot from the "Miri" episode was a great full hi-rez view of Rand the only time she was part of a landing party.  I cropped the photo and submitted to MeshyAI and was stunned at how well it created a Rand figurine from just the one view.  It was printable as is but I wanted to add the missing tricorder.

Because Trek TOS at the time was just starting, they still were short on having enough props to go around.  So in the scene, Spock and McCoy carried the only two tricorders that existed and Rand was empty-handed.  Since in every other appearance she carried a tricorder, I wanted to add one to her figurine.  I found a good pic of a closed tricorder online, and MeshyAI replicated it perfectly.  I imported both objects into Blend.  I removed the existing strap from the tricorder, positioned it on Rand's right hip and added the new strap around her shoulder using Bezier curve guidelines as the path for extruding the strap.  Once done, I exported the project as STL and imported into Chitubox.  I haven't printed yet as I am still adding to the print file.  But it appears these figurines will serve the purpose.  MeshyAI definitely works for period-specific and seasonal-specific figures you may need for layouts and dioramas.

Brian is keeping abreast of the latest in technological developments.

[bbussey]

Bernie did something similar:
https://usmrr.blogspot.com/

The rendering engine is on version 6 beta now. No missing limbs for me. It even rendered the portions of the tricorder strap that were hidden in the photo.

[OldEastRR]

Shouldn't this be in the 3D printing section? It's pretty exotic engineering for most folks.

[keeper]

Those two guys in red won't make it..

That's what I was thinking too... 

[keeper]

I saw earlier this week on FB that someone was creating period-appropriate figurines on the MeshyAI site using A.I. and that it works especially well....

Did you use the free or paid version of Meshy AI?

[bbussey]

Did you use the free or paid version of Meshy AI?

I started with the free and then upgraded to get the full functionality once I saw it was a viable process.

Shouldn't this be in the 3D printing section? It's pretty exotic engineering for most folks.

Probably true.  One of the admins will have to move it. It’s not difficult to use though. Maybe exotic in concept but extremely simple for general stuff.

[samusi01]

Tried Meshy earlier this month myself, first as a method of creating printable trees which worked well enough, and then an attempt at creating sugar beets. The v6 engine did a beautiful job of rendering a 200,000 poly beet, which was followed unfortunately being cheap where I then tried the free v4 which failed to generate anything. I might have to go back and actually pay for the product at some point.

[Chris333]

I gave this a try because I always wanted a way to upload known photos of a locomotive to get scale drawings. Wasn't expecting that but figured it could at least give me overall dimensions. Didn't work so well.

I uploaded this photo:


It recognized it and said something like "old railroad locomotive on trestle"

But then it spit this out:


So it changed it from a 0-4-0 tank locomotive to a 2-4-0 tender locomotive. It added a cowcatcher pilot, running boards with air tank under it. And switched the steam and sand domes around.

So I guess just wait another 10 years...

[peteski]

Chris, considering the coarse halftone low-res photo (from a newspaper?), I think the result was outstanding. 

[Maletrain]

Bryan, what scale are those figurines?  What would they look like in N scale?

[Chris333]

I think the result was outstanding.

Being "AI" I just assumed the result would be better than any human on earth could ever do.

Bryan's result at least looks like what is in his photo.