Meta showcased its research into 3D asset generation
Meta has developed a fast, high-quality 3D asset generation pipeline called Meta 3D Gen, combining text-to-3D mesh and texture generation models, which outperforms alternatives and is likely intended to support content creation for Meta's virtual reality platform.
Meta recently shared three research papers detailing how research teams at the company developed Meta 3D AssetGen, its text-to-3D generative AI model for the generation of high-quality 3D meshes with Physically-Based Rendering (PBR) support in 30 seconds, and Meta 3D TextureGen, a foundation model for generating consistent textures for arbitrary 3D objects in less than 20 seconds; and then combined them into Meta 3D Gen, a single pipeline for fast 3D asset generation. The unified pipeline can be used in two ways: it can generate a finished 3D asset based on a provided text prompt in under a minute, or given a previously generated or artist-made 3D mesh and a prompt describing a new texture, the pipeline can retexture the object in under 30 seconds.
The generated assets are truly impressive, and the research paper reports that professional 3D artists expressed a strong preference towards Meta 3D Gen over available alternatives, especially for complex prompts, and that Meta 3D Gen surpasses other approaches to 3D asset generation in evaluation metrics including speed, consistency of the generated objects, and text prompt faithfulness.
The introduction in the Meta 3D Gen research paper is one of several recent signs that Meta is looking to continue building out its virtual reality platform Horizon. The Meta 3D Gen research paper identifies designing and producing 3D content as one of the most significant challenges in video game development, augmented and virtual reality applications, and the special effects industry. The paragraph immediately highlights the usefulness of a 3D asset generation pipeline for the Metaverse: "AI-powered 3D generation is also important for building infinitely large virtual worlds in the Metaverse."
Concurrently, Meta is also hiring "Emerging Tech Developers" who, according to the job listing, would be in charge of building "the next generation of content through Generative AI." The listing describes the position's main focus as virtual, mixed, and augmented reality support in Meta's Horizon platform. However, it also mentions the job could also involve non-Meta mobile and PC platforms. Finally, the listing states that although the position is a role that could eventually transform into a team lead, the initial work involves collaborating with Meta's Reality Labs and company leadership to drive and define Meta's strategy for generative AI games and content creation.
