This AI tool could speed up one of the most awful parts of 3D modelling

AI is one of the most divisive topics in creative tech at the moment, but AI isn't only generative models trained on artists' work. There are lots of non-generative AI tools that automate time-consuming tasks without replacing artistry and craftmanship, and the Tractive AI retopology tool look like a good example.

Releasing soon in beta, Tractive is designed to speed up the tedious task of recreating a 3D model's mesh to make it cleaner and more efficient for animation and video games. The tool automates the manual process, allowing 3D artists to dedicate more time to more creative parts of the job (see our pick of the best 3D modelling software).

Tractive co-founder Mohsan Alvi compares the tool to ZBrush's ZRemesher guides, but says the guides are stricter and provide more control over the exact location of edge loops and how they flow into other loops. Edits in one part of the model won't change the topology far away, and it won't default into spiraling polyloops.

The example above shows a relatively simple example rather than the kind of topologies that really take up time, but Mohsan says Tractive has also used the tool for outfits and armour-type meshes.

A lot of 3D artists love sculpting and texturing and don't want AI to replace that but would welcome a tool that can do smart retopology for animation or make optimised UVs.

“This is the first AI post Ive seen that doesnt make me want to flip a table,” one person writes on the LinkedIn post above. “No one's job is being a retopologist... it's just a really awful part of modeling. AI should be handling the unnatural parts of the creative process that working digitally has introduced as hoops to get what you want. No traditional sculptor ever had to worry about Ngons, but somehow as 3D artists we all just accept the limitations of 3D software and go through this heinous process."

Over on X, someone sums it up for non modellers: "This is like AI taking someone's job but the job is rubbing sandpaper on yourself and pouring lemon juice on top of it.”

The tool has renewed the debate about good vs bad AI since the term can apply to wildly different concepts. Tractive appears to be the kind of non-generative tool that might not even have been described as AI a few years ago before it became such a buzz word. It functions only as a tool to make a tedious process easier and still requires human skill in the creation of the original 3D model.

Tractive says it doesn't collect any data unless artists explicitly opt-in on a per-model basis. You can sign up for news on an upcoming closed beta on the website.