Photo to 3D model in minutes.

It is incredibly satisfying to take a simple photo and transform it into a fully animated, functional 3D model in just minutes. With the help of AI and the right tools, the process is not only fast but also creatively rewarding—proof that one person, equipped with the right setup, can achieve what used to require an entire team.

The Face

Submitting selfie to Rodin Ai, images to 3D tool online

Initial Result directly from Ai

It all starts with a selfie. The key to success at this stage is finding flat lighting with minimal shadows so the AI can read facial features better. Surprisingly, the AI's direct results can work decently, but they’re not super outstanding yet. Overall, this sets up a solid foundation for further work, like texturing, tweaking models, or painting realistic features from the selfie onto the 3D geometry to enhance likeness.

Painting Real Facial features, in addition to what Ai initially gives.

UV map unwrapping for the face mesh. Adding more facial hair with paint over and cleaning up with the Generative fill in Adobe Photoshop.

Final look of the face after tweaking

The Body

It all starts with a T-pose too. If you’ve ever seen one, you know it’s not exactly glamorous—arms out, feet together, like a human blueprint. But it’s essential for creating a model ready for animation. The pose gives me a clean, unobstructed view of the body’s structure, making it easier to map textures and weight the CG skeleton properly later on. Think of it as the foundation for everything to come.

Initial T-Pose Image grabbed from internet (Credit here)

Importing in as a composition reference for Ai to generate a prompt of Mecha Pilot Character.

With the T-pose photo in hand, I switch to Rodin AI again for Image-to-3D object generation. This trend has been gaining traction recently, and I’m super excited to see generative 3D models becoming more practical. The software does the heavy lifting, analyzing the image and producing a mesh in less than 10 minutes.

Final look of the body and head combine. Generated models come with decent topology and work smoothly with the rigging tool in the next step.

Rigging

Next up is rigging, a technical but crucial step. Rigging involves building a digital skeleton for the model—a system of bones and joints that make movement possible. In production, rigging can take weeks or even months. Fortunately, we have Mixamo, an online platform that lets us upload our model for autorigging. The simple rigging process requires placing just a few joints, making it quick and efficient!

Once the rigging is complete, I move on to animation. Using Mixamo’s library, I bring the model to life by pairing it with pre-designed animations or creating custom ones to fit the project. Finally, I bring it all together—textures, rigging, and animations—into a fully functional, finished model.

What’s exciting about this process is how accessible it’s become. AI doesn’t replace the creative process; it simply speeds up the technical steps, letting me focus on what really matters—designing something that works. The fact that one person can create an entire animated model in just a few hours still feels groundbreaking, opening up so many possibilities for creativity and storytelling.