Question 1

What does Zetta 3D actually do?

Accepted Answer

It turns descriptions, photographs and reference views into 3D models, then gives you the tools to finish them — rebuilding the geometry, laying out UVs, repainting surfaces, splitting a model into parts, and rigging humanoid characters. The output is a real mesh you download and use, not a render or a preview. See text to 3D and image to 3D for what each input is good at.

Question 2

Do I need to know 3D modelling to use it?

Accepted Answer

To generate something, no. To ship it into a game or a product, some — a generated mesh is a starting point, and the finishing work is skilled work. The knowledge base exists for exactly this: it explains what each step is for in plain terms, including the ones the studio does for you.

Question 3

What is the difference between Zetta N1 and Zetta P1?

Accepted Answer

They are two different approaches to making 3D. Zetta N1 is our neural model. It reconstructs geometry from images — you give it a picture or a prompt, and it produces a mesh. This is what runs behind text-to-3D, image-to-3D and multi-view. Zetta P1 is our procedural model, and it is built on top of Claude. Rather than reconstructing a shape from pixels, it reasons about structure and generates the geometry as a set of operations — which makes it suited to things with rules: architecture, modular kits, mechanical parts, anything where exact dimensions and repeatable variation matter more than organic form. The short version: N1 is better at "make me this object", P1 is better at "make me forty of these, and make them fit together."

Question 4

Which one should I use?

Accepted Answer

Use N1 for one-off organic and sculptural work — characters, creatures, props, anything you would describe with a picture. Use P1 for structured, repeatable content — buildings, kits, parts that must tile or mate to a dimension. If you are unsure, N1 is the better default, because most single-asset requests are shape requests.

Question 5

What file formats do I get?

Accepted Answer

GLB by default, with OBJ and FBX available depending on the operation. GLB carries geometry, PBR materials and textures in one file and is what most engines and viewers want — see choosing a format.

Question 6

Can I use the models in a commercial game or product?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Models you generate are yours to use commercially, including in shipped games, applications and products. Two caveats worth knowing. First, what you put in matters: generating from a reference image you do not have rights to is a question about your input, not about our output. Second, recognisable trademarks and likenesses carry their own restrictions regardless. See licensing and rights.

Question 7

Why does the back of my model look wrong?

Accepted Answer

Because nothing showed it. Single-image reconstruction infers everything it cannot see — for a symmetrical object that guess is usually good, and for anything with a distinct rear it is invention. The fix is multi-view: supply a back view and the guess becomes an observation.

Question 8

Why is the text on my model gibberish?

Accepted Answer

Text-to-3D writes an image before it builds a mesh, and image models produce letter-shaped marks rather than actual letters. Reconstruction then bakes those marks into the texture. Generate the object without the lettering and add text as a decal or as separate geometry.

Question 9

Can I upload my own model and use the tools on it?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Upload a GLB and it becomes a library item like any generated one, with every tool available — retopology, segmentation, UV unwrapping, texturing and rigging.

Question 10

Why is the polygon count so high?

Accepted Answer

Reconstruction density is a by-product of the algorithm rather than a decision, so it bears no relationship to what your project needs. Retopology is the fix — it keeps the shape and rebuilds the geometry at a density you choose.

Question 11

How do credits work?

Accepted Answer

3D credits pay for generation and post-processing jobs — each operation has a fixed price, shown before you run it. Working in 2D costs nothing: image generation, image editing and composing are not metered. A credit is only spent when you turn a look into 3D.

Question 12

Why did one operation cost more than I expected?

Accepted Answer

Usually a format conversion. Segmentation, texturing and rigging need FBX, and every generated model is GLB — so those jobs include a conversion step, priced as its own line and included in the quoted total. The quote you see before running includes it. Nothing is charged that was not shown.

Question 13

Am I charged if a job fails?

Accepted Answer

No. A failed job returns its credits, so a failure costs you nothing.

Question 14

Do credits expire?

Accepted Answer

Monthly allowances reset with your billing period. Purchased and bonus credits carry over rather than evaporating at the month boundary.

Question 15

What does retopology do, and do I need it?

Accepted Answer

It rebuilds a mesh with cleaner, more even geometry at a density you choose, keeping the shape. You need it if the model will be animated, subdivided, textured properly, or shipped into a performance-sensitive target. You can skip it for a static render or a quick visualisation.

Question 16

Why will my character not rig?

Accepted Answer

Automatic rigging works on one shape: a single humanoid figure in a T-pose — arms straight out to the sides, legs straight, facing forward. The most common failure is an A-pose, with the arms angled down toward the hips. It looks perfectly riggable and it is not; the joints land in the wrong places. Quadrupeds, vehicles and props are not riggable this way at all, because there is no standard skeleton to match them against. See T-pose versus A-pose.

Question 17

What is AI segmentation for?

Accepted Answer

Splitting one mesh into separate named parts — a chair into seat, back and legs. Useful for separate materials, independent movement, and selective editing. One thing to know: the pieces meet exactly where the surface was cut, so there is no hidden geometry behind a join. A segmented drawer has no back face where it met the cabinet.

Question 18

Why does my texture look flat?

Accepted Answer

Almost always missing channels. A colour map alone has no roughness and no normal, and under real lighting that reads as flat plastic. The other common cause is lighting baked into the colour — if the reference image had strong shadows, those shadows are now painted onto the surface and will fight whatever lighting you put it under.

Question 19

Can I generate the other PBR channels?

Accepted Answer

Yes. From a base colour map, the studio can derive normal, roughness, metalness, emissive and ambient occlusion, each generated at the source texture's own resolution so it lines up pixel for pixel.

Question 20

What is generation genuinely bad at?

Accepted Answer

Worth being direct about: Exact specifications. Anything that must match concept art line for line, or hit a dimension. Thin repeated structures. Chain links, wire mesh, railings, spokes — these reconstruct as fused masses. Interiors. An unseen cavity is an inferred cavity, so mugs come back solid and boxes do not open. Text and logos, as above. Transparent and reflective objects. What the camera recorded is not the surface. Mechanical parts that must fit other parts. Approximation and tolerance do not mix. See common generation failures for what each one is caused by and whether it is fixable.

Question 21

Is this going to replace 3D artists?

Accepted Answer

It replaces a stage, not a role. Generation occupies concept and high-poly — producing a detailed shape. Everything downstream of that shape is unchanged: retopology, UVs, baking, materials, rigging, LODs, engine integration. In practice it moves effort from producing geometry to judging and finishing it, which rewards technical-artist skills over modelling throughput. Where AI fits in a pipeline sets out the honest version.

Question 22

How good is it compared to a human modeller?

Accepted Answer

For volume work with low individual stakes — set dressing, background props, kitbash pieces, forty crates that each need to be plausible — it is genuinely competitive, and much faster. For a hero asset with a fixed specification, a modeller wins, and correcting an approximation toward an exact target can cost more than hitting the target directly. Knowing which category an asset falls into before you start is most of the skill.

Question 23

Are my models private?

Accepted Answer

Yes by default. Every generation is private to your account, and files are served through signed, expiring URLs rather than public links. You can share an individual model with a link, which you can revoke by setting it back to private.

Question 24

What happens to my models if I delete them?

Accepted Answer

The record and its files are removed from storage. It is not a soft flag — the files go, and the operation cannot be undone, which is why the studio asks before doing it.

Question 25

Is there an API?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The same generation and post-processing operations available in the studio are available programmatically, which is what makes catalogue-scale and pipeline-integrated use possible.

Frequently asked questions

Getting started

Models and output

Credits and usage

The tools

Limits and expectations

Account and data