3DTopia: 3D generator — what it does and what you need to run it

3DTopia is an open-source 3D generator that tackles the task of quickly creating 3D objects from a text description. The tool is aimed at those who need a prototype or a model draft without a long wait.

What it does

• Generates a 3D model from a text prompt (text-to-3D).
• According to the developers, model creation takes up to five minutes.
• A two-stage process: after the first stage, mesh refinement is applied via the threefiner tool.
• Exports the result in glb format — the authors point to a file with the .glb extension as the final mesh.

What you need to run it

• Platform: as described by the author, CUDA is required. The developers reference successful testing of the PyTorch 1.12.0 and CUDA 11.3 combination.
• Language: Python.
• License: Apache-2.0.
• Code: open source, repository available at github.com/3DTopia/3DTopia. The last code change is dated 2024-03-10, and the repository was created on 2024-01-19.
• Running on your own hardware: possible with a suitable GPU that supports CUDA. The authors do not mention a cloud service.

Who it suits

The tool will be useful for developers and researchers who are ready to set up a Python environment with CUDA and want to quickly get draft 3D models from text. The open license allows integrating the generator into your own projects.

It will not suit those who expect a ready-made application with a graphical interface or do not have an NVIDIA GPU with CUDA support. It is also worth noting that the authors do not provide VRAM requirements — this parameter remains unknown.

3DTopia occupies the niche of fast open-source generators, betting on speed and code transparency. At the same time, the user will have to figure out dependency installation and environment setup on their own — the documentation, judging by the repository, is minimal.