About the Project
The name joins asset, the models and art that make up a game, with forge, a workshop where raw material is shaped into something usable. Our tool takes a single photo or concept drawing and turns it into a 3D model built from separate, editable parts that you can use directly in a game engine.
The Problem
Small game studios and indie developers need many 3D models. Building them by hand in tools like Blender takes time and experience, and hiring a 3D artist is often beyond a small team's budget.
Recent AI tools such as Meta's SAM 3D and Meshy generate a model from one photo in minutes, but the result is usually a single, irregular mesh. Enlarging only a table's top while leaving its legs alone means cleaning up or remodeling everything by hand.
Our Approach
We build on 3-Sweep (Chen et al., SIGGRAPH Asia 2013). For each part of an object, the user sketches a cross-section and then its sweep axis, and the system lifts that part into 3D. Because the user decides how the object is split up, the result is a set of independently editable parts.
We keep this sketch-based workflow and add AI where manual work is hardest, such as selecting the object in the photo or completing the hidden back side.
Planned pipeline. Dashed boxes are steps where we plan to use AI assistance.
Features Under Consideration
We will add at least three new features on top of the base method. The final selection will be made with our supervisor after the core method is implemented. Current front-runners: hidden-surface completion, depth estimation, and game-ready export.
AI Assistance
Automatic object boundaries with a Segment Anything–style model; suggested part type, axis, symmetry and initial depth; back-side texture inpainting; monocular depth for non-geometric shapes; region-limited, text-prompted edits.
Richer Geometry
Free-form B-spline cross-sections beyond circles and rectangles; editable combinations of sweeps, primitives and extrusions; hinges between parts for simple automatic rigging.
Game-Ready Output
Merging overlapping parts into one watertight mesh, polygon reduction (LOD), collider generation, and export to Unity, Godot or Blender.
Target users: small game studios, indie developers and students learning game development. We plan to distribute the tool as a Unity or Godot plugin.
Team
Department of Computer Engineering, İhsan Doğramacı Bilkent University.
Supervisor, Instructors & Innovation Expert
Reports & Deliverables
All project reports and presentations will be published here as they are submitted.
| Deliverable | Course | Due | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Project Summary | CS491 | Oct 20, 2026 | Submitted |
| Project Specification Report | CS491 | Nov 20, 2026 | Coming soon |
| Analysis & Requirements Report | CS491 | Dec 11, 2026 | Coming soon |
| End-of-Semester Presentation & Demo | CS491 | Dec 2026 | Coming soon |
| Detailed Design Report | CS492 | Spring 2027 | Coming soon |
| Final Report | CS492 | Spring 2027 | Coming soon |
| Final Presentation & CS Fair | CS492 | Spring 2027 | Coming soon |
To publish a report, place the PDF in a reports/ folder and turn its name into a link, e.g. <a href="reports/specification.pdf">.
Source Code
Development happens on GitHub.
Timeline
Planned milestones over two semesters.
- October – November 2026Implement the core 3-Sweep method and select features. Project Specification Report on Nov 20.
- December 2026Analysis & Requirements Report (Dec 11), end-of-semester presentation and demo.
- Spring 2027 (CS492)Develop selected features, test the tool with game developers, present at CS Fair.
References
- T. Chen, Z. Zhu, A. Shamir, S.-M. Hu, D. Cohen-Or. “3-Sweep: Extracting Editable Objects from a Single Photo.” ACM Transactions on Graphics 32(6), SIGGRAPH Asia 2013.
- Meta AI, SAM 3D announcement, 2025. ai.meta.com/blog/sam-3d