David Zipper · Senior Weapon Artist

That would make our jobs obsolete.

Cory Bamford · Lead Prop Artist

Yeah, I think there's a lot of automation that can be done for 3D modeling, but I think it's just due to the fact that we've got such a specific workflow. It would be very difficult to get a computer program or an algorithm or something to actually reproduce those results perfectly. We do use, for things like LODs, in some of the workflows we have systems that generate our LODs for us. We have a lot of scripts to automate parts of the process, but as a whole, because we have this focus on optimization and we have a lot of different requirements that really, for a human, once you know the rule set, it's quite simple, but for getting AI or some sort of program to do it, man, I think maybe in 10 years, maybe in 20 years or something, we might be closer to that.

Jared Huckaby · Host, Community

It would also require a longer concept period, because all of those absolute things, the functionality, would have to be completely, totally and utterly worked out in the concept phase. And while we certainly target that and we certainly take those things in mind during the concept phase, anybody that's followed the development over time knows that sometimes things just have to change from concept because metrics change. The scale and scope of development changes. The lessons we learn along the way as we make each one of these improve. It's a lot easier for a human to adapt than it is for some automated tool.

Cory Bamford · Lead Prop Artist

Yeah. I think if you look back at a lot of the workflows that we had even 10 years ago for video games, it has changed. We have seen a lot of changes in that there are a lot of workflows that do rely more on procedural generation or computer-assisted stuff. But yeah, I think it's a conversation, obviously, as we have a lot: how long is it until our jobs are going to radically change because of things like deep learning algorithms and stuff. I think NVIDIA has done some interesting stuff like landscape generators and things, right? When are they going to make a landscape generator for 3D art? I think with hard surface assets, because they're so organized in their structure, it's really hard to get a computer to make them, if that makes sense. I know that sounds counter-intuitive, but when you have an organic asset, it doesn't really matter if the topology isn't perfect. You can just munch it. I think things like photogrammetry and stuff generally work better on rocks.

Jared Huckaby · Host, Community

One of the core tenets of Star Citizen is that we use automation and tools and everything to help our workflow and to assist artists, but not to take over the work from them. Some games would use procedural generation and spit out the finished product. We use procedural generation in our planets and stuff to provide a base from which artists then go and do their work after the fact. We use scripts and that kind of stuff to help us along the way, but not to do the work for us. At least today, there's no substitute for that human touch.