CG Geek vs. Ai

CG Geek
10 May 202412:41

TLDRSteve, a 3D artist with over 15 years of experience, challenges AI to a friendly competition to determine if AI can create better art. Using Blender and his imagination, Steve crafts a fantasy world with floating islands, incorporating color palettes and various Blender features like geometry nodes. He adds nature elements and a sci-fi spaceship, resulting in a detailed, handcrafted scene. Meanwhile, using mid-journey AI, Steve generates several AI art pieces based on his prompts. While the AI art is visually appealing and incorporates the desired elements, Steve's handcrafted world is more realistic and detailed. He suggests AI could be a useful tool for generating creative ideas without overtaking the artist's role, leaving the final decision to viewers on which art form they prefer.

Takeaways

  • 🎨 Steve, a 3D artist with over 15 years of experience, challenges AI to create an imaginary fantasy world using Blender and compares it to AI-generated art.
  • 💻 Steve uses the ROG Zephyrus G14 laptop, equipped with AMD's Ryzen 9 CPU and NVIDIA's RTX 4070 GPU, as his tool for this creative battle.
  • ✏️ He starts by creating color palettes and using Blender's grease pencil on a 2D canvas to sketch out ideas for the fantasy world.
  • 🌐 Steve disconnects from the internet to rely solely on his imagination, contrasting with AI's ability to draw from vast databases and references.
  • 📐 Utilizing Blender's geometry nodes, Steve generates terrain and builds an organic, floating island environment with dynamic materials.
  • 🏞️ He incorporates his chosen color palette into the scene with the help of an add-on for placing vines, creating a fantasy jungle vibe with glowing purple elements.
  • 🌳 Steve adds more nature to the scene using G'Scatter and his own tutorial on creating 3D nature in Blender, enhancing the environment's detail.
  • ☁️ To create clouds, Steve uses Blender's VDB volumetrics feature, which allows for importing and rendering of volumetric data for a more realistic sky.
  • 🚀 A simple silhouette of a Sci-Fi spaceship is added to the scene, serving as a point of interest for the characters and a source of light for the volumetric light trail effect.
  • 👥 Human elements are introduced by 3D scanning and placing Steve and his siblings into the scene, adding a personal touch and scale to the environment.
  • 🆚 Comparing his work with AI-generated art using Midjourney, Steve finds that while AI can produce interesting concepts quickly, his handcrafted scene offers more control and realism.
  • 🌟 The final scene is rendered in real-time on the Asus ROG laptop, showcasing the power of modern hardware in creative tasks, and Steve reflects on the potential collaborative role of AI in the creative process.

Q & A

  • What is the main topic of the video?

    -The main topic of the video is a friendly competition between a 3D artist, known as CG Geek, and AI to see if AI can create better art than the artist using Blender software.

  • What software does the 3D artist use to create his art?

    -The 3D artist uses Blender, a free and open-source software, to create his 3D worlds and scenes.

  • What is the name of the laptop used by the artist in the video?

    -The artist uses the ROG Zephrus G14 laptop, which is equipped with AMD's Ryzen 9 CPU and Nvidia's RTX 4070 laptop GPU.

  • What is the AI tool used to generate art in the video?

    -The AI tool used to generate art in the video is called mid-journey.

  • What is the artist's concern about AI?

    -The artist is concerned that AI might be superior and could potentially replace human creativity and imagination in art creation.

  • How does the artist create the terrain in Blender?

    -The artist uses Blender's geometry nodes feature to generate different terrains. He starts with a cube, scales it to a rectangle, and then uses the 'Distribute Points on Faces' node to create random points to build geometry off of.

  • What material is used to make the mountains in the artist's fantasy world?

    -The artist uses a basic rock material and a grass material combined with a geometry node taking the normal value to create an organic grass and rock mix on the mountains.

  • How does the artist incorporate colors from his palette into the scene?

    -The artist uses a geometry note add-on for placing vines and adjusts the material to be an emissive dark purple color to incorporate the colors from his palette.

  • What is the artist's opinion on the final AI-generated art?

    -The artist finds the AI-generated art to be visually appealing and interesting, but he believes his own hand-crafted scene looks more realistic.

  • What is the artist's suggestion for the future of AI in art creation?

    -The artist suggests that AI could work well in a supportive role, providing creative ideas and multiple looks for artists to choose from, without completely taking over the creative process.

  • What is the final outcome of the competition between the artist and AI?

    -The final outcome is left to the viewers to decide which they prefer: the AI-generated art or the artist's hand-crafted fantasy world.

Outlines

00:00

🎨 3D Artist vs AI Art Generation Challenge

Steve, a 3D artist with over 15 years of experience, introduces a friendly competition to determine if AI can create better art than a human. He plans to create an imaginary fantasy world using Blender, an open-source software, and compare it with what AI generates from the same prompts. Steve decides to work without internet reference to level the playing field. He is equipped with a powerful ROG Zephyrus G14 laptop with AMD's Ryzen 9 CPU and NVIDIA's RTX 4070 laptop GPU, which is ideal for AI and creative tasks. The video outlines Steve's process of creating a zero-gravity floating world, incorporating color palettes, terrain generation, and 3D modeling, all while engaging in a humorous banter with the concept of AI.

05:02

🌿 Crafting a Fantasy World with Blender's Tools

Steve describes his process of creating a fantasy world in Blender, starting with basic rock and grass materials combined using geometry nodes. He uses a purchased add-on from the Blender market to generate vines and hanging flowers, adjusting materials to create an emissive dark purple glow for an otherworldly effect. He also adds more nature assets using the G'Scatter add-on, and incorporates volumetric clouds into the scene using Blender's VDB import feature. To add depth and lighting, Steve uses a secondary sun lamp and a volumetric light trail for a sci-fi spaceship he modeled. The process showcases the control and customization possible with handcrafted 3D scenes versus AI-generated art.

10:02

🤖 AI's Midjourney Art Generation and Comparison

Steve attempts to generate art using Midjourney, an AI tool, and shares his stress over the potential outcome. After several tries with different prompts, he manages to produce AI art that incorporates the desired color scheme and elements of a floating fantasy island. He expresses a desire to create one of the AI-generated pieces in Blender, highlighting the potential for AI to inspire and assist in the creative process without replacing human imagination. The video concludes with a side-by-side comparison of the AI-generated art and Steve's handcrafted fantasy world, leaving the judgment of preference to the viewers. Steve also contemplates the future collaboration between AI and artists and thanks the sponsors before signing off.

Mindmap

Keywords

3D Artist

A 3D artist is a professional who creates three-dimensional models and animations using specialized software. In the video, the speaker identifies as a 3D artist with over 15 years of experience, which is central to the theme of the video as they compare their skills with AI's art generation capabilities.

AI (Artificial Intelligence)

AI refers to the simulation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to think like humans and mimic their actions. The video explores the concept of AI-generated art and its potential to surpass human artists, which is the main challenge presented by the speaker.

Blender

Blender is an open-source 3D creation suite that supports the entire 3D pipeline—modeling, rigging, animation, simulation, rendering, compositing, and motion tracking. The speaker uses Blender to create a fantasy world as part of the competition against AI.

ROG Zephyrus G14 Laptop

The ROG Zephyrus G14 is a high-performance laptop mentioned in the video as the tool the speaker uses for the art creation process. It is equipped with advanced hardware suitable for AI and 3D rendering tasks, highlighting the importance of powerful computing in the field of digital art.

Geometry Nodes

In the context of Blender, Geometry Nodes are a feature that allows users to create complex geometry and shapes through a visual programming interface. The speaker utilizes Geometry Nodes to generate the terrain for their fantasy world, showcasing a technical aspect of the 3D creation process.

VDB Volumetrics

VDB, or OpenVDB, is an open-source library designed for the efficient storage and manipulation of volumetric data. In the video, the speaker discusses importing VDB volumetrics into Blender to create realistic clouds, demonstrating the use of advanced techniques in 3D scene creation.

G-Scatter

G-Scatter is an add-on for Blender used for scattering objects in a 3D scene. The speaker uses G-Scatter to add nature elements like ferns and branches to their fantasy world, emphasizing the use of tools to enhance the realism and detail of the environment.

Midjourney

Midjourney is an AI art generation tool that the speaker uses to create art based on textual prompts. It represents the AI component in the competition against the human artist, illustrating the potential of AI to generate complex and thematic artwork.

Realistic Style

The term 'realistic style' refers to the creation of artwork that closely resembles real-life objects and environments. The speaker attempts to generate art with Midjourney in a realistic style, comparing the output with their own 3D art to evaluate the AI's capability to replicate human-like creativity.

Nvidia OptiX AI

Nvidia OptiX AI is a ray-tracing engine that accelerates the creation of realistic imagery using AI. The speaker mentions using the built-in Nvidia OptiX AI power denoiser and Blender to render their scene, showcasing the use of AI technology in the final stages of art production.

Animation

Animation is the process of creating the illusion of motion in a sequence of images. The speaker decides to render their hand-crafted scene as an animation to add depth and dynamic elements to the artwork, highlighting the creative control and artistic vision that goes into traditional 3D art creation.

Highlights

Steve, a 3D artist with over 15 years of experience, challenges AI to a friendly competition in creating art.

Steve uses Blender, a free open-source software, for his 3D art creation.

The challenge involves creating an imaginary fantasy world without internet reference.

Steve is equipped with the latest ROG Zephrys G14 laptop, featuring AMD's Ryzen 9 CPU and NVIDIA's RTX 4070 GPU.

Blender's geometry nodes are utilized to generate terrain for the fantasy world.

Steve uses a custom color palette to design the fantasy world.

An organic grass and rock mix is created dynamically using geometry nodes.

Vines and hanging flowers are added to the scene using a geometry note add-on from the Blender Market.

G Scatter is used to add 3D nature assets to the scene, enhancing the jungle theme.

VDB volumetrics are imported into Blender to create realistic clouds.

Steve incorporates a secondary sunlamp to add an otherworldly purple light to the scene.

3D scans of Steve and his siblings are added to the scene to represent the human aspect.

A basic Sci-Fi spaceship model is created and silhouetted by sunlight for visual impact.

The Asus ROG Zephrys G14 laptop is used to render the scene in real time with Nvidia's AI denoiser.

Steve's hand-crafted scene offers full control over the creative process compared to AI.

Midjourney AI is used to generate competing art pieces based on the same prompts as Steve's creation.

AI-generated art pieces are evaluated for their realism and incorporation of the specified color scheme.

Steve expresses concern that AI might replace human imagination in the creative process.

The video concludes with a comparison between AI-generated art and Steve's handcrafted fantasy world.