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I Spent 20 Years Learning 3D. Then AI Happened — Transcript

by JL Mussi · 4,947 words · 759 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00AI won't replace most 3D artists, but
0:02it's actually doing something worse. And
0:04the question, "Did I waste all those
0:06years learning a skill that doesn't feel
0:09as valuable anymore?" is sitting in the
0:11back of a lot of artists' minds right
0:14now. I've been a 3D artist for over 20
0:16[music] years. And when AI started
0:18disrupting everything, I had the same
0:20reaction a lot of other [music] artists
0:22did. I was angry, I was defensive, and
0:25somewhere deep inside I was scared. Then
0:282 months ago, I got an email from one of
0:30my students [music]
0:31that stopped me right in my tracks. Her
0:34name is Helen. She's 73 years old from
0:37Canada. She's the kind of artist you
0:39respect immediately. Not because of her
0:41age, but because she put in the work.
0:43[music] She came from a CAD background,
0:45joined my courses, and over the years
0:48became a generally strong artist.
0:50[music] In her email, she was going back
0:52and forth with herself trying to decide
0:55whether she should keep investing in
0:56traditional 3D skills or start learning
0:59AI instead. And underneath all of it was
1:02the real question, "Did I spend years
1:05learning the wrong thing?" That question
1:07hit me hard because [music] I've been
1:09asking a version of it myself. And for
1:12the first time in a long time, it was a
1:143D-related question I had no answer for.
1:18And I don't think Helen's alone. I think
1:20that question is sitting in the back of
1:21a lot of 3D artists' minds [music] right
1:23now. Students, hobbyists, professionals.
1:27Artists who spent years building a skill
1:29>> [music]
1:29>> and now are wondering if the ground
1:31underneath them is collapsing. The 3D
1:34field [music] is in chaos. Two strong
1:37voices are pulling people in opposite
1:39directions. The 3D purists who stand by
1:41skill and fundamental, and the AI
1:44experts who say [music] AI is the future
1:46and the era of the traditional 3D artist
1:48is over. And I think both sides are
1:50missing the deeper issue. The real war
1:53isn't happening in YouTube comments or
1:56LinkedIn posts. It's happening inside
1:58artists' heads quietly. I broke this
2:01video down into three core things most
2:033D artists [music] are missing about the
2:05AI conversation, and I'm going to share
2:07some truths nobody else on YouTube is
2:10saying. Because if you've been wondering
2:12>> [music]
2:12>> whether the skill you spent years
2:13building matter, this video is for you.
2:17Part one, [music] follow the money.
2:21Most 3D artists go to YouTube for
2:23answers. 3D workflows are already
2:25confusing enough, and now AI has made
2:27things more complicated. You got
2:29creators with completely different
2:30opinions telling you what matters,
2:32what's dead, what to ignore, and what to
2:35panic about, and what the future is
2:37supposed to look like. But there's
2:39something most people forget. For
2:41creators like me, YouTube is a business,
2:43just like AI mesh generation companies
2:46are businesses. AdSense in this space is
2:49low, but production isn't. The gear, the
2:51editors, the scripting. YouTube content
2:54has a real cost, and that's why most
2:56creators sell courses, take
2:58sponsorships, and build products. And
3:00I'm no different. I sell a few courses,
3:03and that's how I make my living. And the
3:05moment AI entered the picture, every
3:07business in this space had to pick a
3:09position. AI mesh companies are selling
3:12mesh generation. Their message is
3:14simple. Why spend days modeling when you
3:17can type a simple prompt? The moment you
3:19can promise people more speed, less
3:21effort, a faster result for less money,
3:24people listen. Any good marketing hook
3:27works the same way. Increase the
3:29perceived value and reduce the pain. And
3:31in 3D, if you're not a skilled 3D
3:33artist, the pain is usually time or
3:36money. Sometimes both. They show you
3:38beautiful textured models, and their
3:40demos keep getting more impressive.
3:43Rigging, animation, full pipelines being
3:45shown in real time. And that result is
3:49hard to argue with. The output looks
3:52better every single update, but there's
3:54a gap from what looks good in a demo and
3:57what actually holds up inside a
3:59production pipeline. Topology that
4:01survives a rig, UVs that are well
4:03optimized for game engines, textures
4:06with the layers and masks intact and not
4:09baked flat. Those are the things that
4:11determine whether an asset is actually
4:13usable and they're harder to evaluate
4:15from a 30-second demo highlight reel.
4:18For a lot of use cases, these tools are
4:20generally useful and I'd never tell
4:23someone not to use them just because
4:25they're powered by AI. For example,
4:27background props, anything where the
4:29model needs to read from a distance. In
4:31those contexts, they save real time. The
4:34problem isn't the tool. The problem is
4:36when that same promise gets sold to
4:38artists trying to build careers in
4:39games, VFX, or animation because that's
4:43a completely different standard. A tool
4:45that works perfectly for background
4:46assets can be completely wrong for
4:48someone trying to model a hero
4:51character. And if you're making real
4:52career decisions based on marketing
4:55without understanding the difference,
4:56you're only getting half of the picture.
4:59Then there's me, the traditional 3D
5:01artist. I love clean topology, optimized
5:03UVs, non-destructive textures, and
5:06production-ready models. And that's what
5:08I sell courses on, which means promoting
5:11AI workflows isn't exactly great for my
5:13business. If people believe they can
5:15skip the hard part, that becomes an
5:17objection to buying what I teach. That's
5:20uncomfortable to admit, but it's true.
5:22And every creator in this space,
5:24including me, is operating inside that
5:27same pressure. That's the part nobody
5:29wants to admit. Every opinion you hear
5:31about AI is shaped with that person
5:33speaking has to sell. Both sides'
5:36messaging aligns with the products they
5:38offer. And look, there's nothing wrong
5:40with that. Every successful business
5:42does this. Creators are small businesses
5:45and selling a product means doing what
5:47we talked about earlier. Increasing the
5:50perceived value and reducing the pain.
5:52That's how every single business works.
5:55There's a saying in marketing that the
5:56perfect product is the one you already
5:59have for sale. But I never liked that
6:01idea. The gravitational pull is real.
6:04But I think every business operator has
6:06to know the difference between when
6:08their product will help their customer
6:10and when it won't. And sometimes the
6:12most humane thing you can do is pass up
6:15out of love for that person. A student
6:17named Marcus reached out to me wanting
6:20to buy some of my programs. He sent me
6:22his portfolio link. I looked at it for
6:24about 2 minutes and I told him not to
6:26buy.
6:27I told him the truth. You don't need
6:29another course. You need to stop
6:31collecting information, trust yourself,
6:34and start applying for jobs. His work
6:36was already strong and buying my program
6:38would have slowed him down.
6:40He didn't need more lessons. He needed
6:42to move. And I'll be honest, I could
6:44have used the money. It was after a slow
6:47Black Friday and course sales are a big
6:49part of my income. But it was still the
6:52right thing to do. That's the standard I
6:54try to hold myself to. Marketing works
6:57the same way on every level. AI mesh
7:00generators show you their best output,
7:02the cleanest render, the most impressive
7:04demo. Course creators show you the best
7:07students, the success stories, the
7:09breakthrough portfolios, the
7:10testimonials that close sales. Every
7:13digital product gets dressed up before
7:15it goes to market, including mine.
7:17Top-to-bottom billion-dollar companies
7:20and one-person operations alike. We all
7:23polish the surface. The question isn't
7:25whether the polish exists. It's whether
7:27the thing underneath actually delivers
7:30when you buy it. There's a reason AI
7:31mesh generators feel like they're
7:33everywhere right now. In 2025, AI
7:36startups pulled in over 200 billion in
7:38venture capital. About half of all
7:41global VC funding. A real chunk of that
7:44is flowing into 3D specifically. And
7:46just last week Anthropic, the makers of
7:49Claude, one of the biggest AI companies
7:51in the world, donated to the Blender
7:53Foundation. The community pushed back
7:56hard enough that Blender restructured a
7:58deal within days. But the point still
8:01stands. AI capital is reaching into
8:03every corner of this space, including
8:05platforms that were supposed to be
8:07immune to it. I see this firsthand. AI
8:10companies email me wanting sponsorships.
8:13A lot of creators are scared to even
8:15talk about these tools, and they're
8:17passing off sponsorships entirely
8:19because they don't want to deal with the
8:20backlash. So, when you're scrolling
8:22YouTube and every other video is either
8:25a new AI workflow or a traditional 3D
8:28artist taking a stand against AI,
8:31you feel the messaging pulling you in
8:34opposite directions. Both sides'
8:36messaging aligns with the products they
8:38offer. But both are louder than the
8:40middle. And you, the one who isn't an
8:43influencer with hundreds of thousands of
8:45subscribers, or the one who isn't an AI
8:48company with a million-dollar marketing
8:50budget, you're the ones whose voice
8:53often isn't heard. The student with the
8:56loan from 3D art school. The artist who
8:59just got laid off and is trying to
9:01figure out what's next. You're the one
9:03who gets lost in this conversation. And
9:05you're the one who this video was made
9:07for.
9:08Part two, art or production.
9:12Before you decide whether to learn AI,
9:15you need to answer a different question
9:17first. Why do you do 3D? Because there
9:20are two completely different reasons
9:22people sit down in front of Blender or
9:24any other 3D package. And the answer
9:27shapes everything that comes after. Some
9:29of you do this because you love the
9:31craft. The satisfaction of clean
9:33topology, the pride of optimized UV
9:36layouts done by hand, the extra bit of
9:39hand-painted texturing you did when the
9:42material gave you a decent base. The
9:44result matters less than the journey. If
9:47that's you, you don't have to touch AI,
9:50ever. Your art is your process. Nobody
9:53can take that away from you. Then
9:55there's the people who want to work in
9:56production. Games, films, VFX,
10:00commercials, studio jobs, freelance
10:03contracts. People who want the skill to
10:06feed their families. If that's you, this
10:08is something I personally understand.
10:10Production runs on speed and efficiency.
10:13It doesn't matter how you feel about AI.
10:15It doesn't matter what your stance is.
10:17The studio doesn't care. If that
10:19director needs 10 background props by
10:21Friday, and AI can get them there in
10:24afternoon instead of a week, that
10:26decision is being made above your pay
10:29grade. You don't get to opt out of how
10:31the work moves. You can opt out of the
10:33industry, that's always your right.
10:35But you don't get to opt out of how the
10:37industry runs while staying inside it.
10:40And that's not me cheering for it.
10:41That's just the structure of big budget
10:43VFX houses and AAA studios. Production
10:47has always been optimized for speed. AI
10:50is just the latest tool doing what every
10:52previous tool did, letting fewer artists
10:54ship more work in less time. So, if
10:57production is your goal, the question
10:58isn't whether AI is going to be a part
11:00of your work. The question is whether
11:02you want to be the artist who learned to
11:04direct it intelligently,
11:06or the artist who refused to look at it
11:09and got passed up by someone who did. In
11:112026, studios are leaning towards
11:14generalists. The artists getting hired
11:16are the ones who could do the core
11:17craft, understand pipelines, direct AI
11:20where it helps, and even script small
11:22tools to optimize their own workflow.
11:26Avoid AI where cleaning up takes longer
11:29than doing it by hand.
11:31You don't have to abandon traditional
11:32workflows. You don't even have to become
11:34an AI artist. You don't even have to
11:37like it. But, it's worth at least
11:39understanding what these tools can do,
11:41even if your only reason is to know what
11:43you're up against. Pick one tool, try it
11:46on a small project, and see for
11:48yourself. A traditional 3D artist who
11:50learns AI will always be more powerful
11:53than the AI artist who learned to make
11:56meshes by prompting. Always. Because
11:59every AI chat tool comes with that same
12:02disclaimer. This can make mistakes.
12:05Please double-check. That's literally
12:06what every LLM tells you in small print
12:09at the bottom. And it applies for every
12:12AI tool, including 3D mesh generators.
12:15But, if you don't actually understand
12:163D, how are you going to double-check
12:18anything? How are you going to know
12:20which UVs are not optimized?
12:23Which topology is going to fail in
12:25production? Only a great writer can use
12:28AI to bring out a great novel. Only
12:30someone with a real ear for music can
12:33use AI to compose something worth
12:35listening to.
12:36Only a real 3D artist is going to
12:38evaluate a prompted mesh and know
12:41whether it's actually usable.
12:43If there was ever a time in your career
12:45when knowing the fundamentals actually
12:47mattered, it's right now. The boring
12:49foundation work most students want to
12:51skip. Booleans without knowing when
12:54clean topology is actually needed.
12:56Letting auto unwrap do all the UV work.
12:59That's the version of 3D that's about to
13:01get hit the hardest by AI. Because
13:04here's the thing, AI struggles with the
13:06same fundamentals those shortcuts skip.
13:09Topology that survives a rig. UVs that
13:12work in production. Non-destructive
13:14textures with a real layer structure.
13:17That's the trap. Shortcut workflows and
13:19AI workflows produce almost the same
13:22thing.
13:23Pretty results that may fall apart in
13:25production. The artists who know the
13:27fundamentals can spot what's wrong and
13:30fix it. The ones who don't can't even
13:33tell.
13:34And those fundamentals, the one that
13:35took you years to build, they're not
13:38just background knowledge anymore.
13:39They're your filter. They're what tell
13:41you when AI is a valuable tool and when
13:43it's slop that needs to be reworked or
13:46just done by hand. That's what makes you
13:48the kind of 3D artist the studio wants
13:51on their team.
13:52You don't have to choose between AI and
13:543D. You have to choose what kind of 3D
13:57artist you want to be and let that
13:59decide what tools you pick up.
14:02Part three, not in my backyard.
14:07Two months ago, I got invited to a
14:09YouTube AI workshop at Google
14:11headquarters. And there's a stat they
14:13shared that's been sitting with me ever
14:15since. Over 92% of creators on the
14:18platform are using AI tools.
14:22Let that sink in. Now, think about every
14:24YouTube video you watch across different
14:28creative niches, the ones leading the
14:30backlash in their communities against
14:32AI. The content creators I talked to
14:35behind the scenes use AI for almost
14:37everything.
14:39Research, marketing, sales pages. But
14:41our stance on AI changes when it
14:44threatens the thing that's closest to
14:46us. That doesn't make us hypocrites. It
14:49makes us human. AI threatens our craft
14:51and our craft is tied to our income,
14:54which is tied to our survival. So, every
14:56defense mechanism kicks in. It's the
14:59same pattern that's played out every
15:01time a disruption hits a field. Taxi
15:04drivers boycotted Uber. Traditional
15:06photographers hated digital cameras.
15:09Traditional media looked down on
15:11YouTube. I also use AI tools in my
15:14business. And for a while, I didn't want
15:16to touch AI for any visual creative
15:18work, image, video, and mesh generation.
15:21Because something in me felt like I'd be
15:23working with the enemy. I get it. But
15:26here's the part of this bias nobody
15:28wants to look at. It's hurting us.
15:30Outside of our field, nobody cares about
15:33our reasons for refusing AI. Studios
15:35don't care. The client doesn't care. To
15:38them, it's just another step in the
15:39pipeline they don't have to pay for. So,
15:42when you're pitching a client and they
15:44ask you why you can't use AI and you
15:46start listing your reasons, they're
15:48already gone. They have a budget. They
15:50have five other quotes and they have a
15:52deadline. A great salesperson knows the
15:55competition. They know what they bring
15:57to the table. They know the gap between
15:59the two. If you can't articulate that
16:02gap, you don't land the work.
16:04And you can't articulate what you refuse
16:06to look at. That's what burying your
16:08head in the sand actually cost you. Not
16:11your principles, not your craft, your
16:13ability to compete.
16:19In 2023, I went through a really dark
16:21time in my life.
16:23There was pain I'd been carrying for
16:24decades pushed right underneath my
16:26awareness.
16:29And when my suffering was at its worst,
16:31I became aware of a negative story I'd
16:33been telling about myself for decades.
16:37It was like realizing I'd been wearing
16:39dark glasses and forgot I ever put them
16:41on.
16:42My father died when I was 19 right
16:44before I started my computer animation
16:47program.
16:48I started my 3D modeling journey
16:50unknowingly carrying this emotional
16:52burden.
16:53For years, I carried an angry story, a
16:56victim story.
16:57The story that something close to my
16:59heart was taken from me and my world was
17:02never quite the same afterwards.
17:05I found a reason to be angry everywhere.
17:07People, situation, career, everything
17:10seemed to confirm what I was already
17:12telling myself.
17:13That's the distorted filter I was seeing
17:15the world through.
17:16It wasn't a violent kind of anger. I
17:19wasn't blowing up at people.
17:21It was a quieter anger that lived inside
17:23me.
17:24I was hard on myself,
17:26frustrated at my work, super
17:28competitive. Negative thoughts quietly
17:31ran in the background.
17:33The kind of anger and negativity many
17:35artists can relate to.
17:37When I finally started doing the work to
17:39dismantle the negative stories, when I
17:41let go of the anger I'd been carrying
17:44about my father's death,
17:45something shifted. The world didn't
17:48change.
17:49The way I interacted with it did.
17:52The anger inside of me was an energy
17:54field, and it pulled negative thoughts
17:56toward it. It projected onto everything
17:59I looked at. And once I separated the
18:01story of what had happened from the
18:03emotions underneath, the events of my
18:06past
18:07didn't disappear. They just stopped
18:09meaning what they used to mean.
18:12The things in the world that used to
18:13trigger me started losing their grip.
18:16And once I saw that in myself, I
18:18recognized that same pattern in the 3D
18:21community.
18:22Long before AI, this space had an angry
18:24undercurrent. Big companies buying 3D
18:27software, the NFT controversy,
18:30subscription pricing changes. There was
18:32always something, and the reaction
18:35always felt disproportionate. I'm not
18:37saying the issues weren't real. I'm just
18:39saying the size of the response told me
18:42something else was going on underneath.
18:44And then AI showed up. It became the
18:46thing out in the world that started
18:48venting all the pain 3D artists have
18:51been carrying for years without
18:53realizing it. The jobs you applied for
18:55and never got. That computer animation
18:57degree you paid way too much for and
19:00never got to use. The brutal learning
19:03curve of 3D software that broke you 100
19:06times before it ever made sense. The
19:09studio crunch that took years off your
19:11life.
19:12The client who goes to you without
19:14paying after you delivered the final
19:16files.
19:18The family that didn't understand your
19:19dream. The individual stories may be
19:22different, but the weight underneath
19:24them was the same. We've all been
19:26carrying it. The pain doesn't go away
19:29just because your portfolio improved or
19:31you finally got your dream job. It sits
19:34there. And maybe, just maybe, when AI
19:37really triggers us, it's not all about
19:40AI. AI could just be the thing that
19:43finally got close to us to set off
19:45everything that we've been carrying.
19:47Being angry and fearful about AI will
19:49drain you. It sucks the oxygen out of
19:52your creativity. You can't control AI.
19:55You can't control who uses it, how it's
19:57marketed, and how fast it improves. What
20:00you can control is the story you tell
20:02about it. Whatever you focus on, you
20:05give energy to. So, you do have a
20:07choice. You can have an opinion about AI
20:10without constantly having to defend it.
20:12Defending a position over and over is
20:15exhausting.
20:17Ask yourself, when was the last time
20:19arguing in a comment section actually
20:21changed somebody's mind?
20:24How much mental bandwidth did you spend
20:27waiting to see who replied? Who agreed
20:29with you? And at the end of the day, did
20:32any of that matter? Think about that
20:34that time and energy could have gone
20:37toward creating your art. If what I'm
20:39proposing seems hard, if you can't stop
20:41watching these AI updates or debate
20:44videos, some of it isn't your fault.
20:47YouTube titles are designed to use your
20:50emotions to get you to click. Creators
20:52understand this and use it. And right
20:54now, most content about AI is fear-bait
20:58or rage-bait. AI's changing animation
21:00forever. Learn AI before it's too late.
21:03AI just killed 3D artists. AI just
21:05killed motion designers. AI just killed
21:08you name the profession AI killed it.
21:11YouTube is a game of attention and maybe
21:14you clicked on this very thumbnail for a
21:16similar reason. And to be real, that
21:19wasn't a mistake because I used the same
21:21logic. The difference with this video is
21:23I want it to be the last AI video you
21:26click out of fear or anger. Fear is the
21:28most effective hook ever invented. Your
21:31brain treats it like a threat that needs
21:34to be resolved. So you click, you watch,
21:37you rage in the comment, and the cycle
21:39repeats. Once you start to see what
21:41these videos are doing to get you to
21:43click, they lose their pull. You can
21:46finally take in the information without
21:48absorbing the emotion. Pick a position,
21:50be okay with it, get back to making
21:53things. Not too long ago, if you were an
21:55elite artist, you were considered a 3D
21:58god. You could take a primitive and turn
22:00it into a vehicle, a character, an
22:02entire world.
22:04There was a site back in the early days
22:05of ZBrush called ZBrush Central. I'd
22:08scroll for it for hours stunned by what
22:11people were making. There was this one
22:13artist who sculpted his own version of
22:15M. Bison from Street Fighter. The
22:18details were insane and I'd stare at
22:20this and tell myself, "One day I want to
22:23be that good in 3D." So I kept going.
22:26Year after year, my renders got better,
22:28the projects got bigger, I started a
22:30YouTube channel, I got plaques, brand
22:33deals with companies I respect. I even
22:35got to present at Siggraph. Little by
22:38little, I got my own little slice of
22:40admiration, of recognition. And then AI
22:43showed up. Suddenly, anybody could type
22:46a few words and generate an image.
22:49Everything and anything could be AI. Now
22:52you had to prove your work was made by
22:54you. Reply to the comments, show
22:57wireframes, defend the time you spent.
23:00The joy of sharing your work trying to
23:02to explaining that it wasn't AI,
23:05things became muddy. And me, along with
23:08a lot of other 3D artists, that
23:10specialness started to fade. Until one
23:13day, you realize the thing that used to
23:15make you stand out doesn't hit the same
23:18way anymore. I'll be honest, when AI
23:21artists started to pop up, there was a
23:23moment I felt resentment towards them.
23:26There was this character in Mortal
23:27Kombat called Shang Tsung. He's a
23:30sorcerer that like sucks the souls out
23:32of fighters and then uses their powers
23:34against them. And that's how it felt to
23:36me, like AI artists were wielding our
23:39superpowers without having to earn them.
23:41I sat with those feelings for a while,
23:44but I realized that that energy wasn't
23:47going to make me a better artist. It
23:49just was going to make me a bitter one.
23:51So, I started to see them from a
23:53different perspective. Before you get
23:55upset at an artist using AI, I want you
23:58to think about who that person on the
24:01other side of the screen might be.
24:03Maybe it's an 18-year-old kid who was
24:06nervous about getting on camera and
24:08finally got ready to make content to pay
24:10his tuition. Maybe it's a traditional
24:12artist using AI alongside his
24:15fundamentals because he's trying to stay
24:17competitive in a brutal job market. Or
24:19maybe it's somebody like you at the same
24:22age you started 3D because it was the
24:25latest creative tech in the market. But
24:27you don't have to see AI artists as your
24:29enemy. I came across a random comment
24:32online that stuck with me for a while
24:35when AI videos just started to pop up.
24:38It was from a traditional 2D animator.
24:41He said, "I hope AI takes your job the
24:43same way 3D and VFX artists took ours."
24:48Think about what it takes to write that,
24:51to still be carrying that burden 30
24:53years later, to watch a new generation
24:56of artists face a hard moment and find
24:58satisfaction in it. That's what
25:00unprocessed anger becomes if you let it
25:03sit. It calcifies. It waits its turn to
25:07point back as someone else.
25:09I don't want that to be us in 20 years.
25:12At the start of this conversation, I
25:14said AI was going to do something deeper
25:16than replacement. Here's what I meant.
25:19The obvious answer is the work, the
25:21career, the job. But I'm guessing you
25:24weren't a 3D artist all your entire
25:26life. You've probably switched jobs
25:28before. Maybe you got laid off at some
25:31point. And none of those setbacks
25:33probably hit the same way AI hits. If
25:37you've been in the game long enough, 3D
25:39art is more than just what you do. 3D
25:42artists become your friends, your
25:44workspace becomes a second home. You
25:46probably spent more time in front of a
25:483D software than you spend doing
25:51anything else.
25:52After you do this long enough, 3D artist
25:55isn't a job title anymore. It becomes
25:58your identity. And the thought of what
26:00you are without it can be terrifying. AI
26:03is disrupting our industry, but it what
26:05it's really threatening is the identity
26:07that you'd feel incomplete without. The
26:10projects, the titles, the credits. Those
26:13were always part of something much
26:15bigger. They didn't define who you are.
26:18They came to manifest because of what
26:20you are. They were the reflection of
26:22your passion, your love, and your
26:24creativity.
26:25And AI can never take that away from
26:28you.
26:29And the years you spent learning your
26:30tools, those didn't go to waste either.
26:33If you learn Blender's node editor, you
26:35can learn ComfyUI. Nodes are nodes. If
26:38you script it in Maya, you can structure
26:40prompts. The thinking is the same. The
26:43strengths you built didn't go away. They
26:45just became transferable. And I finally
26:47have an answer for Helen.
26:49Helen, AI can generate something that
26:52looks impressive. Your years of 3D or
26:55would tell you if it actually works.
26:58That's the part that AI doesn't give
26:59you, judgement. And judgement only comes
27:02from doing the work.
27:04So, no, you didn't spend years learning
27:05the wrong thing. You built the filter.
27:08You built the eye. You built the
27:10judgement that decides where AI helps,
27:13>> [music]
27:13>> where it fails, and where your skill
27:15takes over. AI doesn't replace serious
27:183D artists. It replaces pieces of the
27:20work. It replaces shortcuts. It replaces
27:23the version of the artist who never
27:25learned how to judge the result. If you
27:28understand the craft, AI doesn't erase
27:30what you built. It gives you something
27:32new to direct. So, keep building the
27:34fundamentals, then push past the fear
27:37and learn the AI tools, too. Find their
27:39strengths, find their weaknesses, find
27:41where they fit into your own workflow,
27:44and where they don't. Not because
27:45someone on YouTube told you to, because
27:48you deserve to find your own truth.
27:50>> [music]
27:51>> And once you find your own truth, you
27:52can't be manipulated into walking into
27:55somebody else's version of a future you
27:58didn't sign up for. The same goes for
28:01the rest of you. I want to leave you
28:03with two questions. If you weren't a 3D
28:06artist, would you hate AI mesh
28:08generators as much as you do?
28:10And if you were all in on AI, if AI took
28:13its next leap tomorrow and automated
28:16your entire AI workflow you're building
28:18right now, would you still be cheering
28:20it on?
28:21You were never just a 3D artist. [music]
28:23You were an artist who happened to find
28:253D. The thing in you that wanted to make
28:28something, that part was never in the
28:30software. But if you live in anger and
28:33fear of AI, you're dimming your own
28:35light. You're giving your power away.
28:37Anger and fear won't protect what you
28:39built. They'll just take up the space
28:41your creativity needs to live. Let them
28:44go. Find the courage to step out of
28:47those feelings and into your art. Go
28:49make the thing only you can make. The
28:51future is the one you decide to walk
28:53into.
28:57There's a lot of people once they get
28:59into like late 40s, 50s, they they get
29:01in their head
29:03that
29:03they're too old to do something. Well,
29:05you show them somebody, you know, that
29:07it's possible even when they're Well, in
29:09their 70s, all right. That inspires
29:11people. So, your your inspiration's a
29:13lot.
29:15So, thank you for
29:16You do great work and I I I appreciate
29:18you being part of my community. Stay
29:20positive.
29:22I think you you you get in your own head
29:24sometimes. Your work speaks volumes and
29:26you're not
29:27just good for your age, you're just good
29:29for your You do good all the time.

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