The impact of Artificial Intelligence is spreading everywhere, and it’s only going to grow. Good and bad.
There are positives and negatives. Many of us know someone who’s lost a job, or otherwise been affected. Many of us use it on a casual basis, or have colleagues using it as a normal daily feature of their work.
This is intended as thread to praise or criticize AI’s effect on our hobby. If it bleeds over to non-hobby aspects, fine. But as in everything we post here on LSC, let’s keep it civil, a-political, and, above all, friendly.
I’ve used AI a few times to replace simple web searches. For example, I’m working on my massive feed mill. I uploaded some photos and asked AI what size pipes would be common, and it gave me some clear cut answers and then with some more details gave suggestions for scale sized pipe.
Way faster than me trying to research that information as I had no idea where to look.
On the same hand, I asked a stupid question I already knew the answer to: “What does T-D Feeds” stand for and it gave me Townsend and DeYoung." Probably because it sees my name attached to T-D Feeds across multiple forums. But that’s incorrect.
I turned AI off when I use Google search for something. Like a certain photo of a train car or something.
With AI on I never got a clear or correct result.
Thanks Rick. Hobby-wise I’ve only used AI for joke-images, but those scene enhancements and figure generation ideas are excellent examples of something useful.
About my joke images… I can’t share such things with my wife without stirring up a big argument. This is because our youngest is getting laid off her job, due to automating her position with AI, and she’s not been able to find alternate work in her field (in spite of her 4-year degree in it).
Just got the joke… Polymaker being a 3d printing filament source…
Your model shot sure looks proferssionally done. Did you set that up and have AI do only the paint & lettering over it? Or did it create that shot from scratch, or somewhere in between?
I uploaded it to Gemini along with the polymaker logo.
My RR is Proto-Freelance and I’m converting some LGB hoppers to pellet. (round hatches, Pneumatic gates).
All I know lately is AI has overrun a lot of my posts on things that I try and share as a hobbyist, woodworker, millwright, etc on LSC.
Not that I care but it does take time to document and photograph the work done showing how it’s done only to be filled up with “Useless Posts”.
So why take the time to do such ?
This is my current take on AI… I suppose it is all about how you use it within the hobby but it will not fix anything because it doesn’t have hands, eyes or the ability to think outside of the box.
Lets ask AI about Rooster G Scale Amtrak?
The term “Rooster” in the context of G Scale model railroading typically refers to the “Rooster” nickname associated with specific locomotive models, or more commonly, a misunderstanding of the “G Scale” (1:22.5 scale) market for Amtrak-branded equipment. In the hobby of large-scale model railroading, Amtrak models are highly sought after, particularly those produced by manufacturers like LGB (Lehmann Gross Bahn) and USA Trains.[1]
According to www.iAsk.Ai - Ask AI:
When collectors look for “Amtrak” in G Scale, they are generally searching for the iconic F40PH or Genesis P42DC locomotives. The term “Rooster” is occasionally used in railroad slang to describe a locomotive that is “crowing” or making significant noise, but it is not an official classification for Amtrak rolling stock in the G Scale hobby. G Scale, which operates on 45mm track, is favored for its durability and suitability for outdoor garden railways.[2] Because Amtrak equipment is long and requires large-radius curves, G Scale enthusiasts often invest in specialized track systems to accommodate the prototypical length of passenger cars like the Superliner or Amfleet series.[3]
Manufacturers such as USA Trains have historically produced highly detailed Amtrak passenger cars in 1:29 scale, which is often grouped under the “G Scale” umbrella due to the shared track gauge. These models are prized for their heavy construction and interior lighting features, which replicate the real-world Amtrak experience on a miniature scale.[1][3]
Would you like to learn more about the differences between 1:22.5 (LGB) and 1:29 (USA Trains) scale Amtrak models for your garden railway?
that link is nothing more, than promoting the founding of a new enterprise, looking for investors/victims and employees/complices to move money from anybody to somebody - the writer.
long known facts and “facts” nicely presented.
but with zero relation to us. (A.I. in relation to model railroading.)
…for instance a thread, titled: “Another useless thread by…” just screams the message: “place your BS here, please”
so, if that gets swamped with useless, senseless, humorous, witty, or cute postings, that was to be expected.
as well, IM not so HO, that some of these kind of ecos will spill over into serious, factual modelling threads started by persons, known to laugh about themselves.
we just should be aware, that A.I. is not a new revelation, but just another tool.
it is less important, what a tool is, than who wields it.
if a serious person uses it, the tool is useful. (example manimal Dan. instead of pinseling dozens of cars, he uses A.I. to try out new designs for his models)
but if a child(ish person) gets a hammer, magically the whole world exists of nails, and only nails. (no example)
i tend to judge things from my own point of view. because it’s the only point of view, i got a faint idea about.
so, from where i stand, the A.I. thingy is just a partially problem of something, that i can’t really digest.
the internet.
before the internet, trying to be more informed - significated actively searching for information.
(remember? we had actually conversations with other living beings about which books to read)
since the internet that has changed. there is more information flying around, than i could take up in many lifespans.
now i should evaluate the abundance of information available into needed/desired and into needless.
(just thinking about relatives sending me nice short videos. (that i must see, not because of the video, but the relative) and just looking at the next… to realise, that i spent more than an hour looking at funny pets, laughable failures or other hogwash)
my pre-internet curiosity, that gave me advantages over others, now converts me into an easy-chair farting consumer, that serves for less and lesser.
the most annoying part is, that both, internet and A.I. have positive aspects too.
before i got “dial-up” internet, my modelling was rough and crude. now it’s far from perfect, but light-years better, than then.
even my last website gets better - and A.I. aided - html here and there.
just for the fun of it:
google A.I. (in german) after asking for “Rooster modelrailroad” told me, best way to place a Rooster would be to buy a chicken-coop kit.
I’m looking into using AI for generating 3d-printable meshes of miners and mules, and am very impressed so far.
Last weekend I worked with Blender (free) to make a posable miner figure. You start with a human shape and modify poses & etc., but clothing is very difficult. Actually it’s all very tough for me, since I have no experience with this sort of free-form modeling. It took almost an entire day for me to learn how to “rig” the figure with a skeleton and do a simple pose. I figure I’d have to manually sculpt clothing onto it.
There are paid products like HumGen3D that can create and clothe figures, and then you pose them in Blender. But now, I’m heading in a different direction. I heard about Meshy at work, and also Tripo, and they cost around $20/month. For the number of figures I need, it’s worth it if it works.
Here’s an experiment in Meshy. All I did was shove this old drawing in, without textual instructions or anything.
These are both “watertight” for printing. I haven’t subscribed yet, but when you do, you can scale and download the figure. Both also seem to have a direct bridge to Blender, which would allow further posing.
Here’s a few more examples (using Meshy) with mules. Again, all just with one photo.
The AI gets confused here and there, such as with the blanket in the last one. And even though the model is watertight, that doesn’t mean all the harness parts will print. So either more pre-processing in Blender, or post-processing with Mr. Dremel, will be in order.
For about 30-45 seconds per model, from only one photo, I’m pretty amazed. If the software will pre-rig the figure and export to blender for different poses, that’ll be awesome.
At the moment, both Meshy and Tripo are on sale for $10-12 per month with an annual subscription. That’s much less than I’d pay for a few F scale commercially-available figures, even if I could get them in clothing & poses I need (which I can’t).
I signed up for a year of Tripo, and I tried to rig and pose it differently. I guess I need to read some tutorials because I totally failed. It did export to Blender, and allowed re-posing there, but not easily.
Posing will have to come at a later day.
Might be a good opportunity to print in 2 colors, blue and flesh. Another learning curve for another day. For now, I was able to export my miner to STL and open it in the Bambu slicer. I scaled it up there.
