Now AI-generated 3D models are nothing new, but most services require payment, need to upload to the cloud, wait in queue for computation, and there are privacy concerns. Recently, there was an open-source project Modly It attracted the attention of many netizens; it is completely in Local GPU computing A desktop application that can generate a 3D model from just one photo, MIT open-source licensed, runs completely locally, and is completely free!
Modly lets you generate 3D models from photos in one second, all running locally with no cloud needed
What is Modly?
Simply put, Modly is aImage to 3D mesha desktop tool. You take a photo or find an image, and Modly analyzes the image content using open-source AI models (such as Tencent’s Hunyuan3D, TripoSG, etc.) and automatically generates the corresponding 3D model. What sets it apart from other services on the market is:All computations are performed on your computerData does not need to be uploaded to any cloud servers.
Technical Highlights
Modly’s architecture is quite interesting—it’s not a traditional web service, but rather a Electron desktop application：
- Front-end: React 18 + React Three Fiber (3D Preview) + Three.js
- Backend: Python + PyTorch (AI inference engine)
- GPU Requirements: Must have an NVIDIA GPU (CUDA), 8GB+ VRAM recommended
Very intuitive to use—after installing, open the software, drag in a photo, select an AI model, and within a few minutes you can see a 3D model preview, with the ability to rotate and zoom to view from all angles.
Besides the basic image-to-3D feature, Modly also offers Workflow Node Editor(similar to ComfyUI or Blender nodes), allowing you to chain together different processing steps to achieve more complex 3D generation workflows.
Expandable System: Modular AI Models
Modly designed aExtension (Extension) SystemEach AI model is an independent GitHub package that can be freely installed and removed. The official has already provided five extensions.
| expand | Model | Features |
| Hunyuan3D Mini | Tencent Hunyuan3D 2 Mini | Standard version, balanced quality and speed |
| Hunyuan3D Mini Turbo | Hunyuan3D 2 Mini Turbo | Accelerated version, generates faster |
| Hunyuan3D Mini Fast | Hunyuan3D 2 Mini Fast | Speed version, sacrificing some quality |
| TripoSG | TripoSG | High-Quality Structured Generation |
| Trellis2 GGUF | Trellis2 GGUF | Quantized version, more memory-efficient |
Installing extensions is also very convenient—just paste a GitHub URL on the Models page of Modly, and you’re all set.
Support Platform
- Windows： NSIS installer ✅
- Linux： AppImage ✅
- macOS： Under development 🚧
Keep in mind the hardware requirements
Although Modly is powerful, it has a clear limitation:Requires an NVIDIA GPUThis is because the underlying AI model relies on CUDA acceleration, so AMD or Intel integrated graphics cannot be used for now. If you have an NVIDIA graphics card on your home gaming computer (RTX 3060 or above), it’s a great fit. However, the team is also currently developing a Mac application, so stay tuned.
MIT open source license
Modly adopted MIT Licensemeaning you can freely use, modify, or even commercialize it. The only condition is that you must keep the original author’s attribution — a very friendly licensing approach. You can go directly to Modly’s GitHub Releases page Download the installer, or use Git Clone to get the source code and compile it yourself.
Summary
Modly is the most… I’ve seen so farThe most beautiful and easiest to pick upIt’s a local AI-powered 3D generation tool. It addresses privacy concerns and the hassle of waiting in queues for cloud services, while offering a beautiful interface and flexible extensibility. If your work involves generating 3D objects and you have a computer with an NVIDIA graphics card, this comes highly recommended! However, do keep in mind that the project is still in early stages (v0.3.4), with new features being added regularly, and hopefully it will support more GPU platforms in the future.
Advantages:
- ✅ All processing done locally, your data never leaves your device
- ✅ Open source (MIT), commercial use allowed
- ✅ Beautiful 3D Preview Interface
- ✅ Scalable System Flexibility
Disadvantages:
- ❌ CUDA only (NVIDIA GPUs supported)
- ❌ Early version, features still growing
- ❌ Model needs to be downloaded from HuggingFace
Source: KOCPC Chinese