Feeling Behind in 3D + AI? You're Not Alone
How to thrive in a time of innovation overload
One of my goals when writing these articles is to provide a clear and digestible takeaway. I know your inbox is packed, and I don’t expect anyone to sit down and pore over every word I write. But if I can leave you with one clear idea (whether it’s the existence of a workflow, a tool, or a new trend) then I consider the article a success.
And this week, I want that idea to be clear:
You are not behind when it comes to AI and new 3D workflows.
That Feeling of Falling Behind? We All Feel It.
This came up recently in the 3D Artist Community after Nikki Tomaino joined us for a session on her work around ethical AI and 3D workflows. It was a fantastic conversation. One that even led to my article on LoRAs and it sparked great discussions afterward.
And in those follow-ups, I heard a version of the same phrase over and over again:
“This is exciting but I just feel so behind.”
Here’s the truth: I feel that way too. I see brilliant workflows posted online, tools I haven’t tried yet, research I haven’t read—and I think, Wow, there’s so much I don’t know.
But let me tell you something important: nobody knows everything.
People have little pockets of knowledge, often limited to what they need for a specific project or role. But the stuff you see online...and the social posts, articles, conference demos...they give the illusion of mastery.
You see one person post something amazing, and then another, and another. Before long, your brain collapses all those individuals into one collective impossibly brilliant, impossibly productive superhuman.
But that person doesn’t exist. It’s just the algorithm stitching together isolated examples and making it feel like you're the only one who doesn't get it.
Learning ≠ Consuming
There’s this false comfort in trying to “catch up” by binge-watching tutorials or reading article after article. I get it...it feels like progress. But watching countless videos on something does not make you good at it. You learn when you do the thing.
Same goes for 3D and AI.
You don’t become comfortable by understanding every new workflow or mastering every new tool. You become comfortable by learning how to function while being uncomfortable. By being ok with diving into a project where you don’t know how to do step 5 or step 8, and figuring it out along the way.
My Hot Wheels Experiment
Let me give you a personal example.
I’ve got two kids—a 4-year-old and a 6-year-old—and like many kids their age, they’re obsessed with Hot Wheels and toy cars. So we’ve started designing our own cars together in Substance Painter. I do all the button pushing but they are my art directors. We started with regular size cars and quickly realized that the toy size was much more fun.
At first they were… not great. But we’ve gotten better.
Then I had this idea: what if we made a ridiculous, over-the-top commercial for these little toy cars? Think: 90s-style Crossfire ad energy. I immediately talked myself out of it. I don’t have time to animate all that. I don’t have the hardware to render it. But then I paused.
What if I could utilize AI to do some of the tasks that make me feel like I can't do this? Feed it a few key frames, generate some video from that, slap on some voiceover and music, and cobble together a commercial with the kids?
Truth is, I don’t know how to do most of that. But I’ll learn by making it. One step at a time.
That’s the whole point.
Make First, Learn as You Go
You don’t need to wait until you understand everything to begin. In fact, you’ll never understand everything. That’s not the goal.
Your job is to:
Be curious
Set out to make a thing
Run into a wall
Learn what you need to move past it
Keep going and repeat until done
Some solutions will be easy, some will be frustrating. Some tools won’t behave the way you expect. Some tools you will use differently from their intended purpose. That’s part of the process. But by the end, you’ll have built something real. And with it, you’ll have learned in a way no tutorial binge can replicate.
Final Takeaway
So if you're feeling overwhelmed, if you're thinking “I’m behind,” you’re not.
You're just in it.
Nobody knows everything. Nobody’s caught up. And if someone seems like they are, they’re just showcasing the curated slice of what they know based on the work they have done.
The skill you need isn't to "catch up"...it's to get comfortable being a little lost. And to keep moving forward anyway.
The 3D Artist Community Updates
We are super excited to welcome Jeryce Dianingana to The 3D Artist Community!!
Jeryce is an accomplished 3D Environment Artist and former Environment Director at Cliffhanger Games. He led the creation of immersive, stylized worlds for high-profile projects like Marvel’s Black Panther and contributed to environmental visuals at Rocksteady Studios.
With a strong presence on ArtStation, Jeryce showcases a portfolio rich in handcrafted environments, including detailed cultural and architectural scenes .
Passionate about organization-wide mentorship, he also engages with the wider creative community, such as judging entries at The Rookies, demonstrating leadership and industry influence. His artistic vision blends technical mastery in Unity, Unreal Engine, and proprietary pipelines with cultural storytelling and environmental immersion.
3D Merch is here and we have a new hoodie!
3D News of the Week
Marvel/Disney Threaten Legal Action Against Copywriting A.I. Software Company Over The Avengers - Medium
Amazon Ads launches enhanced AI-powered Video Generator; sets AI vision for creative tools - Amazon
Maxon Welcomes Autograph Team Following Left Angle Transition - Maxon
No Longer Just A Previs Studio, The Third Floor Produces Its First Animated Film ‘Predator: Killer Of Killers’ - Cartoon Brew
Epic is making it easier to create MetaHumans - The Verge
3D Tutorial
3D Job Spreadsheet
Link to Google Doc With A TON of Jobs in Animation (not operated by me)
Hello! Michael Tanzillo here. I am the Head of Technical Artists with the Substance 3D team at Adobe. Previously, I was a Senior Artist on animated films at Blue Sky Studios/Disney with credits including three Ice Age movies, two Rios, Peanuts, Ferdinand, Spies in Disguise, and Epic.
In addition to his work as an artist, I am the Co-Author of the book Lighting for Animation: The Visual Art of Storytelling and the Co-Founder of The Academy of Animated Art, an online school that has helped hundreds of artists around the world begin careers in Animation, Visual Effects, and Digital Imaging. I also created The 3D Artist Community on Skool and this newsletter.
www.michaeltanzillo.com
Free 3D Tutorials on the Michael Tanzillo YouTube Channel
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Thanks for the reminder that the algorithm is stitching together a slew of different people!