Hunyuan-3D-2.1 : Generate Photorealistic 3D image using AI
How to use Hunyuan-3D-2.1 for free?
And Tencent is back again. At times, I feel, some major Chinese AI startups got overshadowed by DeepSeek’s breakthrough model R1. But you really can’t ignore the innovation done by Tencent, especially in the image and video generation.
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Tencent’s HunYuan 3D-2.1. It just became the first fully open-sourced 3D generative model with photorealistic physically-based rendering (PBR) textures.
And that’s not some marketing line — this thing dumps the entire stack. You can fork it, fine-tune it, break it, rewire it, or ship it. Your call.
What It Actually Does
This model can take a simple image or concept and turn it into a 3D object that looks like it belongs in a movie or a video game. Not just the shape, but the entire texture — how the surface behaves under light, how shiny or rough it is, even how something like leather or metal should look when the light hits it from the side.
You don’t need a whole movie studio to do this anymore. HunYuan 3D-2.1 brings that power to your machine — assuming your machine is decent enough to handle it (more on that below).
What’s Included?
There are two big parts to this model, and both are open-source:
- Shape Generator (Hunyuan3D-Shape-v2–1)
- Turns a picture or idea into a full 3D shape
- Trained to understand fine details — like curves, edges, and depth
- Great for things like furniture, characters, vehicles, you name it
- 3.3 billion parameters (okay, that’s the only nerdy number here)
2. Texture Generator (Hunyuan3D-Paint-v2–1)
- Gives that 3D shape realistic surfaces: think wood grain, shiny chrome, worn leather
- It doesn’t just paste colors. It mimics how materials actually behave when light hits them
- Can generate things like bumpiness, gloss, softness — stuff that makes objects feel real when viewed
- 2 billion parameters
Together, these two cover the whole pipeline — from flat image to fully textured 3D object. You don’t need to combine multiple tools. This setup handles both shape and skin.
Usecase
It can be pretty handy for many real-world usecase
- Create realistic 3D characters, props, or objects from a reference image
- Design game assets that actually look like they belong in modern games
- Prototype product designs with surface textures that look almost photograph-like
- Export models with detailed surfaces ready to drop into engines like Unreal or Unity
- Run locally (with some effort) if you’ve got the hardware — 29GB of GPU memory for full runs, or 10–21GB if you’re just doing shape or texture separately
Why Should You Care?
Because no one else is doing this. Not like this. There are other 3D models, sure. Some look great, some run fast, some even offer a few downloads — but they’re usually locked behind paywalls, forms, or stripped-down versions.
HunYuan 3D-2.1 gives you the entire factory. It’s like being handed the kitchen, not just a slice of the cake.
And if you’re a student, indie dev, researcher, artist, or just someone who’s tired of waiting for big tech to open their toys — this matters.
Oh, and It Beats the Others Too
They ran tests comparing it to other 3D generation tools — both public and private — and HunYuan came out on top in almost every category. In simple terms: it creates cleaner shapes, more believable surfaces, and follows your input better. The textures feel less artificial. The objects behave more naturally under light.
One More Thing
This isn’t version 1. They’ve been building towards this:
- HunYuan 3D v1.0 was mostly shape-focused
- v2.0 added early texture tools
- v2.1 is the first to combine high-quality shape and true-to-life textures, with everything shared
How to use Hunyuan-3D 2.1?
The model is open-sourced and the weights can be accessed here
Try the model for free here
Hunyuan3D-2.1 – a Hugging Face Space by tencent
In Short?
HunYuan 3D-2.1 feels like what generative AI in 3D should’ve been from the start — realistic, editable, open. You don’t need to know physics. You don’t need to be a 3D artist. You just need an idea and some GPU time.
And the rest? Well, the model will try to imagine it for you.
Hunyuan-3D-2.1 : Generate Photorealistic 3D image using AI was originally published in Data Science in Your Pocket on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
