Imagine you need a detailed brick wall texture for a video game, but instead of an artist painstakingly painting it pixel by pixel, you just snap a photo of a real wall and the software builds a whole virtual version from that. That's what Artomatix does — it uses machine learning to turn your computer from a paintbrush into an actual painter. The artist becomes more of an art director, giving creative guidance while the AI handles the tedious production work. It's like going from hand-copying a book to using a printing press, but for 3D graphics.
Creating 3D art assets — textures, materials, surfaces — is one of the biggest bottlenecks in game development, film production, and architectural visualization. Artists spend enormous amounts of time manually crafting these assets pixel by pixel, and the industry's capacity of 69 million assets per year is already struggling to meet demand. With annual wages for 3D artists projected to hit €63.6 billion by 2022, studios need a way to produce more content without linearly scaling headcount.
The project delivered three concrete software products: integrations to leading game engines and 3D tools, a cloud-deployed SaaS product (Materialize Cloud), and a downloadable desktop application with installers and documentation. All three use machine learning to automatically generate 3D textures and materials from photographs.
If you are a game studio struggling to produce enough 3D art assets to meet release deadlines — this project developed a cloud-based SaaS tool that uses AI to generate textures and materials from photos. The industry currently produces around 69 million assets annually but demand is growing fast. Artomatix built integrations to leading game engines so it fits directly into existing production pipelines.
If you are a VFX studio facing rising costs for 3D content creation with annual industry wages expected to reach €63.6 billion by 2022 — this project built software that automates texture and material generation. Instead of artists manually crafting every surface, the AI extrapolates realistic 3D materials from reference photos. The tool is available both as cloud software and as a desktop application with installers.
If you are an architectural visualization firm that needs photorealistic materials for building renders but cannot afford large art teams — this project created an AI tool that generates 3D surface materials from simple photographs. The cloud-based product means no heavy hardware investment is needed. With the 3D graphics market projected to reach €282 billion by 2022, demand for faster content creation tools is accelerating across all visualization sectors.
The project developed a cloud-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model, which typically means subscription pricing rather than a large upfront license. The company targeted €16.3 million in annual revenues from 55,000 users, which suggests per-user pricing. Specific pricing tiers are not detailed in the project data.
Yes. The Materialize Cloud Product was deployed on cloud infrastructure, meaning it can scale with demand. The project's goal was to increase the industry's art asset production capacity from 69 million assets annually to 95 million. Integrations to leading game engines and 3D software were built and delivered.
Artomatix Limited, an Irish SME, is the sole owner of the technology. The software is available both as a cloud product and as a downloadable application with installers. As the only consortium partner, there are no shared IP complications — licensing terms would be directly with Artomatix.
The project specifically delivered integrations to leading game engines and 3D software as one of its key outputs. This means studios can plug the AI capabilities into their current workflows without replacing existing tools. Both cloud-based and local software versions were developed.
This is proven technology. The project delivered three distinct software products: game engine integrations, a cloud-deployed SaaS product, and a downloadable desktop application with installers. The SME-2 funding scheme specifically supports commercialization of market-ready innovations.
As a commercial software company with plans to grow to 123 full-time staff, Artomatix was building a sustained product business, not a one-off research prototype. The cloud-based delivery model enables continuous updates. Based on available project data, specific SLA or support terms would need to be discussed directly with the company.
This is a single-company project — Artomatix Limited, an Irish SME that received €1.47 million through the EU's SME Instrument Phase 2. The consortium is 100% industry with no academic or research partners, which signals this is pure commercialization rather than basic research. The absence of university partners means the core technology was already developed and the EU funding went toward product engineering, cloud deployment, and market entry. For a potential business customer, this means you're dealing with a focused product company, not a research lab trying to spin out technology.
Artomatix Limited is based in Ireland. Contact can be facilitated through SciTransfer's matchmaking service.
Want to explore how AI-powered 3D content creation can accelerate your studio's production pipeline? SciTransfer can arrange a direct introduction to the technology team and help evaluate fit for your specific workflow.
