Meet "The Cutting Room Floor" - a nostalgic, early-2000s 3D hardware archive meant to preserve creative ideas that deserve a second life ✨

"The Cutting Room Floor" is a visual tribute to the nostalgia of early 2000s tech 💿

The current build features an interactive 3D display vault housing the generated creative assets, fully realized in a vibrant, glossy, vintage "Bondi Blue" iMac G3 aesthetic 💙

As for future plans, I want to work on an integration with a web backend (like Bubble) to turn this into a living community engine where users can submit their own half-finished projects and ideas directly onto the shelves 💡

I utilized Omma Studio to generate customized, low-poly 3D objects, and Omma Canvas to create the scene, featuring the cabinet with the thick horizontal glass shelves and top-down spotlights ⭐

Here's the live interactive build: https://omma.build/p/the-cutting-room-floor-ambient-archive-fw4i12

What I learned: one of my biggest takeaways from this project was decoding how to communicate with Omma when it comes to prompting. I typically talk to AIs casually, like I’m brainstorming with a friend, but I found Omma does better with direct, clear, non-ambiguous instructions 😜

Stunning work!

"Automate the skills you are willing to lose."

That quote just changed my life.

I've had an internal battle for the past few years. I've wanted to learn 3D, but I've never had the discipline to finish a project—or even a course. I always end up feeling guilty, like I've wasted my time or money.

I've realized that one of my biggest problems is that I don't have the patience for the level of detail that I admire so much in 3D. I admire 3D artists because they have the mindset to perfect even the smallest details to make a render look incredible, even if no one else notices them.

So every time I started a 3D tutorial, I'd get frustrated when I couldn't achieve that "perfect" result. Eventually, I'd quit and tell myself, "This isn't for me."

With AI, of course, everything becomes easier and faster—or at least much easier and faster compared to traditional 3D workflows. When I started using AI, I was excited that I could create these complex ideas in minutes, and the results were fantastic.

But after two years of working with AI, I've realized that I want to create more ambitious projects using hybrid filmmaking techniques. And I've also realized that even though I could make them entirely with AI, I still want to learn and use 3D software like Unreal Engine.

I've trained my brain to expect everything to be easy and fast, and I've forgotten the value of the struggle.

I say "easy and fast" because, to deliver truly high-quality work with AI, you still need to know what you're doing. You need an understanding of cinematic language, a clear creative vision, patience, and the willingness to iterate over and over again.

After watching this conference by Blender Guru (I still don't think I ever finished that freaking donut 😢), I realized, after reading that final quote, that there's a way for me to use 3D software without feeling like I'm dying in the process... again.

Modeling makes me anxious and stressed. But whenever I worked on texturing and lighting in 3D, I absolutely loved it.

So I've decided to use AI to create and model the things that would normally take me days, reducing them to minutes or hours, and then spend my time perfecting the parts I genuinely enjoy—lighting, texturing, compositing, and bringing everything together.

I know a lot of people will probably disagree with me because modeling is at the heart of 3D.

And honestly... I wish I had that passion. Believe me.

But I don't actually want to become a 3D artist.

I deeply admire 3D artists. I admire VFX artists. But it's not my passion.

I think this has always been an internal struggle of mine. Whenever I start learning something new, I feel like I have to abandon everything else and make that new thing my identity.

But that's not true.

For me, 3D isn't the destination.

I'll continue to admire the artistry, craftsmanship, and dedication of 3D and VFX artists with all my heart. But for me, 3D is a tool—a powerful one—not the engine that drives my creativity.

And maybe that's okay.

Automate the skills you're willing to lose, so you can spend more time mastering the ones you truly love. Watch the video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vB3JXzewx0 maybe you can enjoy it as well 😉 The skills that I want to master and perfect over time are: - Speaking with confidence - Storytelling - Write better What is the point of having a perfect 3D scene with the greatest textures if I can’t even pronounce a simple line? Not everything has to be technical. We are the main project of our lives.

Automate what drains you, never what builds you. Going back to the 3D by hand then?