Trellis-mac Sculpts 3D Models From Photos On Apple Silicon
The new trellis-mac project enables native image-to-3D model generation on Apple Silicon computers. By adapting a previously Windows-only pipeline, the tool converts single photographs into detailed mesh assets with physically based surface data.
Developer Shivampkumar rebuilt the necessary computing layers to remove the strict requirement for dedicated graphics cards. Privacy-focused studios and independent creators can now run the complete workflow locally without transmitting files to external cloud services.
Capabilities for local mesh generation
- Transforms a single photograph into a 400,000-vertex mesh with baked lighting and material maps.
- Replaces Windows-specific libraries with custom acceleration for Apple processors.
- Exports ready-to-use GLB files containing base color, metal, and roughness channels.
- Supports adjustable pipeline resolutions to balance quality against processing speed.
- Includes a software-only fallback for machines that lack the complete Xcode toolchain.
Professionals handling sensitive visual materials can use this pipeline to quickly draft digital prototypes from simple reference images. Keeping the entire operation offline ensures that proprietary designs never leave the local machine while still allowing rapid iteration cycles.
Technical limitations and workflow notes
The port requires several specific adjustments to maintain acceptable performance on consumer hardware. Users must account for thermal management, as sustained heavy computation can slow processing times by up to ten times if the processor heats up during extended use.
The team also disabled a background hole-filling routine because it triggered system crashes on larger geometry outputs.
"Not as fast as H100 but works offline with zero Cloud cost,"
said the developer in a post. You can access the trellis-mac repository on GitHub.
