Why This Comparison Has No Universal Winner
TRELLIS.2, Meshy, and Hunyuan3D can all appear in an image-to-3D shortlist, but they are not static products. Hosted plans, model versions, free allowances, APIs, and output options change. Quality also depends heavily on the input category and the cleanup required after generation.
This guide does not claim that we ran a benchmark without publishing the inputs and results. It provides a repeatable way to choose for your workload.
Establish the Product Boundary
TRELLIS.2
Microsoft's current official release is a 4B image-to-3D model based on O-Voxel, with published 512³–1536³ modes, PBR materials, and an MIT License. Microsoft states that the code has been verified on A100 and H100 GPUs.
trellis-2.com is a separate hosted service that returns GLB and charges credits by selected resolution. Do not combine the hosted price with assumptions about self-hosting cost, and do not copy features from the older Microsoft TRELLIS release into TRELLIS.2.
Meshy and Hunyuan3D
Treat current capabilities, prices, licenses, APIs, and free usage as volatile. Capture screenshots or dated exports from each official product page when you run the evaluation. If you compare a hosted Meshy workflow with a self-hosted Hunyuan/TRELLIS workflow, include operator and infrastructure cost rather than calling the local path free.
Comparison Questions
| Area | Question |
|---|---|
| Input fit | Does the exact product/version support the image or text workflow you need? |
| Geometry | How often are hidden surfaces, thin parts, holes, and proportions acceptable? |
| Materials | Are PBR channels, seams, and texture resolution usable after export? |
| Output | Which files can actually be downloaded on the tested plan? |
| Reliability | What percentage of submissions reach a valid downloadable result? |
| Cost | What is the total cost per accepted asset, including failed jobs and cleanup? |
| Operations | Does the team prefer vendor-managed queues or self-hosted GPUs? |
| Privacy | What are upload retention, training, deletion, and local-processing terms? |
| Rights | What licenses and commercial-use terms apply to model, service, input, and output? |
| Integration | Are API, idempotency, rate limits, webhooks, and team controls sufficient? |
Test Three Different Input Cohorts
Do not average unrelated workloads into one score. Create separate cohorts:
- Product-like objects: clear silhouette, controlled lighting, known physical reference.
- Characters and concept art: stylized shape, thin details, symmetry, hidden surfaces.
- Difficult inputs: reflective/transparent materials, occlusion, multiple objects, cropped views.
Use at least 10 inputs per cohort. Keep failures and retries in the denominator.
Blind Review Rubric
Before generating, define pass criteria for:
- Overall silhouette from several angles
- Hidden-side plausibility
- Thin and disconnected components
- Mesh validity, normals, and scale
- Texture seams and material channels
- Destination-tool import
- Estimated cleanup time
Have reviewers inspect randomized files without product names. A five-star score without written anchors is not reproducible.
Cost Model
For hosted services, include subscription/credit spend, failed-job charges, and unused expiring credits. For self-hosting, include GPU time, electricity, storage, setup, monitoring, upgrades, and operator time.
cost per accepted asset =
(provider spend + infrastructure + operator time + cleanup time)
/ accepted assetsAlso track time to first accepted asset. A tool that needs no setup may be the practical choice for low volume even if its per-job price is higher.
Common Comparison Errors
- Using Microsoft's H100 model-runtime table as hosted end-to-end latency
- Calling self-hosting zero-cost
- Comparing different resolutions or texture settings
- Showing only the best seed or successful jobs
- Treating a GLB download as production-ready
- Publishing competitor prices without a review date
- Confusing TRELLIS.2 with the earlier TRELLIS model family
A Sensible First TRELLIS.2 Test
Run one clear object at 512, inspect every side, and import the GLB into the real destination software. The hosted workflow currently consumes 150 credits for 512, 300 for 1024, and 500 for 1536. Use higher resolution only when the first draft is directionally correct.