u/ZeroPotion

I feel like almost every designer and artist knows the two kinds of feedback you usually get... "looks sick" or nothing. And even when someone does try to give a real crit, they're stuck describing a spot in words, "the spacing near the top left, no, lower, by the heading," while you squint at your own piece trying to figure out what they mean. The feedback that would actually make the work better gets lost in translation.

I've been doing 2D and 3D art for years and this has bugged me forever, so I built a tool around it. The core idea is you pin comments directly onto the exact spot on the piece, and the pin stays anchored right there, whether it's an illustration, a layout, a UI mockup, or a 3D model. No more describing locations in paragraphs. You can also draw over the work for the stuff words can't cover, sketch the fix, mark the alignment, circle the thing that's bugging you. It handles 2D images and, if you work in 3D, it reads most model formats too (GLB/glTF, OBJ, FBX, STL) with pins that stay locked in place as you orbit.

It's early and I'm mostly here to find out if it's as useful to other people as it is to me, or if I've just built a very elaborate solution to my own pet peeve. Would love feedback from people who actually give crits, including "this already exists" or "wouldn't fit how I work."

voxol.io if anyone wants to check it out!

A little while back I shared a tool I made for getting critique on 3D work, where you pin feedback directly onto the model instead of trying to describe a spot in words. I honestly wasn't sure anyone would care. The post did way better than I expected, and the comments were full of people telling me what they'd want from it. So I spent the last few weeks actually building on that.

What's changed since then:

• It does 2D now, not just 3D. A lot of you said "cool for models, but I'm a 2D artist," so pinned critique and draw-overs work on illustrations and concept art too.
• Way better draw-over tools. I rebuilt the drawing tool basically from the ground up, it's a lot closer to working in Procreate or Photoshop now, so you can actually sketch corrections and paint over a piece properly instead of fighting a clunky brush.
• Preferred views on 3D models. As the creator you can set specific camera angles, the exact spots you want eyes on, and reviewers can jump straight to those views to leave feedback there. No more hoping someone finds the problem area on their own.
• A critique-back loop. Giving feedback is now built into the flow and rewarded, so it's a two-way thing instead of everyone just wanting crits on their own work. This is the part that's actually made the community feel collaborative rather than transactional.
• A free team tier. You and another artist (or another indie dev) can have a private space to share work and critique each other, without any of it being public. Meant for the small "hey look at this before I ship it" collaborations.
• The Strike List. It takes all the approved critiques on a piece and turns them into a clean, consolidated checklist you can work through as you iterate, then post new versions against. Basically turns a pile of feedback into a to-do list.

The thing that surprised me most: the critiques people leave are genuinely good. Specific, in-context, the kind of feedback that's actually hard to get anywhere else. There's a real little community forming now, and the feed's got a proper wall of work on it, people posting pieces and critiquing each other, and it's starting to feel less like a tool and more like a place.

Still early, always going to be free, and still figuring it out. A bunch of what shipped came straight from the comments on that first post, so if you were one of those people, thank you!! And if you're new to it: voxol.io. Would love more honest feedback, especially on the 2D side and the team spaces since those are the newest parts.

I'm a 3D character artist by trade and I've always found it kind of hard to get useful feedback on stuff I'm working on. You post a render and it's either "looks sweet" or nothing, and neither really tells you what to fix. I missed having real crits.

I ended up making a small tool around this and I honestly can't tell if it's useful or if I'm overthinking a problem that isn't really a problem.

The main thing it does is let people pin comments directly onto points on your 3D model, so the pins stay on the model as you rotate it instead of someone trying to describe a spot in words. You can also do draw overs for more nuanced feedback. It reads GLB/glTF, OBJ, FBX and STL, and there's a halfway decent viewer so you can actually turn the model around on web or mobile without it looking like crap.

That's pretty much it. It's early and it's just me poking at it.

Mostly posting because I'd rather hear from people who actually do critique whether this is worth continuing or whether it already exists / wouldn't fit how you work. Totally fine with "this is pointless," that's useful to know too. voxol.io if anyone's curious.

Something I keep hitting on the art side of Unity work: when a model needs a second pair of eyes before it goes in the project, the feedback usually happens over screenshots in a chat. And a screenshot flattens the exact thing you need to judge, you can't turn the asset around, so the note comes back as "the silhouette reads a bit off" pointing at a 2D frame instead of the spot on the mesh. Then you're trading more screenshots from more angles trying to triangulate what they meant.

The alternative is sending the actual FBX so they can open it themselves, but that means they need the software and the patience, so most of the time people just don't, and you're back to screenshots.

I'm curious how others handle this. Do you pass the file around anyway? Have a reviewer who'll just open it in Blender? Live-share over a call? Some workflow I'm not seeing?

I got annoyed enough that I started building a small tool where you drop a model (FBX, OBJ, glTF) and people can rotate it in the browser and pin a comment onto the exact point they mean, or draw over it, no engine or DCC app needed on their end. It's early and just me poking at it, and I can't tell yet whether it solves a shared problem or only mine, which is mostly why I'm asking rather than announcing.

So mainly: how do you get a model looked at properly before it ships into the project? And if rotating-and-pinning straight in a browser sounds useful, I'd like to know, but I'm more interested in how you're already solving it.

The tool is voxol.io for anyone that's curious.

If you model your own meshes or UGC for Roblox, you've probably hit this: you finish something in Blender, post it for feedback before bringing it into Studio, and get either "looks good" or nothing. Neither tells you what to actually fix.

I do a lot of 3D modeling and this bugged me enough that I built a small tool around it, and I honestly can't tell if it's useful or if it's a problem only I have.

What it does is let people pin a comment directly onto a spot on your model, so the pin sticks to that exact point as you rotate it instead of someone trying to describe "the thing near the left shoulder." You can also scribble a draw-over straight on the model when words aren't enough. It reads OBJ and FBX (plus GLB/glTF and STL), so it takes the same exports you'd pull out of Blender, and it works on web and mobile.

One thing to be clear about: it shows the raw model, not an in-Studio scene, so it's for critiquing the mesh itself, not your whole game.

It's early and it's just me poking at it. Mostly I want to hear from people who actually give and get feedback on this stuff, whether it'd be useful or whether it already exists / doesn't fit how you work. "This is pointless" is a completely fine answer too.

The tool is voxol.io for anyone that's curious.

Hi buds! If anyone has been looking to get feedback/critiques on the stuff they've been working on I recently made this tool so that I could give/get feedback on my illustrations from friends (drawing in the gif is by me). If you feel like checking it out I would love to jump in and see what you're making in and give some feedback! The goal is to get better together and I feel like this might help voxol.io

I'm a 3D character artist by trade and I've always found it kind of hard to get useful feedback on stuff I'm working on. You post a render and it's either "looks sweet" or nothing, and neither really tells you what to fix. I missed having real crits.

I ended up making a small tool around this and I honestly can't tell if it's useful or if I'm overthinking a problem that isn't really a problem.

The main thing it does is let people pin comments directly onto points on your 3D model, so the pins stay on the model as you rotate it instead of someone trying to describe a spot in words. You can also do draw overs for more nuanced feedback. It reads most game formats (GLB/glTF, OBJ, FBX and STL), and there's a halfway decent viewer so you can actually turn the model around on web or mobile without it looking like crap.

That's pretty much it. It's early and it's just me poking at it.

Mostly posting because I'd rather hear from people who actually do critique whether this is worth continuing or whether it already exists / wouldn't fit how you work. Totally fine with "this is pointless," that's useful to know too. voxol.io if anyone's curious.

I'm a 3D character artist by trade and I've always found it kind of hard to get useful feedback on stuff I'm working on. You post a render and it's either "looks sweet" or nothing, and neither really tells you what to fix. I missed having real crits.

I ended up making a small tool around this and I honestly can't tell if it's useful or if I'm overthinking a problem that isn't really a problem.

The main thing it does is let people pin comments directly onto points on your 3D model, so the pins stay on the model as you rotate it instead of someone trying to describe a spot in words. You can also do draw overs for more nuanced feedback. It reads GLB/glTF, OBJ, FBX and STL, and there's a halfway decent viewer so you can actually turn the model around on web or mobile without it looking like crap.

That's pretty much it. It's early and it's just me poking at it.

Mostly posting because I'd rather hear from people who actually do critique whether this is worth continuing or whether it already exists / wouldn't fit how you work. Totally fine with "this is pointless," that's useful to know too. voxol.io if anyone's curious.