Where do we draw the line on what is and isn't slop Art?

What happens when we use generative AI to modify coarse, deliberately editable, “deterministic” parts of art? Is that slop? I honestly don’t know where to draw the line. Let me go into an example.

Link and Sheik models in T-poses in Blender
Hyrule's best

I’m making a romhack for Ocarina of Time using the Ship of Harkinian native PC port. Problem number 1 is to make Sheik a playable character. To do that, we need new rigging and animations, which Blender is the best tool for. Blender also has an MCP plugin. At what point does using Blender with an agent make this whole thing slop?

I’ve made a list of agent actions I could conceivably do. You can help me decide whether each one is slop or not.

Rate each agent action as not slop, unsure, or slop.
Action This is... My vote
Prompting an agent to set up my Blender and Visual Studio workspace
—
Asking an agent where certain items are in Blender menus
—
Asking an agent what the steps and workflow would be for mapping Sheik's model to Link's walking animation
—
Prompting an agent to import the Link and Sheik models into a blender project
—
Prompting an agent to set Sheik's pose as the first frame of her idle animation, so her model goes from folded up in a pretzel to standing upright
—
Prompting an agent to move Sheik's model into a T-pose (I am here)
—
Prompting an agent to align Sheik's model with Link's position, orientation, and scale
—
Prompting an agent to map Link's joints to Sheik's mesh, using Sheik's current joints as a reference
—
Prompting an agent to modify Link's walking animation so the arms are closer to the body
—
Prompting an agent to generate a custom joint skeleton for Sheik's mesh, using both Link's joints and Sheik's current joints as a reference
—
Prompting an agent to put existing fire graphics around a new attack animation I made by hand
—
Prompting an agent to generate a brand new walking animation for Sheik, using Link's walking animation as a reference
—
Prompting an agent to generate a brand new attack animation for Sheik, using a video of Super Smash Bros Melee as reference
—
Prompting an agent to generate a brand new attack animation for Sheik of a new attack I just thought of
—
Prompting an agent to write dialogue for the romhack
—

There’s way more agent actions that could be done than just what I listed, and this is only for one specific aspect of this project.

I think it’s important to show a level of care in art we create with the goal of iliciting some feeling. To me, that’s all art is. I also think there are areas where it’s not clear whether modern tools remove that level of care. The line will probably change over time. Right now the only thing I can do is trust my taste to guide me in making something of high quality.




Enjoy Reading This Article?

Here are some more articles you might like to read next:

  • The Weekend Free Time Paradox
  • Observations in swimming no one talks about
  • Collaboration is the key to my productivity
  • Winning the Bridge to Bridge swim
  • Magellan Swim Challenge