this post was submitted on 02 May 2026
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Science Memes

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[–] AnchoriteMagus@sh.itjust.works 92 points 1 month ago (6 children)

Forgiveness for my pedantry, but pretty sure a greeble (or greeblie) is the individual plastic details that they would glue on to create the texture, not the texture itself.

You wouldn't say a texture is "greeble".

[–] snooggums@piefed.world 53 points 1 month ago

It seems to use a similar naming convention as stucco, where the thing that is applied shares the name with the resulting texfure.

[–] RustyNova@lemmy.world 27 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Blender modeler here. We often do grebble in geometry nodes. Not sculpting

[–] otacon239@lemmy.world 21 points 1 month ago (1 children)

You could also theoretically do it in the texturing step with a displacement modifier using the new(er) dynamic scaling.

[–] RustyNova@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

Oh yeah. Forgot it was stabilised

[–] orvorn@slrpnk.net 25 points 1 month ago

To be pedantic in return - in 3D modeling you absolutely can add greebling as a bump map or tessellation texture.

[–] inconel@lemmy.ca 10 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I get where you're coming from but texture in layman term is (microscopic) characteristic of the surface. You wouldn't appreciate crisp 16bit RGBA pixels in your mouth when you bite an apple.

[–] Klear@quokk.au 9 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

It's texture as in surface quality, not the meaning used in computer rendering.

[–] artifex@piefed.social 4 points 1 month ago

In the late 1990s I wrote an Alias|Wavefront plugin called greeble that built a bump field + height field from texture so artists could paint greebles on by hand, so whether or not that’s the proper way to do it, it’s been a texture thing for a long time.

[–] MoonMelon@lemmy.ml 78 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Back in the days where they used miniatures to do spaceships sometimes the vfx dept. would take model kits and glue the entire plastic sheet, sprues and all, to the miniature. You know, like this.

[–] GraniteM@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

The definitive greebled cube.

[–] HAL_9_TRILLION@lemmy.dbzer0.com 33 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Huh. I thought it was the invisible things that only cats can see that makes them kinda crazy.

[–] TacoButtPlug@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

it is. this is just word theft. ;p

[–] SirSamuel@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The term "greeblies" was coined by George Lucas in the 1970s to describe details on model ships used in the production of Star Wars

;-P

[–] TacoButtPlug@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

well George stole it from cats. I don't have proof but it's what cats would want.

[–] SirSamuel@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

That's… that's 100% believable. After all, he stole Chewbacca from Russian (собака)

As we say when we're camping with no signal, I don't have the Internet, so it must be true

[–] jaybone@lemmy.zip 4 points 1 month ago

“kinda”

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[–] crank0271@lemmy.world 16 points 1 month ago (1 children)

So in the future, have they also solved the problem of "dust"? Those poor cleaners...

[–] jaybone@lemmy.zip 18 points 1 month ago (1 children)

No dust in space because vacuum.

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 31 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] Commander_Keen@reddthat.com 12 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] davidagain@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

That's @Kolanaki@pawb.social you're taking to there.

[–] Mesophar@pawb.social 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

No, it's MegaMaid. She's gone from suck to blow

[–] davidagain@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

Understandable.

[–] Themosthighstrange@lemmy.world 16 points 1 month ago (3 children)

i like the star trek borg cube texture instead personally

[–] Themosthighstrange@lemmy.world 27 points 1 month ago (2 children)
[–] LogicalDrivel@sopuli.xyz 22 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Its the physical manifestation of the old pipes screen saver from windows 95.

memory unlocked

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

they changed it in voyager somewhat.

[–] Spezi@feddit.org 3 points 1 month ago

Wow, they named a spaceship after a lemmy client?

/s

[–] davidagain@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

It's like a kind of reverse greeble.

[–] Sylvartas@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

As far as I know it's also considered greeble, the term was just coined later

[–] Infinite@lemmy.zip 5 points 1 month ago

It was coined by ILM in the 70s, a smidge before the Borg.

[–] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 month ago

Reverse greebled?

[–] Smoogs@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago

And here I was calling it the Borg

[–] SirSamuel@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Is there a special name for electronic doodads in sci-fi? Like the control panels in the Millennium Falcon or Luthen's radio switchboard in Andor. Shoot, Mother's room in Alien is another example. It's like the electronic version of greebles on a starship model. Do they have a special name as well?

[–] GraniteM@lemmy.world 14 points 1 month ago (1 children)

That whole aesthetic is cassette futurism, as distinct from the glass touchscreens of Star Trek TNG.

[–] SirSamuel@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Oh yeah! I forgot that was a thing. Tx ^^

[–] Vieric@piefed.social 5 points 1 month ago

The Great Greeble Assimilation was a very important milestone for the Borg.

[–] cosmicrookie@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

You will be assimilated. Your biological and technological distinctiveness will be added to our own. Resistance is futile.

[–] Hupf@feddit.org 4 points 1 month ago
[–] ClassIsOver@hexbear.net 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

They're half the reason people buy Nothing phones.

[–] vala@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] jaaake@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] FryHyde@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I knew Ron Thornton for awhile. He said nurnies were digital and greebles were physical, but most other people I've known have used them interchangeably.

[–] jaaake@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

Both of these statements match my understanding

[–] Frigg@hexbear.net 2 points 1 month ago

Greebles! An important part of making miniature models, here's a great video with examples: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otvDWcDVeac

[–] CorvidCawder@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 month ago

There was even a pretty cool plugin for Cinema4D with that same name IIRC.