this post was submitted on 02 May 2026
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Science Memes

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[–] AnchoriteMagus@sh.itjust.works 92 points 2 months 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 2 months 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 2 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] otacon239@lemmy.world 21 points 2 months 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 2 months ago

Oh yeah. Forgot it was stabilised

[–] orvorn@slrpnk.net 25 points 2 months 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 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months 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 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

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

[–] artifex@piefed.social 4 points 2 months 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 2 months 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 2 months ago

The definitive greebled cube.

[–] HAL_9_TRILLION@lemmy.dbzer0.com 33 points 2 months 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 2 months ago (1 children)

it is. this is just word theft. ;p

[–] SirSamuel@lemmy.world 6 points 2 months 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 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months 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 2 months 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 2 months ago

“kinda”

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[–] crank0271@lemmy.world 16 points 2 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] jaybone@lemmy.zip 18 points 2 months ago (1 children)

No dust in space because vacuum.

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

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

[–] Mesophar@pawb.social 7 points 2 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] davidagain@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

Understandable.

[–] Themosthighstrange@lemmy.world 16 points 2 months ago (3 children)

i like the star trek borg cube texture instead personally

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

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

memory unlocked

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

they changed it in voyager somewhat.

[–] Spezi@feddit.org 3 points 2 months ago

Wow, they named a spaceship after a lemmy client?

/s

[–] davidagain@lemmy.world 6 points 2 months ago

It's like a kind of reverse greeble.

[–] Sylvartas@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

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

[–] Infinite@lemmy.zip 5 points 2 months ago

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

[–] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 1 points 2 months ago

Reverse greebled?

[–] Smoogs@lemmy.world 13 points 2 months ago

And here I was calling it the Borg

[–] SirSamuel@lemmy.world 10 points 2 months 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 2 months ago (1 children)

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

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

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

[–] Vieric@piefed.social 5 points 2 months ago

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

[–] cosmicrookie@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago

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

[–] Hupf@feddit.org 4 points 2 months ago
[–] ClassIsOver@hexbear.net 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

They're half the reason people buy Nothing phones.

[–] vala@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[–] jaaake@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[–] FryHyde@lemmy.zip 3 points 2 months 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 2 months ago

Both of these statements match my understanding

[–] Frigg@hexbear.net 2 points 2 months 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 2 months ago

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