this post was submitted on 02 May 2026
767 points (99.5% liked)

Science Memes

20276 readers
2068 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.



Rules

  1. Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.
  4. Infographics welcome, get schooled.

This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.



Research Committee

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
 
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] AnchoriteMagus@sh.itjust.works 122 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks 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".

Edit - and if you're talking 3d modeling, greebling is done during sculpting, it's not a texturing step.

[–] snooggums@piefed.world 61 points 3 weeks 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 36 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

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

[–] otacon239@lemmy.world 23 points 3 weeks 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 3 points 3 weeks ago

Oh yeah. Forgot it was stabilised

[–] orvorn@slrpnk.net 29 points 3 weeks ago

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

[–] inconel@lemmy.ca 14 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks 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 11 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

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

[–] artifex@piefed.social 4 points 3 weeks 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 96 points 3 weeks 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 7 points 3 weeks ago

The definitive greebled cube.

[–] HAL_9_TRILLION@lemmy.dbzer0.com 46 points 3 weeks 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 9 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

it is. this is just word theft. ;p

[–] SirSamuel@lemmy.world 5 points 3 weeks 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 3 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks 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 3 weeks 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 3 weeks ago

“kinda”

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 1 points 3 weeks ago

cat

,maybe they can see the invisble cubes.

[–] Themosthighstrange@lemmy.world 21 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

i like the star trek borg cube texture instead personally

[–] Themosthighstrange@lemmy.world 36 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)
[–] LogicalDrivel@sopuli.xyz 29 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

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

memory unlocked

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 4 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

they changed it in voyager somewhat.

[–] Spezi@feddit.org 4 points 3 weeks ago

Wow, they named a spaceship after a lemmy client?

/s

[–] davidagain@lemmy.world 8 points 3 weeks ago

It's like a kind of reverse greeble.

[–] Sylvartas@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

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

[–] Infinite@lemmy.zip 8 points 3 weeks ago

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

[–] Smoogs@lemmy.world 19 points 3 weeks ago

And here I was calling it the Borg

[–] crank0271@lemmy.world 19 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

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

[–] jaybone@lemmy.zip 21 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

No dust in space because vacuum.

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 42 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] Commander_Keen@reddthat.com 15 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] davidagain@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

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

[–] Mesophar@pawb.social 7 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

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

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] SirSamuel@lemmy.world 15 points 3 weeks 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 21 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

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

[–] SirSamuel@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

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

[–] ClassIsOver@hexbear.net 10 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

They're half the reason people buy Nothing phones.

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] Vieric@piefed.social 9 points 3 weeks ago

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

[–] cosmicrookie@lemmy.world 9 points 3 weeks ago

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

[–] Hupf@feddit.org 9 points 3 weeks ago
[–] jaaake@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] FryHyde@lemmy.zip 3 points 3 weeks 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 3 weeks ago

Both of these statements match my understanding

[–] Frigg@hexbear.net 2 points 3 weeks 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 2 points 3 weeks ago

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