Approaches presented herein provide for automatic generation of representative two-dimensional (2D) images for three-dimensional (3D) objects or assets. In generating these 2D images, a set of options is determined such as may relate to viewpoint or other parameters of a virtual camera. A set of sample points is determined from which to generate 2D images of a 3D model, for example, with 2D images being processed using a classifier to determine which of these images generates a classification with highest confidence or probability, individually or with respect to other classifications. The sample point for this selected image can then be used to select nearby sample points as part of a refinement or optimization process, where 2D images can again be generated and processed using a classifier to identify a 2D image with highest classification probability or confidence, which can be selected as representative of the 3D object or asset.