Ask HN: 'High level' asset creation tools for games?

The recent discussion on HN around the 'AAA' games development arms race got me thinking about how game engines are making all this graphical power available to us, yet at the same time creating the assets to go with those engines continues to be more expensive overall.

So, would love to hear about how asset tools are moving to be more 'high-level'. Say I want to make custom assets myself and I'm not an accomplished 3D modeler, what tools let me design good-looking assets without necessarily having to build them from scratch.

Things like: - MakeHuman for character models - Marvelous Designer for clothing - Terragen for outdoor landscapes

Would be interesting to hear from those out there as to what's available for things like: - Creating architecture/levels at a high level (where say you could just provide a floor-plan). - Creating textures and materials. - Creating good-looking props.

So, what tools are out there? What are some of the 'hidden gems'? More generally, where is asset-creation heading in this regard?