diff --git a/BENCHMARKS.md b/BENCHMARKS.md
index fe7aa9e..2349b2e 100644
--- a/BENCHMARKS.md
+++ b/BENCHMARKS.md
@@ -448,3 +448,30 @@ monster/trellis-2-mrp-mlx to ~/trellis2-mlx + scripts/setup_macos.sh
 (no HF login needed on workers). Both Ultras now serve the fastest
 local TRELLIS.2 in existence. TRELLIS.2 fleet: m3 primary (72s),
 m1 second lane (182s), zero dollars per asset.
+
+## 2026-07-22 — trellis_mac closes the fal quality gap (m3ultra, black-model image, seed 0, pipeline 1024)
+
+Root-caused why local GLBs looked far worse than fal's TRELLIS.2 despite the
+same 4B weights. Two independent bugs, neither in the diffusion (local decode
+was already 2.23M tris / 101s):
+
+1. **Decimation ceiling.** generate.py's `TRELLIS2_MAX_BAKE_FACES=200000`
+   laptop mtlbvh guard + o_voxel's cleanup pass (dup/degenerate removal +
+   small-component pruning) crushed every model to exactly **94,535 faces**
+   (fal ships ~495k). The 23× pre-bake simplify also shredded thin shells —
+   hair fragments then got deleted by `remove_small_connected_components`.
+   Fix: cap raised to **500k → 351,898-face GLB**, bake 7s→14s, no Metal
+   watchdog crash on the M3 Ultra Studio. Now the operator default
+   (`max_bake_faces` param; drop to 200k on laptops).
+
+2. **Speckle-veil alpha.** o_voxel's Metal baker samples the decoder's alpha
+   attr noisily (same family as the 07-19 dark-patch bug); any texel <250
+   flips the material to BLEND → solid hair renders as a transparent speckle
+   veil, "broken face". Fix: generate.py now rewrites the exported GLB to
+   `alphaMode=OPAQUE` by default (`TRELLIS2_ALPHA_MODE=auto` keeps baked
+   alpha for glassy subjects; `alpha_mode` operator param).
+
+Verified in Blender side-by-side (old 95k / new 352k opaque / fal 495k):
+face + hair now read at fal level. Remaining deltas vs fal: slightly fuller
+fal hair (try `max_bake_faces=1000000`), and the known Metal dark-patch
+texels (workaround: `baker=vertex`). Also wired `steps` param passthrough.
diff --git a/server/operators/trellis_mac/manifest.json b/server/operators/trellis_mac/manifest.json
index e97356a..99ed0bc 100644
--- a/server/operators/trellis_mac/manifest.json
+++ b/server/operators/trellis_mac/manifest.json
@@ -14,7 +14,11 @@
       "pipeline_type": {"type": "string", "enum": ["512", "1024", "1024_cascade"], "default": "1024", "description": "Resolution tier (1024_cascade = highest quality on Mac)"},
       "texture_size": {"type": "integer", "enum": [512, 1024, 2048], "default": 2048, "description": "Baked texture resolution"},
       "seed": {"type": "integer", "default": 0, "description": "Random seed"},
-      "no_texture": {"type": "boolean", "default": false, "description": "Geometry only (skip texture stage, much faster)"}
+      "no_texture": {"type": "boolean", "default": false, "description": "Geometry only (skip texture stage, much faster)"},
+      "max_bake_faces": {"type": "integer", "enum": [200000, 500000, 1000000], "default": 500000, "description": "Pre-bake simplify cap. 500k ≈ fal parity, verified crash-free on the M3 Ultra (2026-07-22); drop to 200k on laptops (mtlbvh guard)"},
+      "steps": {"type": "integer", "default": 0, "description": "Sampler steps override for all 3 flow phases (0 = pipeline default, 12)"},
+      "baker": {"type": "string", "enum": ["", "vertex"], "default": "", "description": "'vertex' = KDTree vertex-color bake (dark-patch workaround, no PBR maps)"},
+      "alpha_mode": {"type": "string", "enum": ["opaque", "auto"], "default": "opaque", "description": "opaque = force alphaMode OPAQUE in the GLB (fixes speckle-veil hair from noisy baked alpha); auto = keep o_voxel's BLEND detection for glassy subjects"}
     }
   }
 }
diff --git a/server/operators/trellis_mac/run.py b/server/operators/trellis_mac/run.py
index bb2b8ba..7b083f4 100644
--- a/server/operators/trellis_mac/run.py
+++ b/server/operators/trellis_mac/run.py
@@ -34,6 +34,8 @@ cmd = [
 ]
 if p.get("no_texture"):
     cmd.append("--no-texture")
+if p.get("steps"):
+    cmd += ["--steps", str(p["steps"])]
 
 env = os.environ.copy()
 # xet chunked downloader fails on these BFL/Meta repos ("Unable to parse string
@@ -43,6 +45,22 @@ env["HF_HUB_DISABLE_XET"] = "1"
 env["KMP_DUPLICATE_LIB_OK"] = "TRUE"
 env.setdefault("OMP_NUM_THREADS", "1")
 env.setdefault("MKL_NUM_THREADS", "1")
+# Pre-bake simplify cap. The 200k generate.py default is a laptop-derived
+# mtlbvh guard that costs most of the mesh detail (2.2M-tri decode → 95k GLB
+# vs fal's 495k). 500k verified crash-free on the M3 Ultra Studio 2026-07-22.
+# The server passes only client-sent params (manifest defaults are UI-only),
+# so default here, sized by node RAM: big-memory Studios get the quality cap.
+if p.get("max_bake_faces") is not None:
+    env["TRELLIS2_MAX_BAKE_FACES"] = str(p["max_bake_faces"])
+else:
+    mem_gb = os.sysconf("SC_PAGE_SIZE") * os.sysconf("SC_PHYS_PAGES") / 1e9
+    env.setdefault("TRELLIS2_MAX_BAKE_FACES", "500000" if mem_gb >= 96 else "200000")
+if p.get("baker"):
+    env["TRELLIS2_BAKER"] = str(p["baker"])
+# "auto" keeps o_voxel's baked-alpha BLEND detection (glass etc.); default
+# opaque — the Metal baker's noisy alpha turns solid hair into speckles.
+if p.get("alpha_mode"):
+    env["TRELLIS2_ALPHA_MODE"] = str(p["alpha_mode"])
 
 print("+", " ".join(cmd), flush=True)
 print("(first run downloads TRELLIS.2-4B + dinov3 + RMBG-2.0 weights)", flush=True)