Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer a vertical in itself. Instead, it has become an essentail tool across industries. A key industry that it has impacted significantly is animation. This has ushered in a new style of storytelling, visual aesthetics, and creative possibilities. The technology is reshaping the landscape of cartoons, movies, and interactive experiences.

But first: Why do We Need AI in Animation

There are several benefits to using AI in animation. These include the following -

• Efficiency in Production: Animation involves the intricate process of creating frame-by-frame animations demands time and resources. AI steps in by automating repetitive tasks and allowing animators to focus on the essence of their craft — creative storytelling. From character design to scene composition, AI streamlines the production pipeline, ensuring that the creative vision is realized with greater efficiency.
• Meeting Growing Demand: The demand for animated content has surged across various platforms, from streaming services to video games. This surge poses a challenge for animators to produce high-quality content at an unprecedented pace. As the appetite for animated content continues to grow, the need for AI becomes more evident in maintaining both quantity and quality.
• Enhanced Visual Realism: Achieving realism in animation, especially in character movements and facial expressions, has been a longstanding challenge. AI, with its ability to analyze and mimic human actions, is a game-changer in bridging the gap between the animated and the real.
• Cost-Effective Innovation: The advent of AI introduces cost-effective alternatives for experimentation and innovation. AI algorithms can generate procedural animations and automate certain aspects of the production process, significantly reducing costs.
• Personalized Storytelling: The era of one-size-fits-all storytelling is giving way to personalized narratives that resonate with individual preferences. AI analyzes user data, including viewing habits and content preferences, to tailor animated experiences for each viewer.

5 Companies Working on AI in Animation

Although this space is new, there are companies that are working on solutions in this.

• Kinetix for boosting game’s engagement
• Deep Motion for 3D animations from video
• Wonder Dynamics for animation CG characters
• RADiCAL for 3D motion animation
• Plask for video animation

Kinetix

Kinetix empowers self-expression in the Metaverse with artificial intelligence and no code tools allowing everyone to create 3D animations. Kinetix’s SDK and APIs help users integrate the world’s largest emote library (avatar animations) and user-generated emote capabilities in your game with just a few lines of code. Players can also record or upload a video to create a unique emote in games and play the emote on their avatar. This helps companies boost player engagement, supercharge social interactions and generate revenue.

Deep Motion

DeepMotion is building a motion intelligence platform for digital humans and virtual creatures powered by deep learning in the cloud. The company creates innovative animations with human body expressions without heavy motion capture gear, and has the ability to extract classic human motion from videos on the internet

Wonder Dynamics

Wonder Dynamics develops and combines AI technology with storytelling. The tools of modern cinema have become increasingly accessible to independent and even amateur filmmakers, but realistic CG characters have remained the province of big-budget projects. Wonder Dynamics aims to change that with a platform that lets creators drag and drop a CG character into any scene as if it was professionally captured and edited.

RADiCAL

RADiCAL is a software-only motion capture solution to support modern 3D content pipelines. RADiCAL’s AI delivers near-universal availability, seamless integration and speed — all at low cost. RADiCAL was founded to develop a computer vision technology focused on detecting and reconstructing 3D human motion from 2D content. The company aims to implement the technology across mobile, web and enterprise environments, seamlessly powering 3D animation in film, TV, art, gaming, AR/VR, as well as industrial and health applications.

Plask

Plask allows users to capture, edit, playback, and share animations on a browser, making it easy and convenient to use. With Plask, users can extract moving motion just from video, without the need for expensive bodysuits or motion work. This feature allows users to reduces the cost and time required to create high-quality animations.

Endnotes

AI and animation have a symbiotic relationship where embracing AI is not just an option but a necessity. From fostering efficiency and meeting rising demands to enhancing visual realism and enabling cost-effective innovation, the integration of AI in animation is a journey towards building stories that are even more captivating and universally resonant.

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