The spectre of AI in the VFX industry is growing, but is it really viable? CG tools and software, like, have always aimed to enable artists to do more in less time. With the maker of 3ds Max researching its ownBut how, when and why will AI be used for creating visual effects and 3D animation? As part of ourI've put together a snapshot of what the industry thinks, by asking those working in it to for their views.
"If you click on something 20 times to accomplish a task, an AI tool that comes in to help solve that may require only five clicks instead of 20. Over time, over the development of an asset, that can help be a huge gain in efficiency," explains AJ.
According to AJ there are limitations to AI that can't match a human artist, such as the subtly of ideas in concepts and designs. He tells me:"It won't be able to take the nuance from three pages of the script earlier, apply that detail to make that one reference, to that one object that should be in the corner, because it was referenced in the script two pages later; all that needs to still be done by humans."Animation is another sector where AI is making a big impression.
The team has experimented with using Stable Diffusion, again not for commercial or client projects, and did so by running it locally on their own machines, building in different extensions and investigating ways to use it."In a way, that felt like the prototype for what AI needs to be," comments James."It should be something where you can customise it and build around it in a way that makes sense for the projects that you're working on.