Featured MEdia
Supply Chains

The media and entertainment industry is rapidly transforming, with AI now central to VFX and animation production, from ideation to final rendering. This shift is democratizing content creation; AI tools like Autodesk Flow Studio (formerly Wonder Studio), RunwayML, OpenAI Sora, and Luma AI empower smaller teams (nearly 70% of new AI studios have five or fewer members) to achieve high-end results. For instance, DeepMotion Animate 3D enables motion capture from standard video, and Autodesk’s MotionMaker in Maya can cut animation time by over 60%. Major productions are actively leveraging AI: Wētā FX used AI in

Better Man and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, DNEG employed its Ziva technology in Godzilla x Kong and The Garfield Movie, and Metaphysic utilized real-time de-aging in Here and Furiosa.

AI VFX Is Democratizing Content Creation

AI-powered tools like Autodesk Flow Studio (formerly Wonder Studio), RunwayML, OpenAI Sora, and Luma AI are leveling the playing field. Nearly 70% of new AI studios are run by teams of five or fewer, delivering work once only possible for large, well-funded companies. For example, DeepMotion Animate 3D allows motion capture from regular videos, while Autodesk’s MotionMaker in Maya can cut animation time by over 60%.

These tools are being actively used across film, television, and gaming. High-profile examples include:

• Wētā FX’s use of AI in Better Man and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,

• DNEG’s Ziva technology in Godzilla x Kong and The Garfield Movie, and

• Metaphysic’s real-time de-aging tools in Here and Furiosa.

At the same time, top VFX companies are increasing their use of AI in major productions, signaling wide-scale adoption across the industry.

Who’s Leading the Charge?

In the past 18 months, the most prolific VFX companies—based on the number of completed projects—include:

These companies, alongside others like PixStone, Wētā FX, Rodeo FX, and ReDefine, are handling massive workloads while adapting their pipelines to include AI tools.

New Innovators in AI for VFX & Animation

• RunwayML: Offers AI tools for video generation and manipulation, including motion brush and style transfer, streamlining VFX and animation workflows.
• OpenAI (Sora): This text-to-video AI model generates realistic and imaginative scenes from text, poised to revolutionize asset generation and ideation.
• Luma AI (Dream Machine): Focuses on generating 3D content and realistic videos from diverse inputs, empowering creators with minimal resources. It creates 3D scenes from photos/videos with photorealism and integrates with Unreal Engine.
• Metaphysic: Specializes in real-time de-aging and hyperreal digital humans, enabling real-time feedback on de-aged performances in films like Here and Furiosa.
• DeepMotion: DeepMotion Animate 3D converts 2D videos into 3D animations, simplifying motion capture without specialized gear.
• Krikey AI: Provides an AI animation generator that transforms text or videos into 3D character animations, offering a 3D animation editor for facial expressions and custom avatars.
• PentoPix: Offers a text-to-video solution for previsualization, converting scripts into 3D animated videos, aiming to save up to 80% of pre-production time and budget.
• Google (Flow): Google’s new AI filmmaking tool, Flow, enhances storytelling with Veo 3, featuring camera controls, Scenebuilder for seamless editing, and asset management.
• Genie Studio: Allows users to generate expressive and diverse 3D characters, objects, and environments from text prompts, accelerating asset creation for animation and gaming.

Established Software Giants Integrating AI:

• Adobe: A long-standing leader in creative software, Adobe is rapidly integrating AI across its Creative Cloud suite.
  • Adobe After Effects: AI-powered features are enhancing motion tracking, rotoscoping, and content-aware fill for more efficient VFX workflows. Generative Fill in After Effects, for example, allows artists to expand scenes or remove objects seamlessly.
  • Adobe Photoshop: AI tools like Generative Fill and Generative Expand are being used for rapid asset creation, background generation, and image manipulation, which can then be brought into VFX and animation pipelines.
  • Adobe Premiere Pro: AI features assist with automatic transcription, audio ducking, and enhanced editing suggestions, streamlining post-production.

• Autodesk: A cornerstone in 3D design and animation.
  • Autodesk Maya: Already mentioned, its MotionMaker tool significantly reduces animation time. AI is further integrated into character rigging, physics simulations, and rendering optimizations.
  • Autodesk Flow (formerly Wonder Studio): This platform allows creators to animate, light, and compose CG characters into live-action scenes automatically from a single camera. This democratizes complex VFX once requiring extensive human effort.

• Unreal Engine (Epic Games): A powerful real-time 3D creation tool increasingly central to film, television, and gaming.
  • MetaHuman Creator: Utilizes AI to enable rapid creation of photorealistic digital humans, drastically cutting down the time and expertise required for realistic character modeling and rigging for animation and virtual production.
  • Nanite & Lumen: While not strictly AI, these technologies leverage computational power to render incredibly detailed environments and realistic lighting in real-time, crucial for virtual production stages and contributing to AI-driven virtual world creation.
  • Machine Learning (ML) Cloth Simulation: Unreal Engine incorporates ML to create highly realistic cloth simulations that react dynamically to character movement, enhancing animation quality.

• DaVinci Resolve (Blackmagic Design): Primarily known for color grading, DaVinci Resolve has expanded into a comprehensive post-production suite with strong AI integration.
  • Magic Mask: An AI-powered tool that allows for quick and precise isolation of subjects for color grading or effects, streamlining rotoscoping-like tasks.
  • Neural Engine: Drives various AI features across the platform, including facial recognition for organization, speed warp for re-timing footage with smooth interpolation, and smart reframing for optimizing shots for different aspect ratios.

• Toon Boom Harmony: A leading software for 2D animation, Harmony is also beginning to explore AI integration.
  • While specific AI features are still emerging, Harmony is looking into AI-assisted in-betweening, automated coloring, and AI-powered tools for character rigging to accelerate traditional 2D animation workflows. The goal is to reduce repetitive tasks and allow animators to focus more on creative aspects.

Evolving Workforce & Workflow

AI is redefining roles; alongside traditional animators, new positions like “prompt engineers” and “AI-integrated art directors” are emerging. Hybrid pipelines, merging traditional and AI-generated elements, are now standard. AI augments artists rather than replacing them: DNEG’s Ziva Face enables real-time muscle and skin simulations, greatly benefiting realistic character animation. AI automates repetitive tasks like rotoscoping, motion tracking, and in-betweening, leading to substantial time savings (e.g., 20-65% for rotoscoping depending on the genre). It also aids in physics simulations, real-time rendering, image recognition for scene analysis and annotations, and AI-driven style transfer.

Future Outlook

From real-time de-aging to virtual humans in gaming, AI is already reshaping what’s possible in VFX. Platforms like OpenAI Sora and Luma Dream Machine are empowering creators with minimal resources to produce high-quality content.

With VFX powerhouses like ILM, DNEG, and Framestore integrating these technologies into blockbuster films and high-end series, the trend is clear: AI is not a future disruption—it’s today’s production standard.

---

Click here for more such insights.