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Wonder Studio: this AI-powered tool might be a preview of the future of VFX

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Re: Wonder Studio: this AI-powered tool might be a preview of the future of VFX

#31

Post by pbhjpbhj »

eps wrote: post #15
anotheryou wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not? I see just two deceptions: 1. You can only choose from pre-build characters (the poster-style thumbnails of the characters implies something different) 2. I don't think you can actually move the camera (or just wiggle it a bit) They just carefully chained a bunch of things: - segmentation to isolate character - in-paint for character removal and a 360 HDR photo sphere for lighting - pose estimation (and some…

At 00:37 robot's hand is way thinner than the original actor's, but the missing parts of the background are perfectly reconstituted. I realize that Photoshop could do this few years ago, but here it looks a bit too flawless.

Perhaps I've misunderstood, but it looks to me like the actors are green-screened into a [cg] scene. I don't think the scene is real actors in a real setting, then modified to replace actors with characters. Thus, there's no problem with the in-painting, the whole actor is on a different layer?

I'm seeing it in my phone. Like I said, maybe I misunderstood, but the scenes didn't seem like real places (eg shot cropped so foot-shadows aren't included, as this is hard to get right in the composition).

Re: Wonder Studio: this AI-powered tool might be a preview of the future of VFX

#32

Post by achow »

tikkun wrote: post #24
achow wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not a VFX artist, but know lot of amateur weekend movie makers, also in the circle where 'concept videos' gets made for some or other tech proposals. This could be a disruptor for above two scenarios.

> also in the circle where 'concept videos' gets made for some or other tech proposals. What do you mean by this?

The videos which are made to show promise of a future due to investments in advanced R&D today.

These (concept) videos are made usually for client, exec presentations, or for trade shows etc. Ex. a healthcare company makes a video of 'Hospitals 2050' where they show sci-fi environment with nurse robots, transparent monitors etc. and how they still would be a leading player then because they are investing in some 'xyz advance med-tech' today.

Re: Wonder Studio: this AI-powered tool might be a preview of the future of VFX

#33

Post by samspenc »

KaoruAoiShiho wrote: post #23
Melatonic wrote: post #10

All of the examples are extremely easy shots. Anything complicated is likely still going to need real mocap type work. Also look at the faces of all of the characters - they have very little facial movement. Lipsync is much easier to visually match than something like subtle facial expressions. What this may do well is automate the low hanging fruit (easy shots) and provide a nice starting point. It also very well mi…

AI facial animations is just a half step away from this.

Are you sure? Facial MoCap (motion capture) and human dialogue is pretty hard to get right in animation, much harder than body mocap. I agree with some of the other comments that say that this is somewhat of an advancement over existing body animation tools but it doesn't show how it can solve face mocap.

For current tech that Wonder Studio is competing with, you would want to compare against Rokoko AI MoCap [1] and something like Plask [2], but I don't see anything that solves face mocap this easily just yet.

[1] https://www.rokoko.com/products/video [2] https://plask.ai/

Re: Wonder Studio: this AI-powered tool might be a preview of the future of VFX

#34

Post by samspenc »

bsenftner wrote: post #14
quadcore wrote: post #12

You guys say "no way it's real". I actually dont see what's difficult here (big short cut). It's like motion capture but AI finds and tracks the landmarks or "ping pong balls" on the actor for you. To be clear, the AI isnt rendering, the engine is rendering the character the AI helped to pose. The AI just says where the bones are essentially.

Former VFX developer/artist/analyst & VFX patent holder here. This is a combination of known techniques integrated with a nice UI. I expect current VFX studios are already past this point in their internal tools.

Posted this in another comment and re-wording, yeah this would be similar to something like Rokoko AI MoCap [1] and Plask [2], which are very close to this in terms of motion capture (mocap) but Wonder Studio seems to have added awareness of lighting and other features on top of basic mocap.

[1] https://www.rokoko.com/products/video [2] https://plask.ai/

Re: Wonder Studio: this AI-powered tool might be a preview of the future of VFX

#35

Post by bsenftner »

samspenc wrote: post #33
KaoruAoiShiho wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AI facial animations is just a half step away from this.

Are you sure? Facial MoCap (motion capture) and human dialogue is pretty hard to get right in animation, much harder than body mocap. I agree with some of the other comments that say that this is somewhat of an advancement over existing body animation tools but it doesn't show how it can solve face mocap. For current tech that Wonder Studio is competing with, you would want to compare against Rokoko AI MoCap [1] and…

You're not seeing anything because the facial mocap solutions are extremely widespread. Back in the 90's I remember software like Softimage's Face Robot having wide use at animation studios and that procedural softbody style being used because it allowed easy transitions between mocap, animator, and procedural controls. About 15 years ago FaceShift was the inspiration for many VFX houses to start their own ML groups to produce facial capture pipelines. The human face has had the most attention, and due to that the in-house facial animation pipelines are very hard to duplicate as commercial products - they are quite sophisticated, with reasons that make less sophisticated methods look pale where it matters: in the facial performance.

Re: Wonder Studio: this AI-powered tool might be a preview of the future of VFX

#37

Post by KaoruAoiShiho »

samspenc wrote: post #33
KaoruAoiShiho wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AI facial animations is just a half step away from this.

Are you sure? Facial MoCap (motion capture) and human dialogue is pretty hard to get right in animation, much harder than body mocap. I agree with some of the other comments that say that this is somewhat of an advancement over existing body animation tools but it doesn't show how it can solve face mocap. For current tech that Wonder Studio is competing with, you would want to compare against Rokoko AI MoCap [1] and…

Pretty sure it's just that nobody has gathered enough data and trained it yet.

Disclaimer: not in VFX, no idea what I'm talking about.

This guy seems pretty convinced though: https://youtu.be/Wv9tWxm5GcA?t=606

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