Platform created by former Dimension and DNEG execs
Cascade, an AI-powered production platform, has launched its open beta.
Cascade uses a proprietary agentic AI framework to act as a “creative co-pilot” through production, with options to generate or develop scripts, storyboards, and short videos, as well as features such as voice cloning, timeline editing, and more. It hopes to open up production to smaller teams and lower budgets, much as Unreal Engine has helped gaming become open to independent developers.
Dimension co-founder and former co-CEO Simon Windsor, former lead of DNEG rendering and pipeline Junaid Baig, and technology entrepreneur, former CFO of Dimension Studio, and CEO of AI-focused investment firm Mollyroe PLC Darren Hopkins have founded Cascade, and it has also appointed games industry pioneer Dominic Wheatley, co-founder and former CEO of video game publisher Eidos, as chairman.
The platform has been in testing, with results including turning IP from a PDF into a three-minute video for pitching or ideation within four hours. A possible workflow could see a screenplay uploaded to Cascade, which turns it into a shooting script, and then is used to create visuals of characters, key props, and sets, before putting those into videos of each scene, keeping continuity throughout. These videos can then be put together in a timeline editing feature, before being used as they are for an animated short or used to plan for production, post-production or VFX.
For now, Cascade is a browser-based application using the cloud, but there are plans for a desktop version that can run locally on hardware later this year. It can currently export to the likes of Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve and others for further work on projects, with closer integrations expected in the desktop version.
Windsor, who is now CEO of Cascade, said: “Too many great stories never make it to screen – and we built Cascade to change that.
“We didn’t set out to build another AI generation tool. That’s not what the industry needs. What we’ve created is the all-in-one production environment we wished we’d had throughout our careers.
“The creativity has always been there, but what the industry has been missing is a platform that connects everything – one that supercharges high-grade production while respecting the creative process and helping storytellers bring ambitious ideas to life.
“That’s what Cascade is. The production platform modern storytelling has been waiting for. We’re redefining who can make films, how fast they can make them, and at what quality.”
The open beta of Cascade can be found here.
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