Wētā & AWS to develop AI VFX tools

Wētā FX and AWS have partnered to jointly develop a series of AI tools for use in VFX.

Examples given of tools that could be created by the pair include expanding AI-driven human motion creators to other creatures, and more generally they will aim to develop, ”AI-enabled workflows within artist-driven tools.” 

This will mean tools specifically tailored to VFX, rather than general purpose tools that artists have to adapt to. To do this, AI training can leverage legacy tools to generate synthetic data. For example, teams may be able to train an AI model to understand mythical creature movement by rendering thousands of variations with ground-truth skeletal data, or teach a system to extrapolate damaged architecture by simulating destruction across multiple architectural styles with perfect before-and-after pairs.

The pair will also aim to to leverage AWS’s infrastructure for elastic compute to optimise compute approaches and efficient workflows. 

Kimball Thurston, CTO at Wētā FX, said: “AI represents an opportunity to shift how high-end entertainment is crafted, with custom agents to assist with mechanical tasks. We are collaborating with AWS to build tools that provide a new interface for artists, not with chatbots or text prompts, but providing artists the ability to orchestrate intelligent systems with a natural interface and manage a complexity and sophistication not yet possible. With the artist in full control, they are then enabled to collaborate with the rest of the team, crafting the next-generation of premier storytelling to entertain the world.”

Daniel Seah, Wētā FX CEO, added: “World-class filmmakers turn to Wētā FX to deliver iconic, awe-inspiring visual effects, from the battlefields of Middle-earth in The Lord of the Rings to the bioluminescent forests of Pandora in Avatar. We’ve done this for three decades by ensuring our artists have the most innovative tools as they craft the best path forward for every creative challenge. Together with AWS, we’re approaching AI with the goal of enhancing our artists’ work, enabling them to be more creative. We strongly believe AI technology should amplify human creativity and intent, and together with AWS we are committed to exploring and developing this.”

Nina Walsh, global leader, industry business development for media, entertainment, games and sport at AWS, said: “AWS has been powering media and entertainment innovation for nearly two decades, and this agreement represents an exciting milestone to explore and develop AI workflows and services that will transform the visual effects industry. Wētā FX’s vision is about enabling exceptional artists to be more exceptional by creating purpose-built AI to fit their creative workflow. That’s exactly the kind of innovation we want to enable with AWS infrastructure and our AI services.”