Game-changing new AI tool can turn video into a 3D animation with CG characters

AI has been the driving force behind many of the latest new tools in creative software, as well as now ubiquitous AI image generators. But there's been criticism among artists of the search for simple one-click solutions. Wonder Dynamics, now owned by Autodesk, says it adopted a different vision for a game-changing new tool that can turn video into a 3D scene.

Launched today in beta, Wonder Animation is a new tool for the company's existing CG character animation software Wonder Studio. It's intended to allow artists to shoot a scene with any camera, in any location, and then turn the sequence into an animated scene with CG characters in a 3D environment.

Introducing Wonder Animation: Powered by Video-to-3D Scene Technology - YouTube

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Wonder Dynamics says the most innovative aspect of Wonder Animation is its ability to assist the artist while they film and edit sequences with multiple cuts and shots. The tool then uses artificial intelligence to reconstruct the scene in a 3D space and matches the position and movement of each camera’s relationship to the characters and environment.

Wonder Animation essentially creates a virtual representation of an artist’s live-action scene containing all camera setups and character body and face animation in one 3D scene. Animation, character, environment, lighting, and camera tracking data are fully editable in the artist's preferred software, be it Maya, Blender or Unreal Engine 5.

Nikola Todorovic, co-founder of Wonder Dynamics, says of the new AI tool: "Even though there have been tremendous advancements in AI, there is a current misconception that AI is a one click solution – but we know that’s not the case. The launch of Wonder Animation underscores our focus on bringing the artist one step closer to producing fully animated films while ensuring they retain full creative control.

"Unlike the black-box approach of most current generative AI tools on the market, we’re empowering artists to shape their vision instead of just relying on automated outputs."

Autodesk, the company behind the animation and modelling toolset Maya, bought Wonder Dynamics in May. It's also been adding productivity-enhancing AI tools to Maya and Flame, like AI-powered Flow Generative Scheduling to speed up the creation of production schedules.