3D tools giant Autodesk has acquired Wonder Dynamics, a startup that enables creators to quickly and easily create complex characters and visual effects using AI-powered image analysis. The two companies have worked closely together for many years and today officially announced their partnership.
Wonder Dynamics, founded by VFX artist Nikola Todorovic and actor Tye Sheridan, can now add motion-captured CG characters to footage by essentially dragging an icon over the actor.
But its flagship tool, Wonder Studio, was never a toy, even though it could be used like one. With years of experience in the film industry, the co-founders made it clear from the start that this was a professional tool that provided all the core motion capture, animation, and masking that VFX professionals needed to do their jobs. I was doing it.
At the time, and throughout the writers' and actors' strikes, they were careful to say that their goal was to empower creators, not replace them.
TechCrunch reported on the company's debut back in 2021, when it was still in stealth mode after raising a $2.5 million seed round. They raised another $10 million later that year and eventually developed Wonder Studio into a fully cloud-hosted web-based platform.
As the provider of Maya, one of the most powerful and enduring tools for 3D work and media production, Autodesk naturally took notice.
Final shots, motion capture data, masks, and 3D environments generated by Wonder Studio. Image credit: Wonder Dynamics
“Last year, we built integration with Maya as a plug-in, so Character Studio can streamline that process. This has been the industry-leading software for decades, and we want to help those users. We started talking to them and one thing led to another,” Todorovic told TechCrunch.
“We've been trying to bridge old and new to enable different things with the pipeline artists are already using, and this partnership is a perfect example of that,” said Sheridan. added. Both men were quick to clarify that Autodesk is not “old” (although few would say it is young).
The pair believe that issues related to AI in media, from movies to commercials to music, stem from a misunderstanding of both technology and art.
“There's a wave of new tools and new AI coming, but I think a lot of them underestimate what artists have to do and how hard they work,” Todorovic says. “We know, we come from this universe. Ty and I are both artists. We did this to enable artists to do things they couldn't do before, because I don't want to see a future where artists aren't involved, they're not wanted. To me, that's not filmmaking. Autodesk has a deep understanding that this is a collaborative, iterative process.”
“People have a definitive idea that we're going to start making movies using AI, but the people who are making these conclusions either don't understand the industry very well or are aware of the limitations of these tools. I don't think they understand that,” Sheridan said. . “It's important to use them as an auxiliary part of the process. Learn what and where the possibilities are and how you can fill in the gaps.”
Both founders will be joining Autodesk along with their entire staff. Todorovic said he doesn't expect any changes in the short term, and that any changes that do occur will only be positive for users. “That's the thing about startups: You don't have enough resources, so you have to choose what to do and what direction to go in.” The Autodesk acquisition should allow the company to expand at an accelerated pace. , rejected suggestions for specific direction.
Specific demands such as transaction terms were politely dismissed. When I asked Autodesk about the acquisition, Diana Corella, vice president of entertainment and media solutions, emphasized that the company fits well into its existing strategy.
“Autodesk has been working on AI technology for over a decade and has already implemented several AI tools into its current M&E products,” she wrote in an email. “But we haven't yet worked on anything that does exactly what they do, so their work is very complementary to the AI work we're already doing. .”
As for the immediate future, “Our immediate focus is continuity,” Colella said. Don't expect big changes like switching to a new account or a complete rebrand. Of course, if you're a fan of Wonder Studio, you're probably already using Maya.
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