I’ll agree with everyone straight off the bat. This is a scary topic. Even more so once you consider this will be a huge part of our overall future. I think its a good idea to recognize what type of technology we will need to prepare ourselves for. So this is what this article is going to be about. Just plan research, and the pros and cons of AI. Read More
Tag Archives: VFX
BeingAI unveils human-like AI character named Zbee
BeingAI is creating virtual beings with artificial intelligence. And its first AI being is a virtual character named Zbee.
Zbee can exist on different platforms and so can interact with people anytime, anywhere, to bring humanness and gamification into digital experiences. Zbee will come with an engaging personality and personal stories. They will offer friendship, entertainment, and mentorship, just like in the movie Her. Read More
‘Black Widow’: Breaking Down How VFX Helped Bring a New Level of Grit and Emotion to the Action
Marvel VFX supervisor Geoffrey Baumann connected embers with fireflies, and swapped in Taskmaster during the skydiving climax.
Director Cate Shortland (“Berlin Syndrome”) brought a grittier violence to the MCU, which impacted the visual effects involving Natasha/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and her adopted family. This included holding on shots longer, keying on the color red, and using visual motifs to make emotional connections. The best example tied the embers during the destruction of the Red Room to the fireflies at the beginning.
“The fireflies was a kind of surreal moment that we often don’t have in the big MCU films,” said Marvel VFX supervisor Geoffrey Baumann (“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”). “I think [Cate’s] vision with that was trying to maintain an innocence that was part of Natasha’s character, but also merge that with the grittiness that you might find in a ‘Bourne’ or a Bond or a ‘Mission’ type of film. The collaborative process was a learning experience that went both ways.” Read More
Lucasfilm hires YouTuber who used deepfake to improve ‘The Mandalorian’
Luke Skywalker’s CGI face in the character’s The Mandalorian cameo was met with a lot of criticism, and fans even tried to fix the scene with various tools and programs. One of those fans did so well, Lucasfilm has hired him to help it ensure its upcoming projects won’t feature underwhelming de-aging and facial visual effects. That fan is a YouTuber known as Shamook, who uses deepfake technology to improve upon bad CG effects and to put actors in shows and movies they never starred in. Read More
AI voice actors sound more human than ever—and they’re ready to hire
A new wave of startups are using deep learning to build synthetic voice actors for digital assistants, video-game characters, and corporate videos.
The company blog post drips with the enthusiasm of a ’90s US infomercial. WellSaid Labs describes what clients can expect from its “eight new digital voice actors!” Tobin is “energetic and insightful.” Paige is “poised and expressive.” Ava is “polished, self-assured, and professional.”
Each one is based on a real voice actor, whose likeness (with consent) has been preserved using AI. Companies can now license these voices to say whatever they need. They simply feed some text into the voice engine, and out will spool a crisp audio clip of a natural-sounding performance. Read More
This AI Makes Robert De Niro Perform Lines in Flawless German
When films are dubbed in another language, an actor’s facial movements may clash with his lines. Technology related to deepfakes can help smooth things over.
You talkin’ to me … in German?
New deepfake technology allows Robert De Niro to deliver his famous line from Taxi Driver in flawless German—with realistic lip movements and facial expressions. The AI software manipulates an actor’s lips and facial expressions to make them convincingly match the speech of someone speaking the same lines in a different language. The artificial-intelligence-based tech could reshape the movie industry, in both alluring and troubling ways. Read More
Total Relighting: Learning to Relight Portraits for Background Replacement
AI dubbing is coming for feature films
Israel-based AI dubbing startup Deepdub is going longform: The company has struck a deal with New York’s MiLa Media to localize the studio’s feature film “Every Time I Die,” which currently streams in English on Netflix, for the Americas. Deepdub will use its AI voice synthesis technology to dub the film in Latin American Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese, and the resulting versions will feature voices that sound just like those of the original actors. Read More
Rick's Cafe AI 