Wonder Animation is the latest tool from Wonder Dynamics, the AI startup founded by actor Tye Sheridan and VFX artist Nikola Todorovic in 2017 that Autodesk purchased in May. Now in beta, Wonder Animation can automatically transpose live-action footage into stylized 3D animation. Creators can shoot using any camera, on any set or location, and easily convert to 3D CGI. Matching the camera position and movement to the characters and environment, Wonder Animation lets you film using any camera system and lenses, edit those shots using Maya, Blender or Unreal, and then reconstruct the result as 3D animation using AI.

“The most innovative part of Wonder Animation’s Video to 3D scene technology is its ability to film and edit sequences with multiple cuts and various shots (wide, medium, close-ups),” Todorovic writes in an Autodesk news post.

“This 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, with fully editable elements (animation, character, environment, lighting, and camera tracking data) in their preferred software,” Todorovic adds.

Wonder Animation is available to those who subscribe to Wonder Studio, available for a limited time introductory offer of $17 per month or $204 per year for the Lite plan, and $85/$1,020 for the Pro plan. Both allocate AI processing time using credits.

Wonder Studio emerged from stealth in 2023 with a Web-based interface and a mandate of making professional VFX available on an indie budget. The company “has already made waves in the industry for tech that allows users to easily create animated CG characters on top of live-action footage,” but the Wonder Animation tech “goes a step further” by converting entire scenes, reports IndieWire.

Wonder Animation “puts the power of Pixar in your phone,” writes Forbes, which quotes Todorovic describing how the tech works by using “over 25 different AI models to analyze the video, from understanding body movements to lighting sources and camera positioning.” This enables the tool to “translate a 2D video into 3D space, capturing every detail of the original footage,” including the lighting effects and camera moves.

“We believe in using AI more intentionally to enhance creativity and efficiency, so artists can spend more time on the creative aspects of storytelling,” explained Todorovic in his news post. “Unlike the black-box approach of most generative AI tools currently on the market, we’re empowering artists to shape their vision instead of just relying on automated outputs.”