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. Continue reading Autodesk’s AI Tool Turns Live-Action Video into 3D Animation

Acer has extended its SpatialLabs branding from glasses-free 3D laptops to a 3D camera coming to market in Q3 starting at $549. The Acer SpatialLabs Eyes Stereo Camera has 8MP of resolution per eye and can live stream in 3D to YouTube and enable high-resolution 3D video calls through Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet. It has a built-in selfie mirror, auto and touch focus capabilities and electronic image stabilization (EIS). It is fully compatible with the Acer Aspire 3D 15 SpatialLabs Edition laptop, released in February, and will also work with other 3D displays, projectors and VR headsets. Continue reading Acer 3D Camera Makes Glasses-Free Content for Its Displays

Autodesk is going all-in on artificial intelligence with the acquisition of AI startup Wonder Dynamics, maker of the Wonder Studio VFX tool. Autodesk — whose products include Maya, 3ds Max and Flame — worked with Wonder on a Maya plug-in last year and appears to have been impressed. Wonder Studio was purpose-built to be compatible with 3D tools like Maya, largely automating the process of putting 3D characters within live-action scenes. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, and Autodesk did not detail plans for integrating Wonder Dynamics, but it’s likely the company’s AI expertise will make itself felt across the portfolio. Continue reading Autodesk Buys Wonder Dynamics, AI VFX App Wonder Studio

Looking Glass has launched a new 32-inch, glasses-free spatial display and an OLED version of its 16-inch model. The screens come in both landscape and portrait orientations and are aimed at XR professionals requiring visualization for 3D digital images, video and applications in real time. The 3D displays broadcast 45-100 views for what the company says is an uncompromised group-view experience. Sensors for touchless gesture control are available and the devices support a wide variety of software, including plugins for Unity, Unreal, Blender and WebXR. The 16-inch OLED lists for $4,000 but is offered at $3,000 for a limited time. Continue reading Looking Glass Debuts Two New Headset-Free Spatial Displays

Seattle-area startup Irreverent Labs has shifted its focus from blockchain-based video games and NFTs to artificial intelligence. Specifically, it wants to build foundation models for text-to-video generation and related content creation tools. Text-to-video is being explored by several companies but is still in development. Samsung Next was intrigued enough with the proposition to invest an undisclosed sum in Irreverent. While there are several apps that output cartoonish results, ambitious efforts are limited. Animations that aim for photorealism, such as Meta’s Make-a-Video and Runway’s Gen-2, can output only four or five seconds of video at a time. Continue reading Samsung Next Invests in Irreverent Labs’ Text-to-Video Tech

Films shot using the 3D world-building tool Mona will compete in what is being billed as “the world’s first metaverse short film festival.” Running September 26-29, the Mona Shorts Fest will take place in the immersive environment app that CEO Justin Melillo has coined “the Monaverse.” “With an entire film studio at your fingertips through Mona’s SDK and in-world experience, imagine what story you could tell,” the festival’s website suggests. Last summer, the company announced more than $14 million in Series A funds after “thousands of creators” used the platform to build experiences for Web3. Continue reading Films Shot ‘In-World’ at Mona Get Their Own Shorts Festival

Digital filmmaking tools have become increasingly accessible, and now Wonder Dynamics wants to make photorealistic CG characters available for any budget. The software firm says its product enables users to drag and drop computer-generated characters into live-action scenes as if they were custom generated. The company’s web-based editor, Wonder Studio, is billed as a full-blown tool, not a toy, and aims to help ease artists’ workload. The three-year-old startup has raised $12.5 million to date. Co-founders Nikola Todorovic, a writer-director, and actor Tye Sheridan, who starred in Steven Spielberg’s “Ready Player One,” say it’s the tool they’ve craved. Continue reading Wonder Dynamics Leverages AI for Web-Based CGI Platform

Engineered for game design and other 3D workflows, the Asus Vivobook Pro 16X 3D OLED offers glasses-free spatial imaging. To do this, the laptop leverages something Asus calls Spatial Vision, an autostereoscopic OLED technology that creates a set of images for each eye using real-time eye tracking tech. With the 3D mode activated, the images are then projected through a microscopic layer of lenticular lenses built into the display panel. The technology is similar to the SpatialLabs technology Acer debuted in 2021, with one big difference: a Spatial Vision screen will appear 3D to multiple onlookers simultaneously. Continue reading CES: Asus Spatial Vision Brings Glasses-Free 3D to Laptops

Intel announced its 13th-gen family of laptop CPUs, including new entry-level chips and its flagship Core i9-13980HX, the high-end of its mobile processor collection (based on Raptor Lake architecture), featuring 24 cores and an impressive boost speed of 5.6GHz. The HX-series includes similar features to Intel’s 12th-gen lineup, such as 32 EUs of onboard graphics capability and support for DDR5 and DDR4, but promises significantly faster speeds to multithreaded performance. When compared to the earlier Core i9-12900HK, Intel claims game performance increases of up to 12 percent and a massive 74–79 performance jump when rendering a scene in Blender. Continue reading CES: Intel Rolls Out 13th-Generation Lineup of Laptop CPUs

At this week’s SIGGRAPH 2021, Amazon Web Services (AWS) chief technology officer for media & entertainment Eric Iverson spoke with some top technologists and artists about future trends in content production. With COVID-19, the media industry was forced to find ways to work remotely, which jumpstarted the move to the cloud for production and CG pipelines. Now, he said, “we’re seeing three big trends: the rise of remote production, the acceleration of production pipelines and the need to keep costs under control.” Continue reading SIGGRAPH 2021: AWS on Next Steps for Content Production

In his keynote address at Nvidia’s GPU Technology Conference, chief executive Jensen Huang demonstrated Omniverse, a virtual environment described as a “metaverse” for engineers, announcing an open beta. With Omniverse — which was inspired by the sci-fi concept of the metaverse — engineers can collaborate on and simulate designs in a photoreal 3D virtual environment. Nvidia has been providing early access to Omniverse for 18 months; it will be available for download this fall. Continue reading Nvidia Intros Open Beta of Its Omniverse Virtual Environment

Linden Lab, which innovated the virtual world Second Life in 2003, is entering virtual reality with Project Sansar. The company has been working behind the scenes to build virtual worlds for Oculus Rift and other VR headsets, and relies on its experience with Second Life to inform Project Sansar. Second Life is user-centric, allowing players to create and explore virtual landscapes of their own making. Project Sansar, on the other hand, allows brands to build VR worlds and link to them from websites or third-party apps. Continue reading Second Life’s Linden Lab Debuts New Virtual Reality Project