OpenAI SORA - Are VFX Artists out of a job?! 

That is a great question. Houdini feels old in the sense of the amount of setup that is required to get an effect, especially more complex fx. I love that process personally, but the industry is moving toward AI where you can just "ask" or "prompt" a result. That speed, the quality of the results in relation to that speed is what feels so new and incredible. Building our fx setups with all the granular control is costly, it is currently the better model for directability but it is costly and everyone wants cheaper but with quality. As AI can obtain better temporal coherency, physics training, and overall accuracy, our fx setups that integrate with AI will become much simplier and AI will help to elevate the smaller details. That is where I see the blend being, that is where I see art-directablity meeting AI speed. That will affect what an AI Fx artist job is. The reality is AI has been in development for a very long time and the current burst of speed of development is most likely not going to continue, much how block chain had many years of development before a rapid burst of public awareness and hype. Things will cool off as there are some scalability and legal challenges. But AI is here to stay and will become more a part of our daily work. For adding AI to your workflow, look at comfyui and some of the houdini integrations. There are also some interesting midjourney/houdini integrations. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and for watching my video! I really appreciate the value of your time.

@@RobAu2bitfx I see, all that makes sense. I hope that you’re right and it stays as an integration to our toolkit and not a replacement tool though I feel like companies will pounce on that opportunity once they can. The copyright issue is something I hadn’t really put together before as clearly as how you put it. Okay, I’ll look into some of those integrations. I’ve seen a few comfyui integrations on random LinkedIn posts. Do you have a recommended integration that you liked that you could point me to in particular?

That will be interesting… will it be “The Jetson’s”, Spielberg’s “A.l” or will it be “Sky-net”? Only time will tell. Thank you for watching and sharing your thoughts.

I am sure it is insane!

I definitely think we will see the addition of generative AI in the traditional DCCs. ML tools have been a growing part of Houdini and other tools, which are just the first step AI. I think something comfyUI would be a part of Houdini’s workflow. Maya will have some kind of AI “layer stack”. Everyone will have their flavor. The challenge, until the law changes, is that you won’t be able to copyright those outputs. Check out Adobe’s EULA for its autofill, it is essentially use at your own risk. With any AI tool read carefully what you are agreeing to. Currently, I agree that text to image or video feels very clunky and non deterministic. It is hard to make micro changes and have it be repeatable. But that will eventually be solved. I am not a fan of generative AI, but it is the future. At least, some version of it will be.

All fair points. Early visions of AI were that it would do all the manual labor jobs so humans could all be artists, poets and scholars. Instead it is the other way around! Currently the ethics are abysmal and it has the ability to be industry destroying for sure. My video is not an endorsement of AI, but a look at the current landscape for those who work in VFX or at students hoping to get in. Thank you for your thoughts!

Well, I would take heart. VFX is not dead. But it is evolving. While AI is making inroads, it is not at a full production ready level yet. There is still a lot of things that need to be solved to be usable. VFX can be a very exciting career. It is equal parts art and technology. Ai will change many jobs, but new jobs and opportunities will emerge. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I hope you can find some renewed excitement and joy in your journey. Best of luck.

That is a choice only you can make. The industry is changing, but truth be told, it has always been in some state of change. It is a challenging field. One that can be rewarding and fulfilling. If I were beginning today, being young and full of passion and excitement to create, I would still pursue my career in VFX. It is like a calling for me. I do it because it is a part of me.

@@RobAu2bitfx thanks

That is all certainly possible. Method studios recently used AI to make the intro for Disney’s “Secret Invasion”. These tools are slowly making their way into the industry. And yes, they will make common and easy what was once difficult and therefore impressive. VFX will go from a five star restaurant to McDonald’s. We aren’t there yet, but that is a possible future. Thank you for watching and sharing your thoughts.