7/11/2023 0 Comments Laika stop motionThough an early prototype of the AI-powered rotoscoping tool was developed during the making of Missing Link (2019), the studio didn't get the chance to use it. Image courtesy of LAIKA / Intel AI for the Objective, Humans for the Subjective (For more on Intel's oneAPI Tool Kit, read the news here.)ĬPU-powered machine learning and neural networks are the unsung heroes behind stop-motion films by LAIKA. The networks are optimized to run on Intel's open-standard oneAPI libraries, announced recently. The deep learning neural networks, as they are called, can analyze the sample footage provided, scan the frames, and identify the key points on a puppet's face, explained Jeff Stringer, Director of Production Technology, LAIKA, in a video presentation. Furthermore, because the puppet's facial performances are created digitally prior to being 3D printed, they were also able to leverage data from the object files and CG renders of various angles and expressions,” he added. This information, along with the associated images, was augmented with additional data, including frames that featured randomized backgrounds, color values, warps and blurs. But to make the task trainable, the points and tangents that make up each shape needed to be consistent. The team began by creating a set of persistent landmark points and tangents on the puppet's faces that would drive the shapes and ensure consistency. “When rotoscoping, artists create shapes in arbitrary ways. “It is a task that consists of connecting a series of points with curves to create a shape that identifies a portion of a film frame to alter in some way,” explained Steve Emerson, VFX Supervisor at LAIKA. ![]() ![]() They also enlisted the help of Intel's Applied Machine Learning team to speed up the labor-intensive rotoscoping process. The studio uses Intel CPU-powered workstations, with a render farm for reinforcement. Part of stop-motion filmmaking is rotoscoping-the process to clean up the unwanted artifacts resulting from the manual stop-motion sequences. ![]() Stop motion animation studio LAIKA uses Intel workstations and a render farm to speed up rotoscoping using AI / machine learning.
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