Introducing our new end-to-end pipeline for AI-powered media production

Designed by its Dimension Futures team, the pipeline was put to the test with the production of an animated short titled Mara & Milo: Magic & Mayhem. Everything from initial ideation, storyboarding, character and environment design, to virtual camera control, shot composition and voiceover has been done by a team of two artists whose creative work was supported by the AI pipeline.

The pipeline allowed the artists to accelerate creative and look development and to deliver the finished production in a matter of weeks rather than months. The pipeline meant they could quickly iterate on different ideas across character, costume, environment, lighting, animation, camera moves, and shot creation and selection.

To watch the short and a behind the scenes film on how it was made, head to the project page here.

Dimension’s rolling out of the pipeline internally will allow its artists to deliver programming faster than ever. For example, the team estimates that, overall, it helped to reduce the production time on Mara & Milo to just one third of what it would have been using traditional processes. The pipeline positions Dimension as an ideal partner for productions that are interested in exploring the creative application of AI and where clients are looking for efficiencies but without compromising on quality, whether that’s for animated series, short-form content, or advertising where producers have fast turnaround deadlines.

Dimension chose a cute children’s animation as the style for the first proof of concept and pipeline demonstration but the pipeline also supports the creation of any style of content through to photorealistic, accommodating different genre requirements.

Dimensions' approach to AI is human-centric, developing the pipeline so that the artists are in control and it supports their individual creative and artistic delivery. Rather than replacing roles it enables the team to be more productive. It also means the pipeline can support wherever an artist needs it, whether they’re in storyboarding, production design, animation or virtual camera operation and cinematography.

When using any AI workflows, both in pipeline development or in its business operations, Dimension is strongly committed to ensuring creative roles remain the most important aspect of any post-production or animation operation. With that in mind, the studio has produced its own policy which the whole business is adhering to. Ethical & Responsible AI outlines how and when Dimension aims to use AI, when it won’t be using AI, and how it will uphold its human-first approach to the technology. The policy is available for anyone to read here on the Dimension website.