Right this moment Metaphysic introduced the addition of a number of former Industrial Mild & Magic AI professionals with the appointments of hyperreal AI and VFX creator Sam Head (publicly often called Shamook) as Senior AI Mannequin Artist, Thomas Salama as AI & Compositing Supervisor, Scott Bourne as AI Compositing Lead, and Matteo Olivieri Dancey as AI Innovation Lead. The group collectively led de-aging and hyperreal content material for ABBA: Voyage live performance expertise and The E-book of Boba Fett. The group will report back to Metaphysic’s Chief Innovation Officer, Jo Plaete.
The brand new hires observe a yr of high-profile partnerships and initiatives within the leisure trade, together with Miramax, which not too long ago tapped the corporate as its Generative AI accomplice for the movement image Right here. Metaphysic additionally entered a strategic partnership with CAA after creating stay hyperreal performances of Elvis Presley, bringing generative AI to TV.
“The leisure trade is quickly evolving, and Metaphysic has shortly turn into an in-demand expertise supplier to assist manufacturing homes and studios produce real-time, life like enactments,” commented Metaphysic co-founder and CEO Thomas Graham. “As we enter into new partnerships and initiatives to form the way forward for leisure, we’re thrilled to be joined by the AI and compositing areas’ brightest minds: Sam, Scott, Thomas, and Matteo.”
Head has created hyperrealistic avatars of iconic film scenes on YouTube, together with reimaging Tom Holland in earlier portrayals of Spiderman, inserting Mel Gibson in Mad Max Fury Highway, and de-aging avatars of Luke Skywalker and Han Solo. His work gained the eye of LucasFilm the place he was employed in 2021 as Senior Facial Seize Artist. There he helped lead the corporate’s technological capabilities to attain photorealistic de-aging.
“As a visible artist, my objective is to shock and delight the viewer, recreating or utterly reimagining iconic scenes and moments in leisure,” shared Head. “Metaphysic is the preeminent expertise firm, setting the bar for all the trade by creating hyperreal, photorealistic content material for TV, movie, and past, and I’m thrilled to affix this extremely proficient staff.”
Visible results veteran Thomas Salama joins Metaphysic after spending over a decade main VFX and animation initiatives for corporations together with Industrial Mild and Magic and Oscar-winning VFX firm DNEG. As Lead Compositor at ILM, Salama labored intently with Bourne and Olivieri-Dancey. The trio’s credit embrace visible results and imagery for Oscar-winning characteristic movies, together with Interstellar and Blade Runner 2049 and the Star Wars and Jurassic World franchises.
The brand new improvement staff members, Head, Salama, Bourne, and Olivieri-Dancey, will construct on Metaphysic’s software program to provide hyperreal AI content material and iterate on the corporate’s fashions. They may also work intently with Metaphysic’s AI and VFX consultants staff to proceed to create cutting-edge applied sciences to assist form the way forward for movie and tv manufacturing.
Supply: Metaphysic
Debbie Diamond Sarto is information editor at Animation World Community.
