Gaming giant Electronic Arts (EA) is teaming up with Stability AI to create generative AI models and tools that can be used for 3D asset creation.
The rising cost and difficulty of making content is a major problem for large digital projects, like big-budget games and industrial digital twins. Because digital environments need better and better visuals, it takes a lot of tech and people to create custom 3D items, textures, and worlds, which slows down development and eats up budgets.
The goal, the partners claim, is to help developers, not replace them. EA has been using machine learning for things like animation, but this new AI project is aimed at speeding up the creation of 3D assets.
One of the first things they’re doing is speeding up the creation of Physically Based Rendering (PBR) materials. PBRs are important for making things look real because they control how light interacts with surfaces.
The partners are creating tools for artists to make 2D textures that keep the same colours and lighting across different environments. For example, they want to be able to texture the bright colour of a football jersey under stadium lights or the soft shine of a coffee table in the morning. The point is to make creating items faster, while also making them look better and give artists more control.
This project builds on EA’s current AI tech, like HeadStart, which creates realistic 3D assets from photos. The goal with Stability AI is to bring that same speed and scale to everything 3D.
Besides individual items, they’re also looking into AI systems that can create entire 3D environments from text descriptions. This lets artists guide the creation of game content, which EA says will allow for fast prototyping and visual storytelling on a larger scale.
Prem Akkaraju, CEO of Stability AI, said that his 3D research team will work directly with EA’s artists and developers. This close working relationship is meant to make sure the tools are useful and solve real problems in the development process.
“By embedding our 3D research team directly with EA’s artists and developers we’ll unlock the next level in world-building power,” explained Akkaraju. “This kind of progress is only possible through deep partnership, where scientists and creators work side by side.”
This approach addresses the issues that come with using generative AI in creative teams. EA is carefully explaining that AI is a helpful tool for tasks like 3D asset creation and that humans are still in charge of the story.
The company’s message is a good example for other businesses dealing with AI. EA says that the tech can draft, generate, and analyse, but it can’t imagine, empathise, or dream. That’s the work of EA’s artists, designers, developers, storytellers, and innovators.
Steve Kestell, Head of Technical Art for EA SPORTS, said: “I use the term smarter paintbrushes. We are giving our creatives the tools to express what they want. Tools that will allow creativity to get directly from people’s minds, and into our experiences.”
The idea of “smarter paintbrushes” is helpful to change how we see AI not as a replacement for uniquely human skills, but as something that speeds up processes. The plan is to take care of the time-consuming parts of making content, letting developers focus on the creative parts of building great experiences. This way, AI is a helper that does drafting and analysis, leaving the important creative work to the developer.
Kallol Mitra, VP of Creative Innovation at EA, added: “Together with Stability AI, we’re amplifying that creativity. Giving artists, designers, and developers the power to dream bigger and build more.”
A lot has been said about text and 2D images, but this AI partnership moves into 3D asset creation. Looking at AI systems that can pre-visualise entire 3D environments from prompts shows a big change in the developer’s job. It means less focus on making things one-by-one, and more on being a creative director, using prompts to quickly test and improve game worlds on a scale that wasn’t possible before.
Rick Stringfellow, Head of Visual Content for EA Entertainment, said: “Partnerships like this are how we evolve the craft of game-making and give our teams the tools to tell deeper, more meaningful stories.”
See also: Larian exec: Human vision, not AI, will fix gaming’s problems
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