Latest news with #TomPaton
Fast Company
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Fast Company
Cartwheel uses AI to make 3D animation 100 times faster for creators and studios
After years of AI disrupting industries and streamlining repetitive workflows, the technology is now poised to transform animation. In 2024, director and writer Tom Paton's AiMation Studios released Where the Robots Grow, a fully AI-animated feature film. Everything from animation and voice acting to music was generated using AI, at a cost of just $8,000 per minute—totaling around $700,000 for the 87-minute production. While IMDB reviewers criticized the film as 'soulless and uninspired,' it proved that AI can deliver full-length animated features at a fraction of traditional budgets. But it's not just filmmakers driving this shift. Indie game developers want to prototype characters and worlds in hours, not weeks. TikTok and social media creators are looking to animate original characters without studio resources. Major brands, too, seek emotionally resonant storytelling without monthslong timelines or ballooning 3D animation costs. The challenge: most 3D animation tools are still slow, technical, and expensive. Hoping to remove these barriers, a team of developers from OpenAI, Google, Pixar, and Riot Games launched Cartwheel, an AI-powered 3D animation platform. Cartwheel promises to make high-quality 3D character animation 100 times faster, simpler, and more affordable. Users can record motion with a smartphone, describe a scene with a text prompt, or pull from a library of expressive 3D movements. The platform's AI transforms input into production-ready animations. Artists can refine them in Cartwheel or export into tools like Unity, Unreal Engine, Maya, or Blender—without disrupting their pipeline. The startup was cofounded by Andrew Carr, a former OpenAI scientist who helped develop Codex and ChatGPT's code generation, and Jonathan Jarvis, former creative director at Google Creative Lab and founder of the animation studio Universal Patterns. The two met after OpenAI, intrigued by Jarvis's concept for a generative animation tool, introduced him to Carr, who had just left the company to explore how AI could make animation more accessible. 'I had a unique job, where I used animation to share complex research concepts clearly within Google, and make prototypes that couldn't yet be built by software. Andrew always wanted to animate, and later invented a way to 'talk' to Blender, a popular open-source 3D software, with computer code,' says Jarvis. 'We always wanted to build tools to help others get ideas moving and sensed the potential to animate in new ways using gen AI, that it would be centered around creative control.' After two years in stealth, Cartwheel is gaining traction. The company recently closed a $10 million funding round led by Craft Ventures, with support from WndrCo (Jeffrey Katzenberg), Khosla Ventures, Accel, Runway, and Tirta Ventures (Ben Feder), bringing total funding to $15.6 million. Over 60,000 animators, developers, and storytellers joined Cartwheel's wait-list during stealth. Early adopters from DreamWorks, Duolingo, and Roblox are already using the platform. 'All of our AI models are developed in-house. Behind the scenes, we've employed careful software engineering to ensure that all the pieces of our system work together in a way that can be plugged into existing animation pipelines,' Carr says. 'Ensuring that the generated animation is properly scaled, moves naturally, and remains consistent throughout has been one of our biggest challenges.' A Creator-First AI Animation Tool While the generative AI field is increasingly crowded, Cartwheel positions itself differently: not as a replacement for artists, but as a tool that amplifies their creativity. 'Animators and creatives don't care if motion is generated, done by hand, motion-captured, or drawn from a library. They just want it to move to tell their story, make their game, or get their job done,' Jarvis says. 'Our motion models can generate a lot of useful animation quickly, but they can't do everything. That's why we love a hybrid approach. Computers are great at finding patterns, but it's the artist who brings the soul.' A key differentiator for Cartwheel is its team. Carr and Jarvis are joined by industry veterans with experience in film, games, and interactive design. Catherine 'Cat' Hicks, former Pixar animation director on Coco, Inside Out, and Toy Story 3, serves as head of Animation Innovation. Neil Helm, head of Interactive Animation, worked on crowd systems at Pixar for Turning Red, Lightyear, Up, and Inside Out 2. The platform's design is shaped by Steven Ziadie, former Sony and Riot designer, while production is led by Buthaina Mahmud, who helped define Unity's real-time animation workflows and developed shaders used in the Spider-Verse films. 'We reached out, and some reached out to us. Over time, we realized we all shared the goal to make storytelling faster, easier, and more powerful,' Carr and Jarvis tell Fast Company. 'Culture is being shaped in increasingly dynamic, interactive, and immersive spaces like Fortnite, Minecraft, and Roblox —all animation-driven experiences. We're building tools for where animation is headed, and that's resonating with industry veterans.' User feedback has helped shape Cartwheel's interface. 'We began with a focus on text to animation. In beta, we learned that while that's compelling in many situations, often folks want to browse motions for inspiration, use video reference, or act out the motion themselves—so we've moved to a multimodal interface,' Carr says. What's Next for Cartwheel? High-quality animation data remains scarce, with most data sets proprietary or lacking in diversity and detail. To address this, Cartwheel is using synthetic data—AI-generated animations that mimic real-world motion—to train and refine its models. 'The next generation of AI companies has to find and curate the hard data types, and do the hard work to refine it and make it useful to people in that field. That's where the value is,' Carr says. 'While at OpenAI, I worked on the science of data quality and was able to generate millions of dollars of model improvements with just a few lines of code. We are following the same path at Cartwheel to ensure we produce the styles, qualities, and delightfulness in our motion data that artists need.' With fresh funding, Cartwheel plans to deepen R&D, grow its team, and bring its platform to broader markets. 'Over the next 12 months, we aim to be a catalyst, enabling both large and small animation projects to flourish,' Jarvis says. 'Ensuring ethically sourced data that empowers artists is fundamental to our approach. We are a team of artists building tools for artists.'
Daily Mirror
20-05-2025
- Daily Mirror
WiFi alert for UK homes with Sky, Virgin and BT broadband, check your router now
UK homes should make a simple Wi-Fi check today. If you've not checked or upgraded your Wi-Fi router in a while, now could be a good time to do so. Although most internet devices appear to provide a decent signal, broadband technology has advanced at a rapid rate, and that means you could be being left behind. According to the team at Broadband Savvy, many of us now have inferior Wi-Fi 5 boxes installed in our homes, and that system simply can't keep pace with modern needs. For those unaware, Wi-Fi 5 is now over a decade old and has since been beaten by Wi-Fi 6, 6E and even all-new Wi-Fi 7 devices. These upgrades can all cope with much faster download speeds along with having large volumes of gadgets connected to them. Most UK Internet Service Providers (ISPs) do now offer Wi-Fi 6 routers but many customers continue to have Wi-Fi 5 gadgets plugged into their walls. Explaining more, Tom Paton, founder of Broadband Savvy, said: "Compared to more modern standards, like WiFi 6, 6E, and 7, WiFi 5 has significant limitations for the end-user. "WiFi 5 is fine for slower broadband connections, such as the 30-50 Mbps packages that were popular in 2010-2015, as long as you don't have lots of internet-connected devices. "But certain providers are still shipping these routers to customers buying an ultrafast broadband plan, even though they're not designed for this." If your contract is up for renewal or you are about to switch providers there is another reason to be cautious. Most ISPs will want you to sign up for a lengthy contract which means what you get now, you'll be stuck with for two years. "Most broadband plans on the market at the moment come with a 24 month contract. In two years' time, WiFi 5 will be essentially obsolete, which is why we're urging broadband providers to at least offer the option of a better router on their fast fibre plans," Paton added. It can be pretty hard to know what your router is capable of, but it's worth checking with your ISP to see if an upgrade is available. "When buying, insist on at least a WiFi 6 router - but be aware that one or two major providers still don't offer this as an option," Paton said. "For example, as a cheaper, more basic provider, Plusnet is still shipping the Smart Hub 2 WiFi 5 router, even on their ultrafast 500 Mbps and 900 Mbps plans. On the other hand, EE offers the choice of a WiFi 6 or WiFi 7 router across all of their tariffs." If you want to future-proof your speeds, speak to your ISP. It's also worth noting that there are many Wi-Fi boosters on the market—such as Amazon's Eero—that offer Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E connectivity. These so-called mesh networks plug into your current router and offer an instant upgrade.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Yahoo
BT, Sky, Virgin Media customers issued Wi-Fi warning to check routers now
UK households have been issued a warning to check if their Wi-Fi routers are due an upgrade. Requesting an upgrade from their Internet Service Provider (ISP) can lead to peace of mind by the knowledge that your internet is secure, as newer models offer the latest protection against hacking. Broadband Savvy has issued new guidance, highlighting the leaps in Wi-Fi technology and the pitfalls of clinging to outdated equipment. Read more: Sky TV DOWN for 35,000 people after major outage left them without access to shows The warning has been specifically issued to those that still use a Wi-Fi 5 router, as they are no longer supported by most ISPs. They have been eclipsed by newer iterations such as Wi-Fi 6, Wi-Fi 6E, and even Wi-Fi 7. Tom Paton, founder of Broadband Savvy, said: "Compared to more modern standards, like WiFi 6, 6E, and 7, WiFi 5 has significant limitations for the end-user. "WiFi 5 is fine for slower broadband connections, such as the 30-50 Mbps packages that were popular in 2010-2015, as long as you don't have lots of internet-connected devices. "But certain providers are still shipping these routers to customers buying an ultrafast broadband plan, even though they're not designed for this." He added: "Most broadband plans on the market at the moment come with a 24 month contract. "In two years' time, WiFi 5 will be essentially obsolete, which is why we're urging broadband providers to at least offer the option of a better router on their fast fibre plans." If you haven't checked for upgrades with you ISP in some time, it's important that you do, as if could signify that you're overdue an newer, safer, model. Tom adds: "When buying, insist on at least a WiFi 6 router - but be aware that one or two major providers still don't offer this as an option," noted Paton. "For example, as a cheaper, more basic provider, Plusnet is still shipping the Smart Hub 2 WiFi 5 router, even on their ultrafast 500 Mbps and 900 Mbps plans. "On the other hand, EE offers the choice of a WiFi 6 or WiFi 7 router across all of their tariffs."
Daily Record
14-05-2025
- Daily Record
Wi-Fi warning for all homes using BT, Sky or Virgin Media - here's what to do now
A new warning has been issued to all UK households that are using Wi-Fi, with homes being urged to check their routers UK households are being encouraged to give their routers a once-over and consider requesting an upgrade from their Internet Service Provider (ISP). Broadband Savvy has issued new guidance, highlighting the leaps in Wi-Fi technology and the pitfalls of clinging to outdated equipment. The experts at Broadband Savvy have pointed out that many UK homes are still using Wi-Fi 5 routers, despite most ISPs like Sky, BT, and Virgin Media continuing to supply this older tech to their customers. Wi-Fi 5, which is now more than a decade old, has been eclipsed by newer iterations such as Wi-Fi 6, Wi-Fi 6E, and even Wi-Fi 7. While Wi-Fi 5 can still provide a satisfactory connection, it falls short of the performance offered by the latest routers in terms of speed and dependability. Moreover, Wi-Fi 5 isn't ideal for households with numerous internet-connected gadgets, and those with a high-traffic home network will certainly notice an improvement upon upgrading to Wi-Fi 6, 6E, or 7, reports the Express. "Compared to more modern standards, like WiFi 6, 6E, and 7, WiFi 5 has significant limitations for the end-user," Tom Paton, founder of Broadband Savvy, remarked. "WiFi 5 is fine for slower broadband connections, such as the 30-50 Mbps packages that were popular in 2010-2015, as long as you don't have lots of internet-connected devices. "But certain providers are still shipping these routers to customers buying an ultrafast broadband plan, even though they're not designed for this." Consumers are urged to quiz their ISPs over routers as lengthy contracts could see them saddled with outdated tech. "Most broadband plans on the market at the moment come with a 24 month contract. In two years' time, WiFi 5 will be essentially obsolete, which is why we're urging broadband providers to at least offer the option of a better router on their fast fibre plans," Paton remarked. Determining the capabilities of your router can be challenging, but it's certainly prudent to check for potential upgrades with your ISP. It's pertinent to point out that a plethora of Wi-Fi boosters like Amazon's Eero can enhance your internet connectivity, leveraging technologies such as Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E. "When buying, insist on at least a WiFi 6 router - but be aware that one or two major providers still don't offer this as an option," noted Paton. "For example, as a cheaper, more basic provider, Plusnet is still shipping the Smart Hub 2 WiFi 5 router, even on their ultrafast 500 Mbps and 900 Mbps plans. On the other hand, EE offers the choice of a WiFi 6 or WiFi 7 router across all of their tariffs." In order to stay ahead in terms of internet speeds, consulting with your ISP is advisable.
