Autocomplete Software Now Exists For Hand-Drawn Animation

Ahead of the 8th ACM SIGGRAPH Conference and Exhibition on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques in Asia next month (SIGGRAPH Asia), Microsoft Research, in collaboration with the University of Hong Kong and the University of Tokyo, has unveiled a new animation drawing system that predicts what the artist will draw next based on the lines and shapes that he/she has already drawn. The system also offers the user ways to improve upon existing artwork, adjusting lines and shapes but not saving them until the artist approves of the changes.

The paper explaining the system and how it works has not been published or shared online yet because the conference is not until November 2, but a video (above) was posted to give a general overview of what the new tech is capable of. According to Fast Company, other companies including Disney, Adobe, and Autodesk have worked on similar tools for animators over the years, and the work that Microsoft Research has done is "further-automating animation tradition, turning human labor into computer labor."

The public (including some artists and animators) has already started to weigh in on the new technology via Twitter. Check out a few first impressions below, and watch the video above to see what the future of the industry may become.