Uthana

"We use physical simulation to teach characters how to move." "Huh" "So, we combine a generative AI process to predict the next frame of movement and do that within a physically simulated environment (i.e. the physics of our world) so the result is both realistic and controllable. No cameras, no keyframes." "Woah" "Here, let me show you an example." #GenAI #3DAnimation #VideoGames

"So do you guys use OpenAI?" This is a common question I get from folks trying to understand what we build at Uthana. The quick answer is 'we don't.' Where ChatGPT predicts the next word in a sentence, we predict the next frame of movement. Our models are all about creating motion from scratch, and making it be so life-like you can't tell it wasn't a real human that created it. It's a wildly fascinating space to be building in and I'm enjoying educating folks on an area of #genAI that's not LLM-based.

I'm honored to have Uthana featured in the 1-year anniversary writeup of the Lumian Gen AI Newsletter. It's truly wild to see all that's developing in Gen AI broadly. Proud of our team for being one curl in this giant wave! #GenAI, #3DAnimation

🤮🤮 900+ laid off from Sony Interactive Entertainment today - sharing a fresh list of resources / opportunities for those impacted by the #layoffs👇 As always - please share / comment / etc. so we can get this in the hands of the folks who could use it. 📙 JOB AGGREGATORS / COMPANY LISTS https://hitmarker.net/jobs https://lnkd.in/gMUKNXQk https://lnkd.in/gF2PT5Nv https://gracklehq.com/jobs https://gamejobs.co/ https://lnkd.in/gEmXzEMM https://lnkd.in/gprU_GmU https://amirsatvat.com/ (Amir Satvat's resource) https://bit.ly/40KkoIp (a16z games' portfolio aggregator) A16Z GAMES PORTFOLIO ⚜️ Azra Games 🔜 ETHDenver - https://lnkd.in/gsnH_6Pw 🙏 The Believer Company - https://lnkd.in/gxEvRwAi ⚙️ Clockwork Labs - https://lnkd.in/gEvUfCAM 🔁 Core Loop - https://lnkd.in/gH2ph-md 🏀 Gym Class VR - https://lnkd.in/gTrB79Wm ⛰️ Mountaintop Studios - https://bit.ly/mtntopjobs 🧱 Omni Creator Products - https://bit.ly/ocpjobs 🐺 Overwolf - https://lnkd.in/gtkazCbu ⛩️ Pahdo Labs - https://bit.ly/pahdojobs 🪐 Raid Base Inc -https://lnkd.in/ghnkjf6s 👩🚀 Ready Player Me - https://lnkd.in/g-2wRHrf 🧙♀️ Cult of the North - https://bit.ly/3SWMkWY 🔺 Series AI - https://lnkd.in/gdUR4QNr 6️⃣ Singularity 6 - https://lnkd.in/gqJEPfWJ 🏖️ Sandbox VR - https://lnkd.in/g-Sa7tQD 😴 Sleeper - https://bit.ly/sleeperjobs 🐢 Super Evil Megacorp - https://bit.ly/semcjobs 🔬 Theorycraft Games - https://lnkd.in/gfD9PRWg 🏗️ Voldex - https://bit.ly/voldexjobs SPEEDRUN PORTFOLIO 🍟 Lil' Snack - https://bit.ly/3uCJwXa 🍎 Communion - https://bit.ly/4bRD5Qu 🎩 Magic Circle - https://bit.ly/3UUu3wg 🏠 Closing Theory Studios - https://lnkd.in/g--aEkXW 🤔 Common Sense Machines - https://bit.ly/csmjobs 🙏 OPEN SOULS - https://bit.ly/3OXH8RG 🦝 Rascal Games - https://bit.ly/rascaljobs 🌹 Rosebud AI - https://bit.ly/rosebudjobs 💃 Uthana - https://bit.ly/uthanajobs JOIN OUR TALENT NETWORK: >>> https://bit.ly/3XysFP5 <<< The process is simple: sign up, we'll get in touch if we see a fit, and we'll intro you to relevant founders in the portfolio.

At Uthana, our vision is to beat a _visual_ Turing test – can we create motion so realistic that it becomes indistinguishable from actual human motion? Here's an example of our work toward achieving this goal. Consider two distinct methods for animating a video game character: *Motion Capture (#mocap )*: Actors wear specialized suits while numerous cameras capture their precise movements. *Generative AI (#genai)*: An AI model learns human motion from vast datasets and performs movements according to specific instructions. Can you guess which video was created with Generative AI (vs Mocap)? - Yellow? - Blue? - Both? - Neither? Comment (or like a comment) with your guess. I'll post the answer in the comments on Friday.

I'm excited to share that Uthana has a new look. I created the first version of the #websitedesign in 5 minutes using the GoDaddy website builder. It served its purpose: (1) grabbed a 6-letter .com, (2) had a website to register for services, (3) evoked an emotion with customers, investors, and candidates. But now we're telling a story. We used an old approach: building our marketing message from the ground up and implementing it with a trusted platform in Webflow. And added a new flavor: AI-generating all the art using Midjourney. Such a simple combination is the way of the future. In fact, we're doing the same thing in 3D animation - combining standard asset types and workflows with completely new ways to bring characters to life using generative AI. Hope you enjoy what you see. Big props to our designer Brandon Shelley for his outstanding #prompting.