Mar 2025
AI as a layer, not a generator
A studio puts generative tools inside a traditional 2D/3D animation pipeline.
Instead of asking a model to make the film, Asteria used AI at specific steps of a normal animation process: a model trained on the artist's own drawings, generated 3D layouts, machine ink-and-paint, and in-betweens bridged from hand-picked keyframes. Twenty-plus people, one house style, and the artist stays the author.
How it worked
- Train a LoRA directly on the artist's hand-drawn work (Paul Flores) so every generated frame carries his line and palette.
- Block the scenes in 3D: generative extrusion turns drawings into rough geometry, then 3D layout sets camera and staging.
- Generative ink-and-paint and color passes replace the manual fill; style transfer keeps the whole frame on-model.
- Generate backgrounds and their motion separately from the characters.
- Author the first, middle and last frame of each shot by hand-picking generations, then let a video model bridge the in-betweens.
- Composite, upscale in Topaz, and cut as you would any animated short.
Example Films1
More making-ofs2
How films were actually made, from the people who made them.