A hit show's entire VFX pipeline already runs on AI (and nobody in the US is talking about it. Swords Into Plowshares, a real, currently-airing historical drama on Chinese state television, has Kling AI woven into every stage of its VFX pipeline) according to Timeaxis Studios founder Chen Yi, on the record. One shot: a raven, generated and animated entirely inside the AI, then composited into live footage. A full storm-sequence simulation that used to take two months of previs got cut to two weeks. The jobs this threatens first aren't the flashy ones, it's the previs artist, the rotoscoper, the iteration grind. What doesn't compress: the judgment call on which shot is worth building, and the eye that catches a bad composite. I've watched planning work in my own control room get compressed by tools like this. It's not a China-only story. It won't stay one. Which part of your actual VFX workflow do you think compresses first? I want the real answer, not the polite one.
And nobody in the US is talking about it.
A real, currently-airing historical drama on Chinese state television has an AI tool woven into every stage of its VFX pipeline, according to the studio founder who built it, on the record.
What kling AI actually did
Fast pre-vis. Dynamic territorial maps for battle sequences. Final effects plates, like a raven, generated and animated inside the AI, then composited into live footage.
The clearest number
A full storm-sequence simulation that used to take two months of previs work got cut to two weeks. Not eliminated. Compressed by a factor of four.
Which jobs compress first
Not the flashy concept work, the previs artist, the rotoscoping, the iteration grind. That's the most repeatable work, so it's compressing fastest.
My own chair
I've watched planning work in my own control room get compressed by tools like this. It's not a China-only story. It won't stay one.
What doesn't compress
The judgment call on which shot is worth building. The eye that catches a bad composite. Get explicitly good at that layer.
Which part compresses first?
I want the real answer, not the polite one.