- Disney Imagineering plans to use Adobe’s Firefly AI services to create the next generation of theme park rides based on its own intellectual property.
- Disney says the move builds on decades of collaboration between the two companies
- The move is seen as a significant victory for Adobe, which is facing increasingly pessimistic investor sentiment with its own AI offerings.
Adobe and Walt Disney Imagineering revealed that the studio’s research and development arm will leverage technology from Adobe Firefly Foundry to design future parks, hotels, cruises and attractions.
Adobe’s Firefly Foundry AI offering is not just another unique service, but one customized to meet Disney’s unique needs. The custom AI is trained on Disney’s own IP offerings, enabling what the companies call a “responsibly built” solution to handle the following workflows:
– A sketch-to-picture template that transforms raw hand-drawn concepts into fully rendered 2D concept art.
– A custom image model trained on Disney’s own intellectual property that generates franchise-accurate creative assets in Mickey & Friends, Frozen, Moana, Lilo & Stitch and Cars.
– A 3D modeling capability that takes 2D renderings and turns them into detailed prototypes for construction planning and coordination with engineering teams.
How is AI helping build the next generation of Disney rides?
Kyle Laughlin, senior vice president of Walt Disney Imagineering Research & Development, said the company is a “long-time user” of Adobe’s Creative Cloud tools, with a relationship that spans decades, and was also an early adopter of its Firefly offerings.
“We were looking for a collaborator who could help us do this responsibly and in a way that respected the fact that we are a creator-driven company,” Laughlin noted. “We are a talent-driven company that respects that the creative process incorporates humans into what we do.”
Disney says it has no plans to replace the human element in the process, but will use solutions provided by Firefly to compress workloads and significantly speed things up, although “the results remain consistent with the company’s storytelling heritage and visual language.”
“As Imagineering teams create new experiences for fans around the world, our tools and workflows will provide a creative foundation to explore bolder ideas and make the best ones a reality,” said Hannah Elsakr, vice president of GenAI New Business Ventures at Adobe.
Collaborations with companies like Disney are a need of the hour for Adobe, which often leads investors to question the viability of its business model in an AI-driven future where everyone has access to generative AI tools, even as it presents itself as a leader in a rapidly evolving industry.
The move is seen as a big win for Adobe, with Walt Disney Imagineering Research & Development arguably one of the biggest clients it could court for its Firefly Foundry service.
The move comes at a time when Disney is a plaintiff in several intellectual property-related lawsuits against AI companies, including image and video generation company Midjourney, for allegedly plagiarizing and therefore abusing its copyrights.
Follow TechRadar on Google News And add us as your favorite source to get our news, reviews and expert opinions in your feeds.
