Shutterstock, a provider of visual content, has teamed up with NVIDIA’s cloud-based foundry, Picasso, to offer a new feature that enables rapid generation and customization of 3D scene backgrounds using generative AI. This partnership utilizes Picasso’s latest advancement, which allows artists to enhance and illuminate 3D scenes based on simple text or image cues. The result is the quick creation of custom 360-degree, 8K-resolution, high-dynamic-range imaging (HDRi) environment maps, which serve as backgrounds and lighting sources for scenes.
This collaboration builds on the existing efforts between NVIDIA and Shutterstock to empower the next generation of digital content creation tools, particularly in the realm of 3D model generation. The demand for immersive visuals, driven by industries like films, games, and advertising, has led to a surge in the 3D artist community. Many of these artists are leveraging generative AI to streamline their workflows, and this partnership aims to further expedite the creation and customization of environment maps, freeing up time for crafting core 3D assets that stand out in scenes.
Dade Orgeron, Vice President of 3D Innovation at Shutterstock, stated, “We’re committed to hyper-enabling 3D artists and collaborators — helping them build the immersive environments they envision faster than ever before and streamlining their content-creation workflows using NVIDIA Picasso.”
The traditional process of generating photorealistic environment maps often required expensive equipment or settling for pre-existing options that might not perfectly match a specific 3D scene. However, this partnership introduces a more straightforward method. Artists can provide prompts, either in the form of text or reference images, and the 360 HDRi services powered by Picasso will swiftly generate panoramic images. With the help of generative AI, the resulting environment map will seamlessly match the provided background image. This customizable approach allows for easy iterations until the desired outcome is achieved.
Beyond the partnership with Shutterstock, NVIDIA’s generative AI content-creation services are being integrated into Autodesk’s 3D software, Maya. This collaboration aims to empower artists to focus on creativity by automating certain tasks through AI, ultimately expediting content production.
Picasso is part of NVIDIA AI Foundations and operates on the NVIDIA Omniverse Cloud platform-as-a-service. It can be accessed via a serverless application programming interface, facilitating easy integration for content and service providers like Shutterstock. This advancement marks a significant step forward in the efficiency and quality of 3D scene background creation.
