Dylan Sisson (dylansisson.bsky.social)

I've migrated to Bluesky.
Find me here:

[Dylan Sisson (dylansisson.bsky.social) @Mr_Sisson]

I am on the latest podcast of CG Garage!

I was interviewed by industry icon, Christopher Nichols, at the 2022 @Trojan_Unicorn conference ...
we talk about #rendering, #denoising, #ai-ing, @PixarRenderMan, #Pixar, and existential angst ...
https://t.co/nStDu7dDIE

[La vida en viñetas @lavidaenvinetas]

Dylan Sisson

[80 LEVEL @80Level]

This vaudeville stage isn't a watercolor painting, it's a live render created with Pixar's RenderMan XPU by Dylan Sisson.

Technique showcase coming soon: https://t.co/pHuRI2TQhg

[Dylan Sisson (dylansisson.bsky.social) @Mr_Sisson]

For Valentine's Day, my Dragon Sculpt is now %20 off!
For the date who loves dragons ...
Use Coupon Code "SAVEDRAGON" https://t.co/GA1C1zcNg9 via @Etsy
#ValentinesDay #Valentinesday2025

[befores & afters magazine @beforesmag]

Proud to be a media supporter at @SIGGRAPHAsia

[befores & afters magazine @beforesmag]

It’s @Mr_Sisson at @SIGGRAPHAsia !!

[3DVF @3DVF]

“The future is coming” at @SIGGRAPHAsia 2024

Creativity, Technology, & RenderMan by @Mr_Sisson

#RENDERMAN #SIGGRAPHAsia

[Dylan Sisson (dylansisson.bsky.social) @Mr_Sisson]

Be there and be square!

#SIGGRAPHAsia2024

[3DVF @3DVF]

It is teapot time at @SIGGRAPHAsia 2024

Come from 2.45pm at the @Dell @DellConsumer_JP booth exhibition hall.

@Mr_Sisson
#renderman #delltech #walkingteapot #SIGGRAPHAsia2024

[3DVF @3DVF]

It is teapot time at @SIGGRAPHAsia 2024

Come from 2.45pm at the @Dell @DellConsumer_JP booth exhibition hall.

@Mr_Sisson
#renderman #delltech #walkingteapot #SIGGRAPHAsia2024

[Dylan Sisson (dylansisson.bsky.social) @Mr_Sisson]

Next week I'll be in Tokyo ... speaking at SIGGRAPH Asia! If you're there, come say hello!

Sessions:
https://t.co/8fuuWBKoUe

#renderman #xpu #vr #art #technology #machinelearningdenoiser #machinelearning #narrowai #ai #aiart #siggraph2024

[befores & afters magazine @beforesmag]

Great talk from @Mr_Sisson at @ViewConference on @pixarsrenderman and more.

[VIEW Conference @ViewConference]

Just wrapped up at #viewconference the extraordinary session “The Future is Coming: Creativity, Technology, and RenderMan”. A huge thank you to @Mr_Sisson, Artist & Designer at #RenderMan, @Pixar #Animation Studios.

@to_megutierrez #vfx #drawing #storytelling #event

[3DVF @3DVF]

🇺🇸VIEW Conference: our recap on Moana 2, Twisters, and the future of RenderMan!
https://t.co/XhAhQUwTeT

🇫🇷View Conference : resumé du mardi avec Vaiana 2, tornades de Twisters, Pixar en conférence !
https://t.co/nhhI9zVKu4
@ViewConference @ILMVFX @Pixar @Mr_Sisson

[befores & afters magazine @beforesmag]

Direct link to the @ViewConference programme. There's an INSANE number of incredible speakers like @fedalvar, Jonah Nolan, @CooleyUrFaceOff, @ShannonTindle_1, @alec_gillis, @rbredow, @ArfKeldo, @Mr_Sisson, @haydzilla, @habibzargarpour and so many more!

https://t.co/cb54zrYnGB

[Dylan Sisson (dylansisson.bsky.social) @Mr_Sisson]

Next week I'll be speaking at the #ViewConference.
https://t.co/9nUt8bxzML
I'll be giving a workshop on our #RenderManChallenge and a presentation on Pixar's next generation rendering tools.
#viewconference2024
#XPU #machinelearning #AI #genAI #vfx #CPU #GPU
#renderman

[Martin Nebelong @MartinNebelong]

The misconception is thinking that it'll be ai doing "art". It's humans who'll be making art but now with AI alongside all the other amazing tools we have at our disposal.

Not text to art, but human creativity and exploration at the core of everything. Ai in itself won't make art. Art involves a journey and there's no journey between text prompt and image, question and answer without explanations and conversations.

[crazer @CrazerArts]

IMO this is the right way to be doing this.

As someone who's been a traditional filmmaker, and also uses Ai tools to create experimental short films, this bill protects performers (past and present) from producers using Ai tools to 'replicate' them artificially.

This is important to guard working actors against losing opportunities and income, and from being falsely represented in projects they didn't agree to work on. It prevents producers from using Ai replicas of deceased performers in modern projects without explicit consent of their estates.

Also, an important note from the flip side of the coin, it isn't such an aggressive blockade that it prevents all Ai tools from being used absolutely. I think this is just as important as protecting the performers.

People like myself who would love to have a full, busy, deep career writing/directing movies the traditional ways but cannot with the current state of the industry, can still use Ai tools as we have been to experiment and explore creative ideas & concepts. Crafting scenes and stories with people, places, and things that don't exist allows writer/director types like myself to dig into the creative depths in our heads and express those ideas outwardly.

I believe in the long run, most filmmakers will use Ai tools to work out ideas for projects they will ultimately shoot traditionally. An advanced form of storyboarding or previsualization to tighten up all the scenes and explore options Before cameras roll.

The way Ai tools are now and have been, I've always said "The movies I make with Ai, I cannot make the traditional way. The movies I make IRL, I cannot replicate with Ai." Though they are both very satisfying for me creatively to use as means of expression and the workflow is very similar, the mediums themselves and final compositions are different things. For now. Those mediums move closer together every day. When I understand what RunwayML's Gen-3 is capable of, I can't help but think they'll be very close to creating/controlling movie scenes like a trad director wants to by the time they get to Gen-6 or Gen-8 or so.

As Ai tech advances, it is important for protections like this to be implemented. It is also important that panic is avoided and those protections are put in place in nuanced and thoughtful ways that doesn't kill the tech.

Absolutely, working creatives need to be protected from their likeness being exploited, but the protections cannot be so aggressive and broad that they prevent the tech from being developed or artists who wouldn't hire those performers to begin with are blocked from using Ai tools for their artistic expression.

I kind of see it like animated films in a way. The filmmakers who create an animated movie, are not taking work away from actors or cinematographers or anyone else, they themselves are artists who are expressing their creativity in a way they want to. They're similar, but different mediums. Some of those projects hire working actors with famous voices to add life to the animated characters in their projects.

Ai tools could get to a similar place, I believe. Ai movies might not be much different from the CG-Heavy movies or animated movies in our current state. Similar to trad films, but different in specific ways.

I'll wrap up by going back to my reality. I went to film school. I busted my ass for free on a bunch of other people's projects in many crew positions to learn the ropes of the trade. I self-funded my first projects and went deep into debt. As a writer/director, I created many music videos and short films. I've written feature screenplays, worked in writing groups and with writing partners. I've aspired to write/direct feature films and do that for a living. ...And, the whole damn industry in America got killed. Ok, it's not dead, but the f*cker is wrecked and broken and bleeding out.

I would love more than anything to have a stable career as a filmmaker in the traditional ways. I love making movies I love shoot with film cameras. I love building sets and working with actors. I love the energy of a group of dozens of people coming together to create a singular work of art. I love discovering all those magic moments during transfer and editing. I love writing original stories and pushing creative boundaries. I love honoring the filmmakers that made me want to become a filmmaker, while finding my own voice and developing my own style. I love absolutely everything about the traditional filmmaking process. ...but, with the industry as it is, I cannot do any of that right now and it sucks.

This is why I also love and embrace the Ai tech and exploring that method of creativity. I still have an avalanche of movie scenes, characters, story worlds, and ideas in my head. Things I'd love to develop as traditional movies... but, if the industry won't let me have a place in it, and people like me are shoved aside so the studios can all make PG-13 mass-market stuff from existing IPs, then goodamn, give me Some kind of tools I can use to express myself and have Some kind of outlet for my creativity!

A filmmaker who cannot make films is like a singer forced to wear a muzzle.

Filmmaking is a very expensive medium, and there are very few studios who can or will support smaller, original works that aren't for massive audiences or from existing IPs. I have skills and I have stories to tell. If I cannot find ways to do that in the traditional industry, I'll champion the tech that is developing other ways for people like me to channel all that we have within ourselves.

tl/dr: Protecting working artists' careers is good. Allowing tech to develop so other artists in that same industry can also find career paths is good, too.

Let's not make this a zero sum game, when it comes to Ai in the entertainment industry. The Ai tools should be powerful things for creatives to utilize and realize their vision, not powerful things for "money people" to exploit those creatives who's work gives them their very fortunes.

I'll leave you with a quote from The Creature in Marry Shelly's Frankenstein...

“I have love in me the likes of which you can scarcely imagine and rage the likes of which you would not believe. If I cannot satisfy the one, I will indulge the other”

🔥🤘🔥

[Dylan Sisson (dylansisson.bsky.social) @Mr_Sisson]

Pixar's RenderMan Walking Teapot has arrived at #Pixelatl!

The first folks in line at my talk on Thursday at 6pm will take one home ... they are house trained, mostly.

[Dylan Sisson (dylansisson.bsky.social) @Mr_Sisson]

Looking forward to the Pixelatl Festival next week in Guadalajara.
It's my honor to be speaking about Inside Out 2, VFX, and our latest RenderMan Challenge. Hope to see you there!
https://t.co/LZpyWfnqOa

#pixelatl
#pixar #renderman

[Dylan Sisson (dylansisson.bsky.social) @Mr_Sisson]

@GenJonesX @AMD @awscloud @Dell @IEEE @TheFoundryTeam @fxphd @nvidia @RANCHComputing @sidefx @SpeedTreeInc @Xencelabs The theme of the challenge "Compute" is open for each artist's interpretation ... and is inspired by the work of the IEEE.
And the question of "What makes the art 'real' or 'authentic'?" is one of the central questions of our time, maybe some artists will explore this theme.

[Dylan Sisson (dylansisson.bsky.social) @Mr_Sisson]

Pixar's next RenderMan Art Challenge has launched!
With over $60k in prizes, anyone can join!
https://t.co/O4Jm4uBYmM

@AMD @awscloud @Dell @IEEE @TheFoundryTeam @fxphd @nvidia @RANCHComputing @sidefx @SpeedTreeInc @Xencelabs
#RenderMan #XPU #MLDenoiser #AI #NarrowAI not #GenAI