A COMPUTER WILL soon be able to “democratise art creation” and take the time-consuming and expensive work out of making digital images for video games and movies.
That is the pitch from startup Artomatix, one of 13 early-stage companies making their “big idea” play for investors at Ireland’s first national innovation showcase in Dublin today.
The company, which was founded only this year, aims to ”automate all the tedious math” involved in producing complex images for art-hungry digital media.
In Artomatix’s video for the showcase, chief technical officer Eric Risser said digital artwork was still expensive to make because it relied on the same, basic process - painting by hand – that it did 1,000 years ago.
“Our solution is a new type of artificial intelligence that mimics human-like artistic creativity,” he said.
Our system takes images and 3D models and it uses them as inspiration to imagine basically infinitely more in a process that is either completely automatic or you as a person can guide in a highly-subjective, high-level way.”
Like the other 12 startups making their pitches today, Artomatix has been built on state-funded research. The company was founded only this year and is based in the VentureLab at the National Digital Research Centre in Dublin and has been backed by Enterprise Ireland through its New Frontiers programme for early-stage entrepreneurs.
Risser said the company had already gone to the biggest players in digital art creation and there was a “huge appetite” for the software as major firms had both a significant problem to solve and the money to throw at it.
But he said the ultimate goal was to launch a cloud-based service which even non-artists could use.
“We imagine a system where we can democratise art creation,” he said.
First national innovation forum
Today’s event at Dublin’s Convention Centre is the first national-level forum to show off Ireland’s research and technology centres to potential business collaborators and investors.
Jobs Minister Richard Bruton said driving innovation and research in business was a national priority.
“We are determined to open up our research system to industry so that companies can develop new products and services and ultimately create jobs,” he said.
Originally published at 1.04pm
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