Meta’s Fundamental AI Research (FAIR) team has released an open-source project called Animated Drawings that allows users to bring their doodles to life.
The Web-based tool asks users to upload a drawing of a single human-like character or to select a demo figure. If users choose to upload their own doodle, they will see a consent form asking if Meta can use their drawing to help train its models. Users do not need to provide consent to keep using the tool. After resizing a capture box to fit around the creation, the tool gives users a pen and eraser to tweak the drawing before adjusting where the joints should be. Users can then pick from a variety of preset animations from four categories: dance, funny, jumping & walking.
Animated Drawings uses object detection models, pose estimation models & image processing-based segmentation methods to capture a digital version of a drawing. It then uses traditional computer graphics techniques to deform and animate the image. Within a few months of its release, users had granted Meta permission to use more than 1.6 million images for training purposes. Some users uploaded images of company logos, anime characters, fish & stuffed animals, despite the tool stipulating that only human figures would work.
Meta hopes that by offering Animated Drawings as an open-source project, other developers will be able to create new, richer experiences. The array of images that people uploaded to the tool suggested there was broad interest in more extensive drawing-to-animation experiences. Along with requests for a more in-depth toolset that includes sound effects and text overlays, the company plans to expand the capabilities of Animated Drawings.
Image credit: Meta
