What happened in the AI creative world in March, weeks 3&4?

Welcome to the Mahazine, a bimonthly newsletter focusing on the latest AI news in the creative industry, inspiring visuals and experimentations, trending AI experiences and marketing campaigns, tools and tutorials.

📣 Big news

👉 Apple is in talks with Baidu, Google, OpenAI, Anthropic to integrate generative AI into IOS18, revealing big ambitions to bring more AI features to phones. CEO Tim Cook has already confirmed that Apple is spending “a tremendous amount of time and effort” on AI features, and plans to release them “later this year.”

👉 OpenAI shares Sora first impressions from artists that tested the tool. “Sora is at its most powerful when you’re not replicating the old but bringing to life new and impossible ideas we would have otherwise never had the opportunity to see.” says Paul Trillo, Director. While the tool was tested by artists and directors, OpenAI was also in talks with Hollywood to discuss partnerships.Shykids shared a behind-the-scenes video explaining their work process with Sora. “With “air head” we wanted to show people that the most important ingredient in a story is (and will always be) humanity.”

👉 Google unveils Vlogger, a new model that can generate realistic videos of people speaking, gesturing, and moving. The Google research team explained in the paper that Vlogger’s can dub videos into other languages by simply swapping out the audio track, to seamlessly edit and fill in missing frames in a video, and to create full videos of a person from a single photo.

👉 Stability release Stability Video 3D, a generative model based on Stable Video Diffusion, advancing the field of 3D technology and delivering greatly improved quality and view-consistency. Stable Video 3D is able to generate multi-view videos of an object. Additionally, they propose improved 3D optimization leveraging this powerful capability to generate arbitrary orbits around an object. Stable Video 3D is able to reliably output quality 3D meshes from single image inputs.

👉 Roblox launched AI-powered avatar and texturing technologies to accelerate 3D Creation. Avatar Auto Setup simplifies the avatar creation process by automatically converting a 3D body mesh into a live, animated avatar. With just a click, Auto Setup will automatically rig, cage, segment, and skin 3D models. Completing a process that used to take people days in just a few minutes. The initial alpha release is intended to provide this workflow for creators in Roblox Studio and eliminate hours of manual work

👉 Adobe announces GenStudio, a generative AI-first product that lets marketing teams quickly plan, create, manage, activate across apps and publishers, and measure on-brand content. Users can generate brand assets for email, social media, and display ads using brand guidelines, assets, and copy guidance to ensure quality and relevant generations.

👀 Creative picks

[Media campaign] Esculab Medical Laboratory x Bickerstaff.799

Bickerstaff.799 launched a compelling "Look Inside Yourself" campaign emphasizing the importance of regular medical check-ups for self-awareness. They developed 80 types of content including social media content, visuals, and videos for the new Esculab visual language. By automating the process with Stable Diffusion and TouchDesigner programs, they saved 1,840 hours of work, equal to 2.5 months of manual work. Graphic Designer Liza Popova noted that AI was crucial for creating realistic bacteria and animating micro-worlds efficiently.

_{Credits: Creative director: Illia Anufriienko • Art Directors: Oleksandra Spasova, Polina Blyzniuk • Graphic/Motion Designers: Elizabeth Bilohub, Oleh Shava • Designers: Dmytro Kifuliak, Liza Popova • Copywriter/Creative prompt engineering: Vlad Minchev • Senior Project Manager: Hanna Oryshchenko • Head of strategy: Serhii Lizunov • Strategist: Masha Kochurenko}

[Digital experience] Honda Dream Generator AI film experience

The Dream Generator experience, created with the creative agency RPA, is part of an integrated launch marketing campaign for the 2024 Prologue.The experience guides Amazon customers to answer a few questions that serve to personalize a custom-generated film spotlighting the Prologue SUV. The experience leverages AI-generated animation from 1stAveMachine using traditional hand-drawn animation cells, per release details, with characters first illustrated by hand before being transformed into the video’s 3D environments using generative AI. The result is over 190 story variations, made possible by fusing the talent of illustrators, animation artists, 3D artists, film directors, and AI developers.You can try the experience here

_{Credits: RPA agency • Amazon Brand Innovation Lab • 1stAveMachine}

[Ad campaign] Haytap animal right federation #RetirementAnimalFarm

The digital campaign 'There is love, no violence! #RetirementAnimalFarm' created by THEBADGUYS for Haytap. At the Retirement Animal Farm, which was established by Haytap to stand against the cruel realities faced by aging or injured farm animals, the animals are treated and allowed to live their second spring for the rest of their lives.

The campaign visuals created with AI, showcase farm animals living a cozy retreat life in the farm, reading the newspaper or enjoying coffee. The campaign aims to raise awareness on well-being conditions that aging or injured animals can benefit in Turkey.

_{Credits: Advertising Agency: THEBADGUYS, İstanbul, Turkey • Creative Director: Duha Keleşoğlu • Account Manager: Sinem Yaman • Art Director: AI}

[Marketing campaign] Hellmann’s Uses AI to Mark Food Waste Action Week

Hellmann's has launched an AI-driven campaign "Meal Reveal" created by Ogilvy UK in collaboration with Google Cloud. The project aims to reduce household food waste by allowing users to scan the contents of their fridge and get recipe suggestions using AI. The campaign marks Food Waste Action Week and aligns with Hellmann's long-standing mission to inspire people to "Make Taste, Not Waste" and reduce food wastage.

_{CreditsOgilvy UK • Google Cloud}

🦄 March explorations

Some recent topics we played with

💿 Retro futuristic hardware ads
👴🏼 Skin details close-up ✨ Shiny sloth

🌞 Curated tweets

Mahage Creative Agency Your partner agency for your AI creative projects.

Looking to elevate your digital projects and marketing campaigns?Mahage is your strategic partner for harnessing the power of AI and staying ahead of the curve. We provide a range of services, including:

• AI Strategy to guide your AI journey

• AI Training for your creative teams

• Visionary Creative Direction 

• AI-powered Design Production 

• Innovative Digital Campaigns powered by AI

Our AI-driven solutions will take your projects to new heights, delivering exceptional results that captivate your audience. Curious about what AI can do for your business?We have the answers. Start a conversation today 👇

🕵️ How-to: Adobe Firefly Structure Reference

What is Structure Reference? 

Structure Reference enables users to easily apply the structure of an existing image to newly generated images. You can use an existing image as a structural reference template and generate multiple image variations with the same layout.

With Structure Reference, creators can easily modify work, marketers can generate a variety of on-brand images to use across a campaigns, and designers easily create an image layout, as well as the structure and pose of a subject, without needing to find the perfect text prompt.

Now, let’s see how it works!

In this example, we generated a white model of a lobby interior, in Midjourney.

Now let’s try to generate multiple render ideas in Adobe Firefly.

1/ First, Open Firefly, and go to the settings side panel on the left 👇

2/ Select "photo" for the content type, as we want a photorealistic render. You can modify photo settings like aperture and shutter speed; in our example, we will put the settings on "auto".

3/ In the structure section, upload your image and control the strength of outline and depth adherence. We will set the strength to the maximum as we want the output to strictly respect the outline and depth adherence of our white model.

4/ Then type your prompt and enjoy the output result!

prompt: a traditional red Chinese interior, ming dynasty, wood furniture, lanterns and chimney smoking

5/ If you want to import the style of another image to your base image, you can also play with the "style settings" in the side panel. Upload a reference image that you like, control the intensity of the style that you want, and then generate.

6/ The result

And now let’s see the power of this tool in action:

📰 AI tools features updates

• Runway x Musixmatch → Music video generationA partnership to extend the reach of AI-powered media generation by allowing creators to bring their songs to life through dynamic video content at scale and aligned with their creative visions.

• Runway → Lip SyncRunway's Lip Sync feature allows you to select a face for use with your audio clips, resulting in a generative video where the chosen face speaks any voice lines contained in the uploaded audio track.

• Leonardo → PNG transparent backgroundYou can now generate HQ images with transparent backgrounds in PNG format. Images have an alpha channel, partial transparency, and super clean edge.

• Heygen → Avatar in MotionMove your hands, make gestures, use unique tones of voice, and HeyGen will flawlessly track, translate, and lip-sync your video with any input text.

• SunoAI → PlaylistsYou can now create and curate Playlists in your library. Use playlists to organize your library, create listening experiences, and save songs that you discover on Suno.

🧠 Trending AI tools

• Botika → Create stunning fashion product photos with AI

• Vmake → Generate AI fashion models for e-commerce or 3D fashion design.

• Viggle → Controllable Video Generation with actual physics understanding

• Lummi → Free stock photos and royalty-free images powered by robots

• Suno → Create a song in any language with just a few words.

📖 Interesting reads

• Redesigning how we work at Microsoft with generative AIMicrosoft is using GenAI to transform how its designers and employees create products by enabling faster iteration, exploration of more ideas, and a shift towards AI-guided unanticipated design experiences.

• Generative AI fuels creative physical product design but is no magic wandWhile generative AI can significantly accelerate product design cycles by fueling creativity and enabling rapid concept visualization, human expertise is still crucial for conducting consumer research, developing effective prompts, refining outputs, curating the best ideas, and ensuring products resonate with users.

• How AI Can Help Us End Design Education AnachronismsThe advent of generative AI requires rethinking and reforming architectural education by discarding antiquated practices like all-night work sessions, over-reliance on imagery, and the notion of education as a one-time rite of passage, instead embracing lifelong, practice-integrated learning models that can adapt to rapid technological changes.

• 41% of architects now using artificial intelligenceThe RIBA report reveals that 41% of architects in the UK are already using AI, with many seeing it as improving efficiency despite concerns about job threats and ethical risks.

• The Metaverse Unleashed: The Rise of Human-Scale Digital VenuesThe rise of human-scale digital venues blends virtual and physical elements to create immersive entertainment experiences connecting the metaverse to the real world.

• The human side of generative AI: Creating a path to productivityThe strategic fusion of human expertise and GenAI technology, illustrates how this synergistic partnership can lead to significant enhancements in productivity and organizational performance.

• Best Practices for Personalisation Through AI in Marketing CampaignsAI-driven personalization in marketing, as advocated by Emarsys CEO Joanna Milliken, can optimize customer engagement and drive business growth.

🔮 Predictions

Immersive AI-Generated Entertainment

1. Generative AI models like Sora enable the creation of fully AI-generated movies, TV shows, and interactive experiences with lifelike visuals and narratives.

2. Advances in AI video generation allow for personalized, on-demand content tailored to individual preferences and viewing history.

3. Virtual influencers and AI-generated celebrities becoming commonplace in media and advertising, blurring the lines between real and artificial personas.

3D Content Creation Democratized

1. AI-powered 3D modeling and animation tools make it easy for anyone to create high-quality 3D assets, environments, and experiences without extensive technical knowledge.

2. Platforms like Roblox leverage AI to streamline character creation, rigging, and animation, empowering a new generation of 3D content creators.

3. Emergence of AI-generated 3D models for use in virtual and augmented reality applications, games, and simulations.

AI-Driven Brand Expression

• Brands extensively use generative AI to create personalized marketing content at scale, including images, videos, and copy aligned with their brand guidelines.

• AI-generated branded virtual influencers and spokespersons becoming brand ambassadors, connecting with audiences in innovative ways.

• AI-powered design tools enable brands to rapidly experiment with and iterate on new visual identities, packaging designs, and product concepts.

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