Tafi Announces Revolutionary Text-to-3D Character Engine
WendyLuvsCatz
Posts: 38,229
in The Commons
I don't follow the pages this is being promoted on apparently and DAZ doesn't seem to be promoting it so far
but heard from several Facebook friend's pages and now a few YouTube channels I follow of it's existence
https://maketafi.com/newsroom?fbclid=IwAR2IjVmSjXJg4DaI0VnuOL-bambi2IHZkXcJ0hisT32BPS2w6XyNSXSLtGk
any thoughts and why is DAZ not posting anything?
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Good find!
You may be early here.
Part of Excerpt says:
"This meticulously labeled and organized dataset is ideal for efficiently training its foundation model..
Melbourne-based 3D expert, Mada De Leeuw, who publishes with Daz 3D, said, “A lot of creators are understandably wary of how AI will impact them. Tafi’s approach protects artists, and I join many others in the community supporting the solution they are building.”
The company welcomes and is actively evaluating beta program candidates and enterprise use cases for its foundation model. Register Now! "
It seems like Tafi's version of ChatGPT. With character focus to begin. More likely to appeal to more mainstream people that don't want to fiddle with mixers and DS. Just want fast output.
Eventually might show here as a product.
Speaking of AI, here's a very recent article link. Key opinion is that originality is not there at this time. More a porridge you get to shape (and what you do have is built on "borrowed" assets).
Black Mirror’ Creator Had ChatGPT Write an Episode---
Which is probably why in part TAFI s having a beta for this. Get the porridge output working better.
@Mada was namedropped in the article, so maybe she can offer some insight (assuming she's allowed to talk about it).
im more interested in usd format announcement
AI seems like daz jumping on another bandwagon (see NFTs)
USD, though nextGen to FBX or OBJ, is still pretty niche
Pretty sure TAFI is focussed with this on being a leader for AI before someone else gets there re: character creation
Which in turn gives them more $$
Would agree AI sounds like NFT, but AI is here to stay and develop whereas NFTs are more a fad.
I like the idea of a character engine, one can get exactly the charactor and clothing they want but Tafi is aimed at the game asset market
DAZ studio was mentioned though
I may be early but all the AI Youtubers have videos up about it already
Some day in the near future we'll just type "NVIATWAS" into a pop-up box and the Magic Box/Interwebz will do the rest.
Beta sign up on this link https://maketafi.com/newsroom#
It's out there, so seems very good to have a thread.
TAFI does have it officially as a Beta per that news link provided in OP.
Given there is no official product for DAZ or addtional beta-testing from DAZ today, yet, DS users wait.
Am less convinced you will get exact what you want. More that porridge idea of something closer. So less interest to me. Originality still has value. Well until your works get scrubbed. Especially images. But proably good for revenue. So that's good.
Does seem more a non-DAZ focus in terms of trying to appeal to non DAZ crowd, ie AI crowd. So we'll see how they link up.
History - including with you? Not enough flame retardant underwear to make anyone want to post? Feelings about AI is just as strong as NFTs :) I don't have official information on that though lol
And before anyone gets out the flame thrower on me - one of the things that is different about the dataset that Daz is using is that its a proprietary dataset - unique and ethically sourced from the products in the Daz store. Its not creating new models or mesh or textures or stealing from artists. Until now, it has been widely believed (and published by Google and OpenAI) that no such dataset exists - and one of the reasons NVidia is partnering with Daz.
I know some of the details, not all of it - and things can change along the way because its very much a beta - but what I know right now is:
Its a text based interface that you can use to load products from the store, based on descriptions you provide. If you're not good at lighting, or setting up scenes - this is a good way to start with it. Same with posing etc. Its a great way for new users to get familiar with DS.
Since its text based I don't see any reason for it not to work on a mobile phone, or tablet - no need for robust computers. If all you want is a render than you can do that (and I assume finished renders is not going to be free, they have to get compensation for products used). Or you can buy the products that's in the scene and download them to your computer to further tweak the scene. Export to the program you want to use and bypass Daz Studio completely.
I have to go into a meeting but I'll be back in a bit to answer any questions that I can answer :)
This isn't generating something like the AI generators do. This is basically TEXT Controlled Daz Studio, nothing more, and a simplified DS at that. It uses the morphs and textures that they have rights and access to, it is not creating new morphs or textures in its process. There is nothing wrong with the concept, if it makes things easier, that's great. But I question how well this works in practice. While there is a ton of content that Daz can pull from, there are still limitations on what you can do. If a morph does not exist, or if the combination of morphs do not work well with the clothing, what can the user do about it? You will not have access to every morph and texture ever made, only the ones this app has.
I assume that Daz/Tafi retains rights to the created characters in some way, given it retains 3D rights to the characters created in Daz Studio.
USD is going to be a big deal, it's in the name...Universal. We need a standard. With USD new doors will open in every direction. Anybody who doesn't use USD will get left behind. If DS gets it then that will change everything. DS FBX import sucks, it sucks unbelievably bad, and DS has no good options to import a model with rigging or even most textures in place. DUF is not a standard, and is proprietary to Daz. I can see a future where DS content will natively support USD for easy export. They will not need to do a separate download for Unreal, Unity, Blender, ect, ect. They can do it all with one format.
is true I would be unimpressed if this was promoted to be just another way to generate NFTs
but then I would be against pixel art and people drawing apes with crayon too for the same reason
my feelings there are NOT art related at all rather against Cryptocurrancy and it's related financial dealings
I was never against the actual art, I am actually agnostic about AI art, I play with it and my electricy bill has actually gone down using Stable Diffusion to render more and DAZ iray less
it' is not anywhere near as high as most peoples to start with, but I don't champion it as fully recognise the copyright issues too, it's just another personal hobby I enjoy/share and I am fascinated by the technology,
I am against using it commercially (Stable Diffussion that is, not AI)
AI itself I am enthusatically for if used ethically
I am definitely for DAZ/Tafi embracing technology (that doesn't add ridiculously to global warming without at least producing something tangiable that is)
If I understood the video correctly and this will enable me to create Unreal scenes with the Daz assets I already own very quickly using natural language, then I'm really looking forward to this. Great idea.
EDIT: Actually if Mada's correct and we can bypass DS completely while still using all our Daz assets down to practically the most granular detail, then this is the greatest news I've heard all year, lol
If you give TAFI control, that company will be in control of EVERYTHING of yours. So if you're using Tafi to make a commercial product, Tafi can take away everything you made by banning you.
You can't give a company that much control. They could shut you down for any reason they want.
Now, if Tafi can somehow be used client side, so you're in control, great.
I don't follow the reasoning - you're using Daz Studio just like before... you can make any commercial product you want just as before when buying products in the Daz store - with the relevant licenses in place if you're going to distribute in a game etc. Its a layer that makes it easier for some users to use Daz Studio.
You don't get banned for any old reason. You get banned for redistributing and pirating content. If you get banned on the forums for your behaviour, you still have all the access you had from before to your products.
From the blog : " and its next update will include NVIDIA’s Omniverse via support for Universal Scene Description (OpenUSD)OpenUSD. "
https://maketafi.com/newsroom
I saw that, I was mainly responding to a comment that USD was still niche.
That is a big leap. They don't stop you using the application or content now, why would they here? We don't even know exactly what or how it will deliver.
That is true of any licensed content, and is not a power that gets exervised (for obvious reasons).
"... proprietary.. unique and ethically sourced.." dataset.. neat insight. This confirms my suspicions about the way forward (legalization and productization) for a commercial "AI" art product. Thanks. Saw TAFI has AI/ML openings on it's careers page (sadly, non-remote) and then this comes out.. exciting times.. hope there's more to come.
I have serious concerns about AI art (for many of the same reasons I did NFTs), but this is encouraging, and I'm curious to see what comes of it. Thank you for the insight.
Does this generate 3D scenes that users can modify, or just 2D images?
it sounds like the direction Daz Studio needs to be designed with an eye towards, but I guess that Tafi was chosen because it's code base is much smaller, more wieldy, and easier to effectively tack new features to and quickly test.
My question is I have a Tafi account, I have a very large purchased DAZ 3D library, and I'd like to use these new Tafi features to use AI to modify my own DAZ Interactive Licensed purchases to create new models in an ethically above board way, and so will such features be added to Tafi?
From what I understand on the press release you can export your characters as a minimum. I would be surprised if there wasn't a Daz Studio scene format available. Of course you would need to own the products used so if you decide you want the scene that would involve purchasing everything in it... but with a text based interface its easy to remove the things you don't want to buy.
"Tafi currently allows users to output high-quality characters from Daz Studio into popular game engines and 3D software applications in native formats, including Unreal, Unity, Blender, Autodesk 3ds Max, Autodesk Maya and Maxon Cinema 4D, and its next update will include NVIDIA’s Omniverse via support for Universal Scene Description (OpenUSD)OpenUSD. At launch, Tafi’s Text-to-3D character engine will export 3D characters in native file formats to these destinations, providing unprecedented value to its users."
This is for Daz Studio. Products used will be from the Daz store :) Tafi is the parent company of Daz3D.
Thanks for the additional info. I expect a "Click to add all products to cart" button.
I would be very surprised if there wasn't one lol - its the ultimate kitbash engine :D
What I would like to see is a render based service too, where you pay a lower fee for the items used in your render on a single case basis without owning the item afterwards. Since this is the beta, now would be the time to put in the requests for features.
Rent, not buy.
@Mada, thanks for all the information. Many great points, and many issues to ponder.
LOL being a good customer but a bad forumite is definitely a thing
I know a few worse than myself some banned for good (from the forum not DAZ) who own and still buy tens of thousands of stuff
often it's because of what they render too, here is a lot of NVIATWAS out there
LOL. Definitely a big difference between NNVIATWAS and NVIATWAS! Nearly naked vs just plain naked. I saw one NNVIATWAS in a person's gallery which was described as 'had to clean my palate.' Loved that, but I can't remember where I saw it. Wish I could find it again. That resonated with me. Like many, I grew up admiring the fantasy art of Frank Frazetta etc., and the Ralph Bakshi animated movie Fire and Ice. Using 3D to generate fantasy art can be very soothing - a cleaning of the palate as that person wrote.
Although I am withholding judgement on the specifics of TAFI's recent moves, I am glad that Daz3D is not going to completely shut off my Daz acquired content from AI training modules. I have grave concerns about some of the existing AI's methods of acquiring the images for their databases. In my view, that is different than a company going forward who negotiates rights with contributors. At the moment, it seems like there are just a handful of AI characters flooding the internet - this current generation's version of NVIATWAS. I have no objection to 'locally training' an AI program with images that are legitimately acquired. For me, an obvious example would be the Brash and Moxie figures I modeled myself. Well, I acquired my Daz3D assets honestly with rights to 2D output. I'm happy to negotiate compensation for use in AI applications which could not be anticipated at the time of issuing the old licence, but I would object to have the content shut off from all AI completely, and unilaterally.
In any case, much appreciation to @Mada for sharing some information.
Looking forward to this ! This is your proverbial "one click art button" ;-)