Japanese animation studio OLM, responsible for the Pokémon anime series and films, has developed an AI tool capable of learning a production’s coloring style from just three hand-painted frames. The announcement was made by Tatsuo Yotsukura, OLM Digital board director and R&D supervisor, at the Taiwan Creative Content Fest (TCCF) in Taipei.
How the tool works
The tool emerged from ANIMINS, a 15-month research project led by Yotsukura under GENIAC, a generative AI program overseen by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. The project, which examined how anime creators could use AI, concluded in February.
Instead of relying on large training datasets, an artist colors three frames by hand. The system learns the show’s line shapes and color palette in about 90 seconds, then colors each remaining frame in around 15 seconds. Accuracy improves with more hand-painted frames.
Yotsukura stressed: “Strictly speaking, it isn’t generative AI.” Training occurs only on the production’s own frames, so no other works are affected, and the system adapts immediately to new characters or creatures, such as a dragon. At the proof-of-concept stage, he estimated a roughly 30% reduction in painting workload, though reviewers checking every frame have somewhat more work.
Context and applications
OLM employs around 600 staff across Japan, Malaysia, Thailand and the U.S., producing the Pokémon anime (not the games) as well as titles like Beyblade, Hanakappa and The Apothecary Diaries. Yotsukura, also CTO for the Malaysian and Thai arms, noted that an in-house R&D division is unusual for Japanese animation companies.
The group is also exploring AI for in-betweening and anime-specific AI agents with a GENIAC startup partner, to help new directors or production managers on long-running series by recalling intended cuts and speeding up approvals and license management.
He compared AI’s arrival to that of 3DCG, which took about 20 years to gain acceptance in anime. Yotsukura believes AI will advance much faster because its quality is already high, but emphasized that creativity stays with artists: “AI can only do what it has learned,” and never-before-seen ideas still come from people.
Primary source: Variety.
Image credit: Taiwan Creative Content Fest — Source: Variety
By Grok
