Introduction to 3D Creation Engines Powered by Artificial Intelligence

There is a unique window of opportunity today for new 3D Creation Engines (aka game engines) powered by artificial intelligence to revolutionize the way we create games, films, virtual worlds, and simulations. The predominant 3D engines like Unity, Unreal, Roblox, and Godot are aging technologies architected for a different computing era before the emergence of generative AI, cloud computing, and new spatial platforms.

Brief History of Traditional Game Engines

Game engines have evolved from studios developing their own internal engines to using third-party engines like Unity and Unreal Engine. These engines combine 3D assets, animation, code, physics, sound effects, particle effects, and narration to create real-time 3D interactive worlds.

Key Technologies for Next-Generation 3D Creation Engines

• AI-Native Engines: Creation may start with a simple text prompt, generating an initial draft. AI models will be multi-modal, leveraging semantic scene understanding as input, auto-filling scenes, animating characters, and generating sound effects in real-time.
• Cloud-Native Engines: Engines will be highly modular, built on microservices and APIs, allowing developers to assemble the right engine for the project without bloat. Assets and transformations will be co-located in the cloud, enabling elastic compute scaling and progressive asset streaming.
• Multiplayer Co-Creation: Cloud-native engines will enable real-time collaboration by distributed teams, increasing iteration speed and enabling built-in version control.
• Adaptive UX: The engine's UX will adapt to different creator personas and use cases, gradually introducing functionality as the user's skills improve.
• Native Modding: Engines will enable first-class modding environments, allowing creators to remix and republish creations easily.

Emergence of Next-Generation 3D Creation Engines

Instead of competing head-on with incumbents, new engines are likely to arise through focused approaches:

• Vertical Focus: Best-in-class engines for specific game genres or art styles, with a flagship game paving the way for creator communities.
• New Platforms: Engines optimized for new platforms like XR, spatial computing, and the 3D web, maximizing performance and enabling native authoring experiences.
• AI World Generator: Consumer-facing tools that reimagine 3D world-building through AI, allowing users to generate and explore scenes from text or images.

Monetization and Business Models

Next-generation 3D Creation Engines are expected to charge a revenue share (2-5%) instead of fixed SaaS pricing. Engines with native modding capabilities will enable developers to benefit from a share of the creator's revenue, similar to the Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN) platform.

Convergence of Games and Films

With the merging of technology stacks, games and films are becoming indistinguishable. 3D Creation Engines will be used for VFX, virtual production, and final renders. Consumers may be able to pause a film and explore the virtual world or interact with AI NPCs, blurring the lines between interactive entertainment and traditional storytelling.

Impact on Content Creation and Consumption

• Known IP will matter more, becoming vertical creator sandboxes for interactive worlds.
• Content recommendation algorithms will improve based on user interactions within platforms.
• A cambrian explosion of new games and interactive entertainment experiences is expected as the barriers to entry decrease.

Challenges and Future Outlook

Despite challenges in research, compute requirements, business models, and finding the right AI-native creation UX, this new future of interactive entertainment is just a few years away. The world of gaming and entertainment will change dramatically, with everything our imagination conceives being depicted on screens through the power of artificial intelligence and 3D Creation Engines.