Lightning Artist Toolkit
A Hand-Drawn Volumetric Animation Pipeline
by Nick Fox-Gieg


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The Lightning Artist Toolkit (Latk) provides a complete pipeline for hand-drawn volumetric animation—a common exchange file format, a set of ML models, and plugins to integrate 3D drawings into a wide range of XR projects. Readable in any popular 3D graphics application and ready to use in real-world production scenarios, Latk's goal is to make creation in 3D as expressive and intuitive as drawing in 2D.

A note about the name: early animators like Winsor McCay first created their work for a live audience in vaudeville halls—and they were billed as lightning artists.”

You can use Latk files in: Papers: Datasets: Additional Unity support: Additional Blender I/O formats:
  • After Effects JSX (write)
  • ASC point cloud
  • Corel Painter script
  • Graffiti Markup Language / GML
  • NormanVR
  • Quill (read)
  • SculptrVR CSV
  • Sketchfab FBX sequence (write)
  • SVG SMIL animation (write)
  • Open Brush / Tilt Brush (read)
  • Unreal XYZ point cloud (write)
  • VRDoodler

Supported in part by a SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship (752-2023-2691).