Big Odyssey news! We’re unveiling Explorer, a generative world model. Explorer transforms text or an image into a realized, detailed 3D world. I'm also incredibly excited that Edwin Catmull, the legendary Pixar founder, is joining our board & investing. Read on for more...

Ed co-founded Pixar with the belief that the story must shape the technology—not the reverse. They took the hard road, pioneering new technologies to enable stories thought impossible. In Pixar's case, they pioneered computer graphics. For us, it's generative world models.

World models, alongside language, image, & video, are now a key AI frontier, but the least explored. Imagine worlds that build themselves, that feel indistinguishable from reality, where new stories can be created & remixed, and where human & machine intelligence can interact.

Enter Explorer—our first generative world model, and the start of this epic journey. Explorer is an image-to-world model that transforms an image into a detailed 3D world. Explorer is particularly tuned for photorealistic worlds, with this proving a key strength.

Our world is constantly in motion, and Explorer’s worlds should be no different. Although earlier in research, generative world motion, all in 3D, holds super exciting promise to enable artists to generate and manipulate motion in new and more realistic ways.

A world generated with Explorer (like in this video) is output as a gaussian splat. Many of the top vision researchers in the world have turned their attention towards splats, and it's easy to see why. Splats can represent 3D scenes with almost imperceptibly real detail.

Representing worlds as splats also means artists can natively edit them in a growing list of creative tools. Unreal, Houdini, Blender, Maya, 3D Studio Max, After Effects, & more now support splats. Artists with early Explorer access have used these tools for incredible things!

Generative world models could accelerate the creation of film & gaming-compatible worlds. To test this, we visited @GardenStudiosHQ. We beamed Explorer-generated worlds onto a SOTA virtual production stage, used for film. The conclusion: they worked & looked incredible!

We're now opening up access to Explorer more broadly. If you're eager to explore generative world models with us, and to collaborate closely, we want to hear from you ASAP. Head over to our site to apply, and we'll be in touch.

Explorer is our starting point, and one we're really, really proud of. Generative world models have a long road ahead, but the promise is vast. A brand new medium is being created as we speak! Let's together pioneer generative world models and what they enable you to create 🫡

I still can't quite believe we have the opportunity to partner with and learn from Ed Catmull. We're beyond excited ❤️ You can learn a whole lot more about Explorer, generative world models, and our partnership with Ed here.

🌟 Available now on Nintendo Switch! ✨ Embark on a heartfelt journey across generations in Tell Me Your Story! 🌎 Discover treasured memories, solve cozy puzzles, and dive into a beautiful world of family stories. Perfect for those who love exploring life’s moments in a relaxing game. 🎮✨ #IndieGames #NintendoSwitch #TellMeYourStory #CozyGames #PuzzleAdventure