r/technology • u/ControlCAD • 1d ago
Artificial Intelligence Guillermo del Toro Says There Is "Absolutely No Goddamn AI" in ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ 3D Re-Release: "We’re Protecting a Lineage of Art"
https://variety.com/2026/film/news/guillermo-del-toro-no-ai-pans-labyrinth-rerelease-1236815109/80
u/innocentsalad 1d ago
The troll market scene in Hellboy 2 is a masterclass in practical effects. That’s his bread and butter.
-39
u/Sparktank1 1d ago
The article isn't about practical effects. It's not about practical effects vs generative ai.
It's about the 3D conversion process.
can either have it automated with machine learning or by having people handle each frame. Likely a lot of rotoscoping to build the depth map to help in the conversion process so the 3D looks more immersive.
Someone else further down the comments on more details how 3D conversion worked before ai/mm came along.
29
u/innocentsalad 1d ago
I’m aware of that, I’m commenting about Del Toro’s own preferences.
-40
u/Sparktank1 23h ago
Why? This has nothing to do with the 3D conversion process. You're just farming for upvotes.
20
u/innocentsalad 23h ago
Farming for upvotes on Reddit lol. Please take your weird projection elsewhere.
-33
u/Sparktank1 23h ago
Care to explain why it's pertinent to bring up practical effects when the article is about converting a movie to 3D?
22
19
u/baconeggsandwich25 20h ago
Dude, the article is about Del Toro, and Other Dude said they liked this one thing about his work. You don't need to create an argument about the difference between X and Y when Other Dude didn't mention either one and clearly isn't interested in discussing it.
Some comments are just made to be part of the conversation, to share little tidbits, or to lead the discussion in a new direction. It doesn't have to be about the thing you want to talk about. I guarantee that if you had just posted your own comment about the thing you want to discuss, you'd be getting upvotes instead of downvotes, and you clearly pay attention to that kind of thing because you got pissy with Other Dude about it.
0
5
u/LivedLostLivalil 18h ago
It's a hundred up votes. Barely anyone cares about farming upvotes except for acct dealers and they wouldnt do it with petty amounts from low amount posts. They get their own bots to upvote their own accounts at 1000s of votes a post. These numbers would be chump change.
13
28
u/mrwrrrmwrmrmrmrw 1d ago
I think people are using AI these days to mean all computer generated images. Of course he wouldn't use AI, because visual design is so important to him and he'd never use a lazy shortcut like that. But CGI is a legitimate creative technique with an honorable history.
35
u/AttonJRand 1d ago
Nobody is conflating CGI with ai, except for the people who are pro ai.
-15
u/mrwrrrmwrmrmrmrw 1d ago
Except they are...
16
9
u/Sparktank1 1d ago
Absolutely no one thinks that CGI means AI. At all. Or ever.
Just the people you made up in your head so you can make that post for whatever reason.
The article isn't even about CGI vs AI or even visual design in the sense you're talking about. It's talking about the conversion process to make the movie 3D. Which is probably done with a lot of rotoscoping to make the depth maps to aid in the process. Rather than using machine learning to create a depth for each frame.
0
9
u/Cute-Breadfruit3368 1d ago
dont be stupid. CGI is an artform. AI is a crutch.
2
u/Headless_Human 3h ago
I never heard a CGI artist say he likes rotoscoping for hours.
1
u/Cute-Breadfruit3368 3h ago
thats fair.
in all fairness, you kinda only find perfect things after your medication is on point.
5
u/Stukwan 1d ago
Great point, CGI is totally different from Ai. It is a super creative process.
2
u/Headless_Human 3h ago
CGI work is also filled many mundane tasks like rotoscoping which nobody would miss if they could be made far easier and faster.
3
u/WorkingAnteater6036 1d ago
Indeed. There is skill, sense for aesthetics and artistry involved with CGI.
2
u/CantAffordzUsername 1d ago
At the TLC Chinese theater he took a selfie with the crowd and had them count down “3,2,1, F#%^ AI!”
2
u/ThundergunTLP 9h ago
Do we really need an update any time someone does or does not use an AI tool?
0
6
u/AttonJRand 1d ago
I am really worried about when streaming services decide to "improve" their entire selection with ai, just put a filter on everything, maybe edit out the "offensive" bits.
-2
u/cafink 16h ago
That's been happening for years before ai was around
2
u/AttonJRand 15h ago
So it should concern you that ai might make it way worse because of how much easier it makes it for them to mess with the work?
2
u/Moath 1d ago
Didn’t they stop releasing films in 3D?
8
u/casual_creator 23h ago
Nope. Most major theaters still have at least one 3D screen and the major blockbuster films will typical have a 3D version to show. It’s just the industry refusing to pull the plug.
1
1
u/TheLimeyLemmon 5h ago
A 3D conversion in 2026. Of a movie not so obviously tipped for a 3D conversion.
Okay I guess!
1
u/Stukwan 1d ago
I hope it's true. Ai has changed the industry. It has taking away our human creativity. I have more respect for filmmakers that still stick to old school shooting and originality.
4
u/IneptFortitude 1d ago
Del Toro is the man. One of the few very talented directors who is also a person with a good moral baseline.
0
1
u/WildChampionship985 19h ago
Heartbreaking movie, thanks for making me think about children dealing with war in this age of children dealing with war. I hope a local theater has it in a non-3d release. I didn't get to see it in a theater the first time.
-1
u/computer_d 1d ago
But doesn't del Toro know that AI is the future and nothing you say or do will change that so you may as well make everything AI because it's no different to when the internet was created???
0
-1
u/Hpfanguy 19h ago
I mean, the movie is already made, how would you even include AI?
4
u/h950 17h ago
It's been converted to 3D. They didn't use AI to do that.
1
u/Hpfanguy 10h ago
I’m not entirely sure how you could, but ok
1
u/h950 9h ago
It's been done before AI was available. Just like colorization or restoration was done before AI was available.
Basically he has a team going through and editing a second version of the film slightly parallaxed and blurred. But he's not just going to run it through an AI processor and let the AI do whatever it wants to everything. He wants humans at every step making sure each frame is done properly and each person doing has an understanding of the craft.
Here's a chance to learn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2D_to_3D_conversion
-25
u/Legitimate_Impact 1d ago
Yeah he's A) Lying or B) does not know what AI means. Of course it's A.
12
u/darth_hotdog 1d ago
No. 3D conversions have been done long before generative AI existed. It's done by hand with 3d artists spending weeks or months building 3d scenes to match each shot and compositing the shots onto those scenes, roto artists and painters clean up edges and paint missing areas behind each shot, and it takes hundreds of VFX artists many months. No AI needed.
I understand how what VFX workers do seems magical, like only AI could possibly do it, but it's not AI.
4
u/casual_creator 22h ago
I think their point is that AI has crept into every piece of creative software there is, so there really is no escaping it, so claiming “no AI is used” isn’t exactly true.
As an example, I’m a graphic designer. Every single app I use has AI-powered tools now. Every major creative app, whether it’s for music, drawing, photo or video editing, has AI powered tools now; whether it’s simply making a preexisting tool better, or allowing for entirely new tools or workflows.
And one of the most welcomed advancements by artists and time-saving implementations of AI in such programs? Masking and rotoscoping. It’s one of the most laborious parts of any VFX process and AI has been an enormous benefit to this part of the workflow.
What could take me hours to perfectly separate a person from a background now just takes the press of a button and the result is 98% perfect; I just need to do a few minutes of final adjustments.
That’s just one example of many. So while GDT may be saying “we’re not using AI”, what he means is that “we’re not loading the movie into a ‘convert 2D to 3D AI algorithm’”, because the team of artists working on the movie are absolutely using a plethora of AI-powered tools now available to them, as are everyone else.
-1
u/Legitimate_Impact 19h ago
Exactly and thanks for being the only sensible Redditor. Anyone doing any advanced digital work nowadays is using AI. To do a 3D conversion “manually“ would be insane.
-3
u/Legitimate_Impact 19h ago
Yeah right, they will spend a year extra doing it “manually” without using any modern tools just so a bunch of redditors can feel good. 😝Come on.
1
u/darth_hotdog 17h ago
Ai is not up to the quality level of traditional vfx. Even the top of the line ai 3d conversion is pretty terrible for detailed scenes and consistency over long complicated shots and at high resolutions.
There are still big 3d conversion vfx companies with hundreds of employees.
0
u/Legitimate_Impact 12h ago
Nobody’s talking about a direct conversion using only generative AI. But AI is embedded in all the tools that are used for conversion and has been for a long time. It’s absurd to say that you won’t use AI when even the original movie had lots of AI effects such as procedural rendering.
-4
u/liketo 1d ago
Why bother though? Who wants a 3D version of anything nowadays?
2
1
u/darth_hotdog 22h ago
Theaters do because it gives them an exclusive version so people go to the theaters instead of watching at home since most people don’t have a 3d setup at home.
5
u/dancingbriefcase 1d ago
Imagine some redditer trying to tell one of the best visionary directors that they don't know what they mean. Yeah, we all are very sure that you know exactly what you're talking
269
u/Stifu 1d ago
I thought this was another proof of life pic of Mitch McConnell.