[AI Revolution](147) Cinnamon: "The Day When Anyone Can Create 3D Animation Will Come"

Creates Storylines and Produces Videos: 'CINEV'
"Maintains Video Consistency, Allows Direct Editing"
Motion Studio Digitizes Actions and Facial Expressions

Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Sanghoon Hong (left) and Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) Hansol Lee of Cinnamon, the company behind the AI-based 3D animation platform 'CineV'. Provided by Cinnamon

"Turning everyone's stories into videos." This is the corporate motto of the startup 'Cinnamon,' which embarked on the CINEV project in June 2022. Cinnamon is developing the CINEV platform that creates videos in 3D animation from user-written scripts. By leveraging AI (Artificial Intelligence) technology, it lowers the entry barriers to content creation and differentiates itself from other companies through realistic 3D technology. When users input the story they want to create into the prompt (command) field, the AI generates a more polished storyboard, and users can freely edit it with a 3D editor to make their own unique videos. The beta version of CINEV is scheduled to be released this coming June.

Hong Sang-hoon, Chief Technology Officer (CTO), and Lee Han-sol, Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) of Cinnamon, have joined the company sequentially since 2022 to lead the project. Hong, who has experience working at Intel Korea and Kakao Brain, said in an interview with Asia Economy, "CINEV can be a useful tool for people who have ideas but lack technical resources," adding, "In the future, it will be possible to reduce the time and cost of animation production, which currently costs hundreds of millions of won."

CineV image capture. Cinnamon homepage

The difference between OpenAI’s video production service SORA, released last year, and CINEV is clear. When using SORA to create videos by tweaking commands, errors such as sudden changes in characters or backgrounds or distorted shapes often occur, but CINEV has no such concerns. It is also differentiated from ChatGPT-4o, which transforms existing scenes or photos into specific art styles.

Hong CTO explained, "If SORA works by cutting and pasting each frame image of the video, CINEV builds a physical 3D space and characters and provides editing tools so users can freely control them," adding, "This maintains video consistency and makes editing easier." Users can adjust detailed aspects such as characters’ dialogues, positions, movements, facial expressions, and camera angles, not just the background.

Interestingly, actual actors perform to realize all of this. Hong CTO said, "At a motion studio near the company, people perform actions like walking, running, and smiling, and their performances are digitized," adding, "Since muscle control ability is important, we hired acting majors."

Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Sanghoon Hong (right) and Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) Hansol Lee of Cinnamon, the company behind the AI-based 3D animation platform 'CineV'. Photo by Cinnamon

Originally starting as a game company, Cinnamon received a positive market response with games utilizing its own web novel intellectual property (IP). Since the CINEV solution also produces animations using 3D characters owned by Cinnamon, it is free from copyright issues. The CSO said, "Large overseas investors who invest trillions of won are very sensitive about copyright issues," adding, "They carefully examine any potential copyright controversies when commercializing services in overseas markets."

Cinnamon plans to promote the CINEV platform to the public through virtual idols and YouTubers. It can also be used when producing animations before making live-action films. The CSO said, "Just as resistance to AI-generated images is decreasing, AI videos will also overcome the 'uncanny valley' (a theory that the closer robots resemble humans imperfectly, the more discomfort they cause) through technological advancement." When asked if there might be backlash during the introduction of AI technology into the animation market, Hong CTO responded, "The role of creators remains." He added, "In the creative domain, people decide what to make, selectively edit, and have the final say," and "I hope people think of AI as a tool that reduces the workload in that process."