Cartwheel: the Groundbreaking 3D AI Creative Startup

In an industry where creating even simple character animations can take hours or days of painstaking work, AI startup Cartwheel has emerged with a bold promise: to make professional-quality 3D animation accessible to everyone. The company, which recently secured $10 million in funding, is challenging decades-old animation workflows with its browser-based platform that transforms text prompts into fully rigged character animations in minutes.

Silicon Valley Veterans Reimagine Animation Tools

Founded in 2023 by Andrew Carr, a former OpenAI scientist who worked on code generation tools, and Jonathan Jarvis, who previously led Google Creative Lab and animation studio Universal Pattern, Cartwheel represents the convergence of cutting-edge AI research and creative expertise. The duo’s vision was born from a shared frustration with traditional animation software.

“There’s this core frustration animators face with today’s software,” Carr explains. “You need huge teams and weeks of effort to do things that should be fast. We wanted to solve that.”

This challenge resonated with investors, as the company’s latest funding round led by Craft Ventures brings their total investment to $15.6 million. Additional backers include WndrCo, Khosla Ventures, Accel, and Runway, the AI video company making waves in generative media.

Breaking Down Animation Barriers

Cartwheel’s platform addresses several critical bottlenecks in animation production:

• Text-to-motion generation: Users can type prompts such as “cast a wizard spell” or “do a silly dance” to generate rigged motion sequences instantly
• Automated character rigging: The system can automatically rig uploaded character models, eliminating one of the most technical and time-consuming aspects of animation
• Browser-based workflow: The entire creation process happens in a web browser, removing the need for specialised hardware or software installations
• Professional export options: Finished animations can be exported to industry-standard tools like Maya, Unity, and Unreal Engine

Catherine Hicks, whose animation credits include Pixar’s “Coco,” “Toy Story 3,” and “Inside Out,” has joined Cartwheel as head of animation innovation. Neil Helm, known for his crowd animation work on “Inside Out 2” and “Turning Red,” serves as head of interactive animation. Their expertise helps ensure the platform meets professional standards while remaining intuitive for newcomers.

Industry Applications and Early Adoption

The platform’s early access programme attracted over 8,000 beta users, including creatives from DreamWorks Animation, Roblox, Duolingo, and Take-Two Interactive. Many are exploring how Cartwheel can accelerate background and crowd animation, rapid prototyping, or previsualisation tasks.

“Animation software hasn’t really changed in 20 years,” notes Carr. “There’s no reason the same rigging or blocking task should take three hours every time.”

While designed with professional animators in mind, Cartwheel’s simplified interface opens doors for content creators who previously couldn’t access animation tools due to technical barriers. This democratisation could have far-reaching implications for interactive media, education, marketing, and social content creation.

Ethical Considerations in AI Animation

In an era where AI training practices face increasing scrutiny, Cartwheel’s founders emphasise their commitment to ethical data sourcing. The platform’s character generator is trained exclusively on licensed 3D assets, addressing concerns about copyright infringement that have plagued other generative AI tools.

This approach places Cartwheel in contrast with some competitors who have faced criticism for training on potentially unauthorised datasets. As regulatory frameworks for AI continue to evolve, Cartwheel’s ethical stance may prove advantageous.

The Competitive Landscape

Cartwheel enters a growing field of AI-powered animation tools, each with distinct approaches:

• Anything World focuses on auto-rigging and animating 3D assets for game engines, offering a large asset library and developer-friendly tools
• Wonder Dynamics (now part of Autodesk) specialises in inserting CG characters into live-action footage without traditional motion capture
• Plask provides AI-powered motion capture from video

What distinguishes Cartwheel is its comprehensive approach to the animation pipeline, from character creation to motion generation, all within a browser-based environment accessible to both professionals and newcomers.

Future Directions

Later this year, Cartwheel plans to release an API that would allow developers to integrate its animation technology directly into games and other interactive environments. This could enable dynamic character animations in real-time applications, potentially transforming how interactive experiences are created.

The company’s vision extends beyond traditional entertainment. As digital avatars become increasingly common in virtual spaces, Cartwheel’s technology could play a crucial role in making these virtual representations more expressive and lifelike.

“The tools of storytelling should be in more hands,” says Carr. “That’s what we’re building for.”

For creators interested in experimenting with the platform, Cartwheel is currently accepting sign-ups through their website at getcartwheel.com.

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Thought for the day:

“He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.”    Epictetus