Tanya J, Author at slapshot

Hotspring launches Slapshot, a machine-learning VFX tool for near-instant, high-quality rotoscoping in Film, TV, and Commercials.

Posted on June 16, 2026June 23, 2026 by Tanya J

Visual Effects (VFX) network Hotspring has launched Slapshot, a new machine learning powered tool which creates high-quality rotoscoping work in progress (WIPs) of anything at any resolution, in seconds. Fully integrated into Hotspring’s platform as a free add-on, Slapshot was custom-built in house by the company to tackle a traditional frustration in the creation of commercial, Film and TV VFX work. It eliminates the need to wait for rotoscoping WIPs and speeds up creative collaboration providing clients with a fast, high quality, version of any roto task.

The ability of Slapshot to create rotoscoping WIPs of anything, at any resolution for live VFX pipelines is unique in the industry. The breakthrough was made possible by the acceleration of machine learning technology combined with Hotspring’s specialism in rotoscoping.

Hotspring worked with a number of leading VFX studios to test the product and hear real world feedback from VFX artists including: Electric Theatre Collective (ETC), Herne Hill Media and Untold Studios who have all tested the Slapshot product to elevate and speed up the creative solution.

Alfie Vaughan, VFX Lead says:

“Just tested this out on a shot. It looks great! I’ve tried a few of these ML roto tools from various companies in the last few months and they’ve been pretty hit and miss. Slapshot is much better than anything else I’ve tried.”

Hotspring’s globally located network of artists and teams continue to meticulously create final versions, with access to faster WIP in the meantime accelerating the creative process and unlocking earlier opportunities for tests, comps and presentations across TV, Feature Film, Commercials, Music Videos and Direct To Brand projects.

Some of Hotspring’s recent work highlights include: Commercials – Coca Cola ‘Masterpiece’ and Ladbrokes ‘Rocky’, Feature Films ‘Maestro’ and ‘The First Omen’, Direct To Brand ‘Burberry x Minecraft’ collab and Arsenal ‘CALM’, as well as Music Videos Ed Sheeran’s ‘2Step’ (Feat Lil Baby) and Coldplay’s Korean BTS collab amongst others.

Hotspring’s Co-Founder and CEO Jon Mason said:

“This isn’t the first attempt to solve this problem. People have come at it from the tech side and dabbled in it from the VFX side, but no one has been able to bridge the gap between what the technology can do and what live VFX pipelines demand. Our expertise in software combined with in-depth knowledge of rotoscoping meant that we found ourselves in a unique position to create something of real value to our clients and industry.”

Hotspring’s Managing Director Ben Stallard added:

“We all have years of experience in commercials, TV and Film VFX work and understand the deadlines and frustrations of VFX. The scope of our rotoscoping work to date has been very comprehensive and we’ve invested heavily in creating a product which is built to meet the demands of the industry. We’re proud and excited to see it out there in the wild.”

Slapshot – the Future of AI-Powered Visual Effects is here.

Posted on June 16, 2026June 23, 2026 by Tanya J

The SLAPSHOT app has now launched – an AI-powered VFX toolkit that makes high-end visual effects accessible to creators worldwide. Developed by a team of VFX veterans behind Academy Award-winning films, Emmy-winning TV shows, and VES-winning commercials, SLAPSHOT combines the latest AI advancements with an intuitive interface to empower creators to effortlessly craft stunning visuals and bring their ideas to life.

Featuring the latest, cutting-edge AI technology, SLAPSHOT ushers in the future of visual effects. By leveraging AI to automate labor-intensive processes, the toolkit significantly reduces the cost of high-end VFX. At the same time, its intuitive design ensures creators can seamlessly integrate advanced effects into their work without needing expensive hardware or technical expertise.

SLAPSHOT launches with two core tools:

AI-Powered Rotoscoping: Revolutionising the traditionally labor-intensive Rotoscoping process, SLAPSHOT allows users to select and isolate elements in just a few clicks with results exportable in industry leading formats such as EXR, JPG, and MOV in hard and soft mattes.

Generative Retiming: Extending video length without compromising quality, this tool uses AI to predict and generate new frames, enabling video extensions of up to 200%. Simply upload a video, input the desired length for the retimed version and export the results.

Until now, professional-grade VFX have been out of reach for many creators due to cost and technical barriers. “If you’re an individual creator, adding VFX to your work has traditionally been too expensive. You just don’t have the budget to create the work using the toolsets that exist today,” said Jon Mason, Co-Founder and CEO of SLAPSHOT. “We believe AI can bridge this gap, bringing down the cost of creating visual effects, and empowering millions of content creators to tell better stories.”

“Most of the recent innovation in the VFX market has been focused on pushing big, expensive, manual processes a little bit further,” Mason noted. “With the rise of the creator economy, it’s time to make these VFX tools accessible to everyone. SLAPSHOT is the first step toward making high-end visual effects affordable and easy to use, helping creators produce more compelling content.”

SLAPSHOT is designed to make advanced VFX accessible to creators across industries ranging from leading VFX companies to independent editors, colourists, content creators, social media influencers and more. The toolkit’s adaptability allows users to streamline their creative workflows in unique and innovative ways.

“One of the most exciting things we’ve witnessed during beta testing is all the creative ways people have used the product. When innovative technology like this is made accessible to more people, it’s amazing to see where they take it” added Mason.

Leading VFX companies utilise SLAPSHOT to streamline the creation of fast temp comps, enabling teams to visualize concepts without the need for labor-intensive manual work. Editors, on the other hand, have used it to quickly assemble work-in-progress (WIP) versions of ideas, eliminating the need to involve external VFX companies during the early stages of production. Production companies have also found SLAPSHOT invaluable, with its tools delivering final outputs in appropriate contexts.

One case-study also utilised the AI-powered rotoscoping tool to extract interview subjects for a museum video installation, while others have relied on SLAPSHOT to create finished effects for soap operas in India. Colourists have harnessed the toolkit to isolate specific areas of footage for precise color grading, streamlining their workflows.

Commenting on the broader implications of artificial intelligence in VFX, Mason noted, “There’s been so much debate around whether AI tools are ‘good enough,’ but that misses the point. There’s no single benchmark for what’s ‘good enough’—it depends entirely on the project, the platform, and the audience. SLAPSHOT isn’t about replacing traditional VFX; it’s about empowering creators with cutting-edge tools to tell better, more compelling stories.”

SLAPSHOT delivers a fast and efficient web interface for hosting and working with video and its robust cloud infrastructure ensures compatibility with the latest AI models, supporting resolutions up to 6K and eliminating the need for expensive hardware. This focus on accessibility and usability reflects SLAPSHOT’s mission to empower the growing creator economy. It also makes SLAPSHOT the most advanced AI-powered VFX toolkit on the market, outperforming all competitors without exception.

The innovative new app has been created by the visionary team behind Hotspring: Co-Founder and CEO Jon Mason, Co-founder, COO and Head of Product Varun Parange, and Managing Director Ben Stallard, who have harnessed their extensive expertise in VFX and AI to develop SLAPSHOT. Hotspring’s globally located network of artists and teams continue to meticulously create final versions with access to faster WIP, accelerating the creative process and unlocking earlier opportunities for tests, comps and presentations across a range of TV, Feature Film, Commercials, Music Videos and Direct To Brand projects.

Recent projects include: Award-winning TV series ‘The Tattooist of Auschwitz;’ feature film ‘Timestalker,’ written, directed and starring Alice Lowe; Disney short film ‘The Boy & The Octopus;’ Direct to Brand campaign of 3 commercials for Squarespace; and 2024 Christmas Commercials for John Lewis, Tesco and Sainsbury’s.

With decades of experience in high-end visual effects and a strong technical foundation, SLAPSHOT’s founders identified a clear gap in the market for tools that are both powerful and accessible. By blending their deep understanding of VFX workflows with cutting-edge AI technology, they have created a solution that brings professional-grade effects within reach for creators everywhere.

Hotspring & SLAPSHOT Managing Director, Ben Stallard, said:

“It’s important to understand that AI-Powered Rotoscoping and VFX are not intended to replace traditional Rotoscoping in Film, TV, or Commercial Production. Instead, it serves as a complementary tool used alongside traditional techniques when appropriate. Whilst AI Roto adds efficiency and provides options faster than before, it’s rarely intended to produce final results in high-end productions. Its primary role is for tasks like temp work, editing, or background elements in appropriate shots. This technology enhances workflows without replacing the precision of hand-done roto in professional pipelines.”

Hotspring & SLAPSHOT Co-Founder and CEO, Jon Mason said:

“Our goal with SLAPSHOT is to streamline and modernize traditional VFX processes so they can be used by more people. By leveraging the latest advances in AI, SLAPSHOT enables creators to produce high-quality work faster and opens the door for innovative storytelling.”

Check out the SLAPSHOT app at slapshot.ai.

Hotspring and SLAPSHOT Integration Streamlines VFX Outsourcing with Cutting-Edge AI Technology

Posted on June 16, 2026June 23, 2026 by Tanya J

Hotspring, a leading VFX outsourcing platform, has set itself apart from every other VFX outsource vendor through the integration of SLAPSHOT—an AI-powered toolkit designed to enhance workflows and support creators across the industry. Developed by the team behind Hotspring, SLAPSHOT automates time-consuming tasks like rotoscoping and generative retiming, boosting efficiency and reducing production timelines.

Alongside Hotspring’s top-quality manual workflow, clients can now opt for AI-powered Roto solutions—ideal for fast versioning, quick comps, and more. The service is instantly available to all Hotspring customers across film, TV, and commercials.

SLAPSHOT combines advanced machine learning with deep VFX expertise to deliver a powerful, accessible, and cost-effective solution. The integration empowers creative teams worldwide to elevate their projects while maintaining high quality and fast delivery—positioning Hotspring at the forefront of the evolving VFX landscape.

With decades of experience in VFX, the SLAPSHOT founders identified a clear gap in the market for tools that combine power and accessibility. By blending their knowledge of VFX workflows with the latest in AI technology, they’ve created a toolkit that brings professional-grade effects within reach for creators of all types.

SLAPSHOT: The Future of VFX is Here

SLAPSHOT marks a significant breakthrough in VFX technology, combining machine learning with intuitive design to create powerful visual effects tools. Developed by a team of VFX veterans behind Academy Award-winning films and Emmy-winning TV shows, SLAPSHOT allows creators—from professional studios to independent editors and content creators—to access high-end VFX tools without the need for expensive hardware or technical expertise.

Jon Mason, Co-Founder and CEO of Hotspring and SLAPSHOT, says:

“There’s so much exciting research happening in AI, and we built SLAPSHOT with the flexibility to onboard new technologies as quickly as they emerge. Our goal is to make the latest advancements in AI accessible to creators in real-time, ensuring they can produce better content, faster.”

Currently, the SLAPSHOT app features two core tools:

AI-Powered Rotoscoping streamlines the traditionally labor-intensive process, allowing users to quickly select and isolate elements with just a few clicks. Results can be exported in industry-leading formats like EXR, JPG, and MOV in both hard and soft mattes, drastically speeding up the creative process for VFX teams.

Generative Retiming uses AI to predict and generate new frames, enabling video length extensions of up to 200% without compromising quality. Users simply upload a video, input the desired length, and export the results with ease.

With the integration of SLAPSHOT, Hotspring users can now access these AI tools for free, forever. Once shots are uploaded to Hotspring, users simply hit the ‘enable AI’ button, and their footage automatically syncs with SLAPSHOT’s tools—unlocking faster, more efficient workflows. This blend of traditional outsourcing and AI-powered automation offers clients a truly future-facing solution.

Ben Stallard, Hotspring & SLAPSHOT Managing Director, explains:

“SLAPSHOT bridges the gap between traditional VFX outsourcing and AI technology. Our goal is to provide the best, most efficient solution for the VFX community, enabling clients to outsource material to Hotspring while having the ability to leverage AI to accelerate the process where needed.”

Recent projects utilising SLAPSHOT technology include a large-scale video installation for the National Medal of Honor Museum in Arlington, Texas, music videos for Yungblud and Little Simz, and feature film Timestalker.

“This is a game-changer for the VFX industry,” Mason adds. “AI is not about replacing traditional VFX—it’s here to enhance workflows and help creators tell better stories. Together, Hotspring and SLAPSHOT offer something unique: a proven platform with an intuitive AI toolkit that’s scalable, affordable, and built for the next generation of storytellers.”

Looking ahead, Hotspring and SLAPSHOT will continue to expand the range of AI tools available, keeping pace with rapid advancements in the VFX industry. A redesigned Hotspring interface is also in the works to make the platform even more intuitive and user-friendly.

Hotspring & SLAPSHOT Managing Director, Ben Stallard, concludes:

“SLAPSHOT was built to make high-quality VFX tools accessible to everyone. Whether you’re a VFX artist working on high-end films, TV or commercials, or an individual creator managing your own channels, our goal is to make SLAPSHOT the ‘go-to’ AI-powered VFX toolkit for creators worldwide.”

AI Takes Center Stage at SIGGRAPH’s 52nd Annual Conference on Innovation in VFX

Posted on June 16, 2026June 16, 2026 by Tanya J

The 52nd annual SIGGRAPH conference in 2025 placed the spotlight firmly on breakthrough innovations in artificial intelligence, drawing thousands of artists, researchers, and industry leaders from across the globe.

Panels and showcases led by top experts explored the creative and technical forces shaping the next era of visual effects. From robotics and real-time rendering to immersive storytelling, AI stood out as both a driver of progress and a spark for debate.

The event also paid homage to the history of innovation, with a retrospective look at 30 years of Toy Story, while keeping its focus firmly on the future.

A true global stage for ideas, the conference underscored how technology and creativity are converging to redefine the boundaries of storytelling.

Find out more at slapshot.ai

SLAPSHOT Unveils Breakthrough AI Camera Tracking Tool – Delivering Accurate Camera Solves in Minutes.

Posted on June 16, 2026June 16, 2026 by Tanya J

Built specifically for VFX artists working in 2D compositing, this new tool offers something the industry has long been waiting for: precise camera tracking that’s fast, simple to use, and production ready. “A track that might’ve taken a day or more to do manually can now be done in under ten minutes with SLAPSHOT’S new Camera Tracking tool,” says Co-Founder and CEO Jon Mason.

Designed for ease of use, the tool makes high-quality camera tracks accessible for all types of creators, no matter their expertise in 3D workflows. “For people who don’t routinely work in 3D, camera tracking can be intimidating. It’s a very technical area, so it was really important for us to make it as simple yet powerful as possible. So we designed the tool to be able to produce a great solves with zero camera information – it’s literally just clicking the ‘Solve Camera’ button and we work out the rest. Alternatively, for people who have camera information, you can also provide it and it will be respected and incorporated into the solve. It’s entirely up to you, but it works great both ways,” Mason adds. Outputs are delivered in widely compatible formats – including .abc and .glb camera files, .exr STMaps, undistorted .jpg plates, and a .mov playblast – compatible with all major 3D tools.

SLAPSHOT’s AI Camera Tracking excels at the kinds of shots that make up the bulk of real-world compositing work: background replacements, screen comps, sky swaps, and clean-ups, where precision matters but speed is everything.

“SLAPSHOT isn’t intended to replace the need for expert tracking on heavy CG sequences,” Mason explains. “But for those medium-difficulty shots where a 2D track isn’t enough, this is going to save artists hours, if not days, on every job. The speed-to-quality ratio is unlike anything else out there.”

The development wasn’t without its challenges. On pulling together multiple bleeding-edge technologies, Mason adds, “There’s no off-the-shelf way to do something like this. We were building something no one else had done before, so it required coordinating and contributing at the highest level of the open-source AI community to make it happen.”

Camera Tracking joins SLAPSHOT’s growing suite of AI-powered tools designed to remove friction from the creative process and raise the quality of output across commercial, film, and episodic projects. By making high-quality camera solves accessible on tight timelines and tighter budgets, the tool empowers artists to deliver stronger results without compromise.

SLAPSHOT: A Growing AI-powered VFX Toolkit

Camera Tracking

Fast, accurate, camera solves with point clouds – compatible with all major VFX software.

AI Rotoscoping

Clean matte extraction in seconds – hard and soft mattes with all exports.

Generative Retiming

Extend footage up to 2x – seamlessly generated new frames, no stuttering, tearing, or artifacting.

Video Depth Maps

Stable AI depth predictions on video – ideal for a wide variety of compositing tasks.

All tools are hosted on SLAPSHOT’s secure and independently audited AWS cloud environment, supporting resolutions up to 8K and eliminating the need for expensive hardware. Together, they form a new creative infrastructure for the next generation of visual effects tools.

SLAPSHOT was created by the team behind Hotspring – a globally trusted VFX outsourcing platform used by studios around the world. Co-founders Jon Mason and Varun Parange, along with Managing Director Ben Stallard, have delivered high-end VFX across Oscar-, Emmy-, and VES-winning projects. Drawing on this experience, they built SLAPSHOT to solve the most time-consuming challenges in post – giving studios and artists faster, smarter, production-ready tools that meet the real demands of modern VFX.

Most recently, SLAPSHOT has been shortlisted for two of the 2025 Broadcast Tech Awards; Best AI Innovation (Workflow) and Standout Tech of the Year (Post-Production). This showcases the industry recognition of SLAPSHOT’s innovative approach to automating and accelerating complex VFX workflows.

SLAPSHOT Co-Founder and CEO Jon Mason said:

“There has always been a lot of interest from SLAPSHOT users in a camera tracking solution, but it’s always been slightly out of reach. There isn’t much research that can take you end to end on this problem. But then we felt that the research had progressed in a few domains to the point where we could pull the pieces together and build something really special, so the stars just aligned. I think the result is really going to knock people’s socks off. No one has ever built anything like this before.”

Hotspring Managing Director, Ben Stallard, concludes:

“We built SLAPSHOT to tackle the real-world problems artists face every day — the time-consuming tasks that eat into creative time and production budgets. Camera Tracking continues that mission — it takes a complex process and turns it into a ten-minute task, giving artists time back when it matters most.”

Slapshot Wins Highly Commended Award for Best AI Innovation (Workflow) at the Broadcast Tech Innovation Awards

Posted on June 16, 2026June 16, 2026 by Tanya J

We’re thrilled to announce that SLAPSHOT has won the Highly Commended Award for Best AI Innovation (Workflow) at the 2025 Broadcast Tech Innovation Awards.

As an AI-powered VFX toolkit, this recognition means a great deal to our team and reflects the hard work poured into pushing post-production technology forward. Being shortlisted alongside industry leaders in both the Best AI Innovation (Workflow) and Standout Tech of the Year (Post-Production) categories was already an honour – to come away with this award is a proud moment for everyone at Hotspring.

SLAPSHOT was built to solve the real-world challenges artists face every day: the time-consuming tasks that eat into creative time and production budgets. From AI rotoscoping and generative retiming to video depth maps and our recently launched AI camera tracking tool, every feature is designed to give artists time back when it matters most.

This award is validation that our approach – making bleeding-edge AI research accessible to working artists – is resonating with the industry. We’re grateful to Broadcast Tech for recognising innovation in post-production workflows and for putting together a fantastic event.

A huge congratulations to all the winners and nominees. The level of innovation on display this year was truly inspiring, and it’s an honour to be recognised among such talented teams pushing the boundaries of broadcast technology.

Thank you to our users, our partners, and the wider VFX community for your continued support. We’re excited for what’s next.

Slapshot Launches Autopilot The First Fully Autonomous Rotoscoping System

Posted on June 16, 2026June 16, 2026 by Tanya J

SLAPSHOT Launches Autopilot – The First Fully Autonomous

AI Rotoscoping System

SLAPSHOT has launched Autopilot, the first fully autonomous AI system designed to rotoscope every layer in a shot, fully automatically. Autopilot is poised to supercharge post-production pipelines and revolutionize the VFX industry.

Built for production-scale workflows, Autopilot marks the next major step in SLAPSHOT’s mission to remove bottlenecks from post-production by automating its most time-consuming tasks with an AI Roto tool capable of processing hundreds of shots per day. Autopilot is available both through the platform and via enterprise API for custom data environments and pipeline integrations.

The launch of Autopilot follows SLAPSHOT’s suite of AI-powered post-production software launched last year – shifting industry attitudes to embrace a new fully automated mode of working. Whilst SLAPSHOT’s existing rotoscoping tools allow artists to precisely select and refine layers interactively, the NEW Autopilot is designed to run independently, enabling teams to batch hundreds of shots in just a few clicks.

Cutting edge AI drives the platform to be able to deliver this never-before-seen tech – SLAPSHOT Co Founder & CEO Jon Mason said: “Autopilot takes a shot as input, rotoscoping those layers across the full duration of the shot, and exporting the results as a fully organised cryptomatte. It is able to track objects consistently over time, and handles complex motion, occlusion, and lighting changes with ease.”

As well as cutting costs, for VFX vendors and facilities, studio side VFX teams, supervisors and filmmakers alike, Autopilot enables faster starts to the post-production process and guarantees greater flexibility to explore wider and more detailed creative options. Autopilot is being used across a wide range of stages in the production process, from post-vis and early editorial through to colour grading and, in the right situations, final rotoscoping.

“Autopilot is an exciting addition to our AI VFX toolkit, and it couldn’t have come at a better time for the industry.” CEO Jon Mason begins: “Mounting pressure due to tighter budgets, faster delivery timelines, growing content volumes and smaller teams mean studios face the challenge of delivering quality visuals at a fraction of the cost / delivery time. We are dedicated to developing tools that allow the creative process to remain unhindered”

The system has already been in early access with select studios and vendors and is currently being used on large-scale productions. According to early users, teams typically see days or weeks saved at the start of post-production, alongside a significant reduction in manual roto hours and faster iteration throughout the pipeline.

SLAPSHOT’s Jon Mason explains: “Autopilot’s unmanned AI roto pass across an entire project allows productions to iterate faster, explore more versions, and ultimately tell better stories. Autopilot represents a major expansion of what the technology can do.

On how the game-changing tech will impact the future of the industry, Mason adds: “It shifts roto from a manual task to an automated first step. Without Autopilot, every time you need roto, you’re starting from scratch. With Autopilot, roto is already there when you need it. Nothing has ever been done like it.”

Autopilot follows the launch of SLAPSHOT’s revolutionary AI Camera Tracking tool, extending the platform’s focus on automating high-impact post-production tasks that traditionally consume significant artist time. Together, the releases reflect SLAPSHOT’s continued move toward production-ready AI tools designed to remove friction across real-world VFX workflows.

SLAPSHOT Autopilot: Roto Everything Automatically. Autopilot is available now at slapshot.ai, with a number of frames included in every paid SLAPSHOT subscription. Additional frames are billed at $0.25 per frame.

Available both through the SLAPSHOT platform and via enterprise API for custom data environments and pipeline integrations, start your free trial here.