The First AI-Produced Animation of “Journey to the West” Surprises Viewers with Its Visuals.
According to Yangtse Evening Post, the animation titled Monkey King in the World, which is nearly four minutes long, was posted by a Douyin account on February 14, capturing the attention of audiences. The creator, named Phung, has worked in the art field for 15 years.
Phung believes that this video would take at least six months to create if done by a human. With the support of AI, he completed it in just one week. The animation tells the story of the birth of Sun Wukong, based on the narrative of Journey to the West by Wu Cheng’en.
Excerpt from the AI-generated animation “Journey to the West.” (Video: Ifeng).
The film depicts various palaces, tiled roofs of glazed bricks, and the Flower Fruit Mountain – the territory of Sun Wukong. The creator also recreated the scene of Sun Wukong crossing the sea to meet the Buddha. Phung did not disclose which AI technology he used to create the video.
Thousands of viewers expressed their amazement at the visual effects in the animation. One audience member commented: “Perhaps the animation industry is coming to an end, but for movie enthusiasts, this is a sign of an explosion, as many scenes in the novel are difficult to adapt into films, but with AI technology, this is no longer a challenge,” while another added, “I look forward to the emergence of virtual idols; the idols we have now are too easy to fall apart.” However, some opinions suggest that artificial intelligence cannot replace humans: “The video lacks emotion, and the action scenes are awkward, unable to compare with human labor.”
Many people have suggested that Phung create subsequent episodes about Journey to the West and inquired about his video production process. He explained that the film was created in four steps: Concept development, creating static images from text, animating the images, and editing. The creator revealed that he used ChatGPT to analyze the language in the original text to help the AI outline the scenes, after which he selected the most appropriate options for the film.
Thousands of viewers express their amazement at the visual effects in the animation.
Once the scenes were established, Phung used AI drawing software to sketch the desired images and another software to animate them. For the narration, Phung wrote it himself and then used AI for voiceover. He personally voiced some characters.
Many viewers hope to see action scenes created by AI, but Phung mentioned that there are still many limitations with AI-generated videos, so he cannot fully meet fans’ requests.
| Journey to the West is a famous mythological novel from China, featuring many scenes of cloud-riding, flying, and epic battles in the heavens, the mortal realm, and the depths of the sea. The work has been adapted into television series, films, and animations multiple times. |
