Stardock's Brad Wardell uses AI to rig and animate decades-old GalCiv alien characters
draginol · x · 2026-11-02
Stardock founder Brad Wardell shares how the alien minor race from Galactic Civilizations II has appeared in every sequel with better human-made art, but was never rigged or animated — because no artist enjoys rigging.
He simply asked AI to make the character blink, breathe, and move its lips, so players now get an animated version. His point: rigging is the part of the art pipeline nobody wants to do, and it's exactly where AI slots in.
Related event: Stardock founder uses AI to animate game characters without rigging(2 posts)→
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