With the help of machine learning I took 2-Dimensional World of Warcraft Wallpapers and made them look like 3D. The effect that is created is called the "Dolly zoom" effect, and it results in the creation of a "parallax". Parallax is an effect where the background content (i.e. an image) is moved at a different speed than the foreground content. The AI is filling in assumed details where the parallax shifted away from known data. This means that the AI is creating the parallax without user input.
After I created the desired effect the only thing left to do was edit it together in a way that best showcases the brilliance of machine learning. With the help of 4K render upscaling I managed to make the video sharper than it's original 950x540p resolution.
Down below you can see the finished result.
Note. I am not the original creator of any of these wallpapers. All rights go to their respective owners. Copyright Disclaimer under Section 107 of the copyright act 1976, allowance is made for fair use for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing.
Community reaction
The video somehow blew up in the World of warcraft community, and several english and non english sites wrote articles about it. Even the biggest Warcraft site "Wowhead" got involved and wrote an article about it that managed to get to their frontpage!
You can find their article here,
https://www.wowhead.com/news=283063/world-of-warcraft-wallpapers-rendered-in-3d-using-ai
Famous World of Warcraft Youtuber "BelluarGaming" also featured the video in one of his own videos. He has about 750k Subscribers combined, so that's a lot of exposure.
You can watch Belluars video here,
https://youtu.be/blUs2NrstsI?t=848
All in all this has been a great learning experience. Absolutely in the exploration of machine learning, but also in my own understanding of pictorial depth. I look forward to working with these kind of effects in the future!
