Inside Wonder Dynamics: How AI Is Reshaping VFX and Filmmaking

In the sea of surface-level chatter about AI and filmmaking, Nikola Todorovic is saying the quiet part out loud—and it’s the stuff creative pros actually need to hear.

As Co-Founder of Wonder Dynamics, an Autodesk Company, Nikola helped build Flow Studio, an AI-powered platform that lets small teams create VFX-rich productions without VFX-rich budgets. The work was so forward-thinking that Autodesk acquired Wonder Dynamics in 2024, folding it into their growing cloud-based creative suite.

But this conversation goes way deeper than “AI saves time.” It’s about what happens to artistry when the tools start doing more than just accelerating workflows—and how indie filmmakers, animators, and motion designers can harness that shift without getting swept away by hype.

We highly encourage you to listen to the whole episode (it's a gem) but check out a few of our favorite takeaways below.

🧠  Generative AI = Slot Machine

"I’ve often described generative AI as a slot machine because it gives you two generations...it knows one of them is not going to be good."

Most AI tools are just taking swings—generating a few options and crossing their virtual fingers. But for artists who care about control, consistency, and intent, that’s not enough. Nikola’s vision of the future? Tools that understand what’s in the scene—and give you full control over it.

🎛️  Scene Understanding > Pretty Frames

"The long-term vision has always been kind of that holistic editability approach."

The goal isn’t just faster renders. It’s smarter pipelines. That means AI tools that understand space, scale, camera logic, and motion—so you can actually work inside a scene, not just click through output. The dream: Control and editability that rivals traditional digital content creation tools, but in a browser.

🧪  Synthetic Data Is the Missing Piece

“The beauty of synthetic data is that you get ground truth.”

AI models trained on scraped images hallucinate. They fake depth, struggle with occlusion, and break in motion. But synthetic data? It's clean, complete, and accurate. That’s a big deal for anyone building or compositing 3D scenes—and it’s why Wonder’s tech stands out.

🎮  Make It Feel Like a Game, Not a Grind

"You don't have to have 10 years of learning to do it... that's a problem with a lot of tools."

The best creative tools should feel like playing—not like learning Excel. Nikola wants to flatten the learning curve without dumbing things down. That means making high-end visual tools accessible from a browser, no Nuke certification required.

🏗️  Fewer People, Bigger Vision

"If you can decrease that to like 20 people or 50 people and make the budget 10 times smaller, I think that's awesome."

AI won’t replace creativity—but it will replace overhead. The future Nikola’s helping build is one where a lean team with vision can achieve what used to take an entire studio. This isn’t about making smaller things—it’s about removing barriers to make bigger things possible.

👁️  The Real Skill? Knowing When It’s Good Enough

"A good artist is someone who has a good artistic eye to recognize when something is good enough."

Taste still matters. More than ever. In a world where anyone can generate a “decent” output in seconds, the real edge is knowing what to keep, what to refine, and what to throw away. AI might speed things up—but it can’t replace your creative judgment.