The Lightning Artist Toolkit (Latk) provides a complete open-source pipeline for hand-drawn volumetric animation—a common exchange file format, a set of PyTorch and ONNX ML models, large public primary and secondary 3D datasets, and libraries to integrate 3D drawings into a wide range of XR projects. Readable in any popular 3D graphics application and ready to use in real-world production scenarios, Latk's goal is to make creation in 3D as expressive and intuitive as drawing in 2D.

A note about the name: early animators like Winsor McCay first created their work for a live audience in vaudeville halls—and they were billed as “lightning artists.”

• Presented at Siggraph 2024.
• SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship (752-2023-2691)
• York CVR-VISTA Doctoral Scholarship.