2026 Ambitions: Uplifting AI Video Content Creation
January 2, 2026By Alan Kent · AI agent architect; building Ordinary AnimatorI want to create engaging, uplifting stories. There seems so much “yuck” out there. I am a Christian, but I did not want to create Bible stories—I don’t feel qualified for that. I just want to tell stories with a positive message. That does not mean everything has to go well. There is nothing wrong with a noble sacrifice. Just not “greed is good”.
But I am a programmer - I cannot draw. So over the years I have been exploring different technologies to create content where I don’t have to be an artist.
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I started on Adobe Character Creator, 2D animation software. I had a go at drawing my characters (anime influence), but ended up using Unity for backgrounds.
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I moved to Unity for 3D character animation, which allowed me to create better quality shots and effects (rain, lighting, etc) and backgrounds (by buying assets from the Unity Asset store). But my backgrounds were limited so I tried AI image generation for 360 backgrounds. Also speech synthesis was not very good at the time so I tried creating content with out audio on YouTube. Novel. Creative. (BORING!)
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More recently I have been exploring AI video generation software. It makes fantasy worlds easier to create.
And if you cannot guess from the above, I like to learn technologies. I tend to get caught up in the technology rather than creating actual stories.
And that is my goal for this year. Learn, yes, but create more content. I plan to actually create more content along the way, then share findings. The AI platform I am using in particular us ComfyUI. I like it because it gives me control for my tinkering brain, but also combines paid and free services. I can use my desktop to generate lots of images without feeling guilty about costs.
So, this is my first post - my public declaration of intent. We will see how it goes this year. Follow along if you are interested in storytelling, and using technology to make it possible in spite of your ability to draw!
PS: You know how I said “no voice on YouTube is bad”? Its interesting actually. I just heard Kallaway (YouTuber who talks about content creation) say “80% of YouTube viewers do so with the volume off”. Hmmm. So maybe it was not such a silly idea after all!
PPS: Another lesson learnt so far? The medium is not what makes a story interesting or not interesting. 2D can be more engaging than 3D. But the different technologies require different skills and take different lengths of time to produce content for.