How iQIYI's NadouPro Cut VFX Work by 50%

The 50% efficiency gain is not a straight 50% cost reduction. Fixed costs – director time, set construction, actor availability – stay the same. What changes is capacity. A studio that finishes VFX work in half the time can either reduce total production cost or increase the number of shots within the same budget. For a platform like iQIYI that produces dozens of original series and films per year, that capacity shift matters.

NadouPro opened for commercial use on April 20. By mid-May it had onboarded more than 10,000 active creators and supported over 100 iQIYI original productions, according to the company. That adoption pace is fast for a tool targeting professional filmmakers, not consumer creators. The platform is rolling out new features and expanding internationally.

Han described AI as a tool that frees production teams from repetitive work, not a replacement for human creativity. "Even without AI, experienced visual effects professionals could produce these shots," he said. "The real question is how we draw on existing production expertise to complete long-form projects more efficiently and to a higher standard."

The real test is whether the efficiency holds across different genres and complexity levels. "None Shall Escape" is a psychological thriller with supernatural elements. NadouPro's performance on a period drama, an action film, or a sci-fi series may differ. A slowdown in adoption after the initial surge would weaken the thesis. The metric to track is repeat usage on consecutive projects. If experienced VFX teams keep reaching for NadouPro after the novelty fades, the 50% figure matters.