Cloud Automation offers versatile AI-driven functionality to Creative Force with the ability to connect to a wide variety of pre-built service connectors. With the ability to create Custom Cloud Automation Connectors, studios can harness the power of AI Automation with any vendor they choose.
🗣️ Important: The process for creating and using Custom Cloud Automation Connectors requires some technical understanding and partnership with a third-party service or application outside of Creative Force. Before starting the setup and implementation process in your studio, please reach out to connect with the appropriate technical team directly to start a dialogue.
Feature Overview
Creative Force supports a growing ecosystem of AI connectors for content generation, and each pre-built connector is designed specifically for the type of work that the connector partner does.
However, studios sometimes work with AI services that aren't part of the Creative Force connector catalog. Until now, there hasn't been a clean way to integrate a custom third-party AI service for content generation or AI post-production purposes.
Custom Cloud Automation Connectors address this gap directly by allowing studios to connect any third-party AI service as a Cloud Automation step.
The integration works the same way as any other Cloud Automation Connector in Creative Force, with the flexibility to handle variable outputs, operate at any point in the Workflow, and route assets to QC– or straight to delivery.
Setup Scope
The setup process for Custom Cloud Automation Connectors is multi-process and can be defined into four phases, detailed below.
Setup Step | Overview |
Create Connector | Create a Custom Connector in Creative Force. |
Add Subfunction | Add a subfunction to the Custom Connector & generate a Webhook Secret Key. |
Register App | Register a new application in Creative Force, & generate Client Credentials to share. |
Vendor Config | The Third-Party Service completes configuration to connect to Creative Force with the credentials generated in the previous steps. |
Copy to Clipboard: During the setup process, you will be directed on how to generate and copy certain credentials, which will need to be shared with your partner service.
Function Scope
After completing the setup, the functionality of custom cloud automation connectors can be defined into multiple phases.
Setup Step | Overview |
Add to Workflows | The custom connector is added to a Cloud Automation step in a Workflow. |
CF → Vendor | When a task reaches the Cloud Automation step, Creative Force fires a webhook event to the third-party app and shares key production task details needed to begin work. |
Vendor Work | The vendor uses the Creative Force API to fetch task details, download input assets, and process assets. |
Vendor → CF | The vendor returns processed output assets to Creative Force, and the Workflow continues forward past Cloud Automation. |
➕ Engine V2: Cloud Automation integrates with Workflow Engine V2. If you are interested in using it in your studio and have not yet migrated from V1, please contact your CSM.
Setup Walkthrough
Create Connector
To get started with creating your Custom Cloud Automation Connector, head to Studio Settings → Connectors → Then, select 'Create Connector' in the top right.
In the resulting pop-up menu, you will find a number of fields that need to be filled out in order to proceed:
Field | Notes |
Logo | Optional. Image shown on the connector card in the Workflow editor. If omitted, a default placeholder is used.
PNG or JPG accepted, square aspect ratio works best. |
Name | Display name shown on the connector card.
Max 200 characters. |
Description | Short description of what the connector does.
Max 1000 characters. |
Once the required fields have been filled out, hit Save in the bottom right-hand corner of the menu. After saving, the menu will refresh with additional options.
Post-Save Option | Function |
Enable/Disable | Toggle option. When enabled, the Connector will appear as an available option in the Workflow builder.
Disabled connectors are hidden from the Workflow builder but preserved in storage to be re-enabled. |
Delete Connector | Removes the created Connector and all configuration options previously set within the menu. |
Add Subfunction | Allows the user to define a Subfunction functionality. Connectors need at least one sub-function before they can be used.
Max 10 Subfunctions per Connector. |
Add Subfunction
A sub-function represents a specific action the third-party system can perform. For example, a vendor may separate subfunctions for Image-to-Video, Virtual Model, and Post-Production Cleanup– or have a single AI Content Generation subfunction covering everything.
Field | Notes |
Name | Display name shown on the connector card for the subfunction. Must be unique within the parent connector. Max 200 characters. |
Description | Short description of what the subfunction does. Max 1000 characters. |
Webhook URL | HTTPS only. Localhost and private IP ranges are rejected.
Max 2048 characters. |
Once the required fields have been filled out, hit Save in the bottom right-hand corner of the menu. After saving, the menu will refresh with additional options.
Post-Save Option | Function |
Secret Key | Auto-generated by Creative Force. Displayed in the UI so it can be copied and shared with the studio's webhook receiver. |
| Use the refresh option to generate a new Secret Key. Previous Dependencies using the old Secret Key will need to be updated to function as expected. |
Enable/Disable | Controlled by a button. Disabled sub-functions are hidden from the workflow picker but preserved. |
Delete Subfunction | Removes the created Subfunction and all configuration options previously set within the menu. |
Renew Key
Register App
The next step will be to create a new Registered App. This provides the Client ID and Client Secret that your third-party application will use to authenticate against the Creative Force Gateway API.
To get started, head to Studio Settings → Integrations → Registered Apps → Then, select 'Register App' to create a new Application.
App Field | Function |
Allowed Grant Type | Select Client Credentials. |
Application Name | Set a display name for the registered application. |
Application Description | Add a short description of what the application does so that studio users will understand the purpose. |
On Behalf User | Set a user for whom the application will act on behalf of. |
🗣️ On Behalf User: It is recommended to create a dedicated API user with only the permissions needed for the integration rather than reusing an active user account. Please see Gateway API: Recommended User Permissions for details.
Generate Client ID & Secret
Once the required fields have been filled out, hit Save in the bottom right-hand corner of the menu. After saving, the menu will refresh with additional options.
Post-Save Option | Function |
Client ID | Auto-generated by Creative Force. Displayed in the UI so it can be copied and shared with your third party. |
Client Secret | Auto-generated by Creative Force. Displayed in the UI so it can be copied and shared with your third party. |
Third-Party Configuration
In order for the connector to communicate between Creative Force and your third party, three pieces of information from the previous setup steps will need to be shared. With that information, the third-party team should handle further configuration on their side.
Field | Notes | Jump to Section |
Client ID | From the Registered App setup. | |
Client Secret | From the Registered App setup. | |
Webhook Secret Key | From the Sub-function setup. |
Once those values are in place on the third-party side, the two systems are connected. The third-party app will receive webhook events from Creative Force and can call APIs to fetch task details, download input assets, process them, and submit assets back into the production's Workflow.
Functional Walkthrough
With your setup and configuration complete, you can now get started using your custom cloud automation connector in production.
Add to Workflows
As AI Cloud Automation supports a number of output types and formats, it is recommended to use a Generative Workflow to support the outputs. To learn more about Generative Workflows, please see our dedicated article at the link below.
To use your Custom Cloud Automation Connector in your Productions, add a Cloud Automation step to your Workflow and select it in the Connector grid. Then, select the desired subfunction to be executed at the step.