by Sean MacLennan Murch
While 3D animation has proved itself as a master of realism, it has often been accused of failing to capture the feeling and characterization that classical animation has offered audiences for the past century. The animation industry has begun to respond to this feedback, and has adjusted it's priorities accordingly. More and more we are seeing a hybrid of classical and 3D animation; each technique being utilized for what it does best. Bringing inanimate objects, or those with simple geometry, to life is well within the digital realm. However, organic figures such as humanoids and animals have continually been proven more convincing when created with pencil and paper. For instance, we all loved Toy Story, but many of us were disappointed with the way the human figures were designed and animated. They seemed to be out of synch with all the great looking, more geometrical, toys.
Toy Story demonstrated that while computer animation is
great for
animating geometrical forms, organic materials, such as fabric or fur,
are still a challenge for 3D computer animators. © Disney.
One creative and economical use of 3D animation
can be evidenced in many of the recently released classically animated
features. Backgrounds, camera moves, crowd scenes, and machines of all
descriptions have been modeled and animated digitally. In many cases this
approach can save both time and money. More importantly, it also enhances
the look of the film. Duncan Marjoribanks is one of the top character animators
at DreamWorks Feature Animation with experience as a lead animator spanning
over two decades. He was responsible for bringing to life such timeless
characters as Abu from Disney's Aladdin, and Sebastian the crab
from Disney's The Little Mermaid. On the topic of 3D animation and
digital effects, Marjoribanks' advice is clear. "Wherever it works,
by all means, use it!" Marjoribanks notes that "in traditional
features, what computer animation does best is to improve the quality of
a production, rather than saving money over hand drawn methods." DreamWorks'
soon to be released, The Prince of Egypt uses extensive digital
animation and effects in their rendition of the Parting of the Red Sea
and in the vast multitudes of "extras" necessary for a biblical
epic. When asked about the use of 3D modeling and animation for crowd scenes,
Marjoribanks declares, "They (the 3D animators) are welcome to them."
There are limitations however, to modeling in three dimensions. While it
is relatively easy to redraw a 2D character model, it can sometimes be
more difficult to radically change a digital model. As Duncan points out,
"It's hard to tweak a 3D model too far, without something breaking."
Classically Effective
Just as classical studios such as DreamWorks and Warner Bros. are striving
to make the most of new technology, 3D producers are looking to classical
animation to augment their craft. Whether in the form of separate 2D levels,
or in the use of classical timing and characterizations, 3D companies are
"getting back to basics" in order to improve the entertainment
value of their products. In one case, Vancouver based Radical Entertainment,
one of the leading video game developers in North America, is using 2D
reference animation as a guide to aid their 3D animators in achieving the
best timing and motion possible. Jack Rebbetoy, one of Radical's senior
producers notes, "We have explored the use of motion capture for our
games and in many instances, this approach seems to capture the essence
of the motion that we're looking for, in other, more complex situations,
however, we have to rely on a traditional 2D animator to capture that same
essence. In addition, we often want to exaggerate these motions for effect.
With motion capture, you are limited to the physical abilities of your
actor." Exaggeration, of course, plays an integral role in classical
animation and is one of the prime reasons to use animation rather than
live-action to tell a story.
Mainframe Entertainment's
animated series, Reboot.
© 1997 Mainframe Entertainment, Inc. All rights reserved.
Using laws of physics and motion, the goal of
the digital realm has historically been to re-create reality. 3D animators
and animation software developers try to emulate the real world as closely
as possible and it is disappointing when this new reality falls short of
convincing its audience. Perhaps this boils down to the difference between
reality and perception. While software developers strive to create an environment
that replicates the real world, classical animators tend to focus more
on people's perception of the world, on what they actually want to see.
In many cases the entertainment value comes from when the animation diverges
from reality. As any good actor that is acting for the theater's back row
will say, you must exaggerate your motions and reactions just in order
to have them read to the audience. Furthermore, we don't go to mainstream
animated films to be given a dose of reality. We have documentaries for
that. We go to animated shows for the fantasy element, and to be entertained.
We don't want to have to guess if a character was surprised by some on-screen
event, we want his or her eyes to bulge a good three feet out from their
sockets. We expect it.
Three Dimensional Benefits
The truth is that 3D animation does have a lot to offer in the way
of both production value and entertainment. For starters, 3D generated
backgrounds exist as an important asset, once created. The same environment
can be re-lit, re-shot from a different angle and re-used time and time
again. Much like a live action set, these digital assets can amortize the
cost of a production without compromising it's quality. Characters can
be tweaked and re-rendered to perform a different role in a later scene,
or cloned for large crowd scenes. In the classical, hand drawn world this
could mean countless new drawings and a quickly disappearing budget. In
terms of principle characters and character animation, new developments
in hardware continue to increase the quality level of available textures,
effects, and motions at an ever reducing cost.
One of the world's most prolific producers of 3D animation is Mainframe
Entertainment, producers of the widely successful television series Reboot
and Beast Wars. Chris Brough, one of the principles of this publicly
traded company describes their approach to 3D animation: "What we
really did was look at technology and figure out how to empower that technology
from a creative tool aspect, thereby allowing our animators to do just
that animate." In order to accomplish this task, Mainframe employs
a team of twelve software developers whose sole task is to make the software
interface more intuitive for the animators. This allows the artists to
concentrate more on the creative aspects, rather than the technology of
3D animation. As Brough states, "therein lies our creative and our
competitive edge." On the business side of the equation, Mainframe
has also capitalized on the aforementioned "digital asset" aspect
of the 3D environment. Brough explains that "there are so many other
business and revenue opportunities. It's the same digital database that
we explore with the Reboot ride films (for IMAX), the first of which
gets delivered next month. It's the same database that we create toys from.
With our own proprietary software we translate our database into 3D models
that we can create physical molds and models from. We've recently done
that successfully with Irwin toys. We can make interactive properties.
We could feasibly create, based on the size of our database, a fantasy
world that would take you hours, if not days, to navigate. All this is
digital, so whatever the future delivery systems are from a technological
aspect, we can prepare ourselves for it. I think that communication companies,
in time, will understand the significance of this."
The Lost World: Jurassic Park, featuring CG animation
by Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). © Universal/Amblin.
With the recent exposure of high quality 3D animation
in feature films like Toy Story and The Lost World, it looks
as though the market for 3D animation is strong. As Marjoribanks points
out, "The talent base of 3D animators is still very young. There is
no telling what 3D character animation can become. It is still too early
in its development to know its unique capabilities. There is also still
lots of room for collaboration between 3D and 2D animators." At DreamWorks,
3D and 2D artists are now working side by side in every department, from
layout through animation. As software developers and animators continue
to work towards a more classical approach to digital animation, the future
also looks bright for hybrid 2D/3D productions. The dialogue has begun
between the once very separate mediums of 3D and traditional animation.
It is this dialogue between animators that will drive the art and the craft
of animation forward into the next century.
Sean MacLennan Murch spent four years in London working as both a producer
and executive producer. For the last two years he has been based in Vancouver,
where he is currently employed as the Director of Development at Natterjack
Animation Co. Ltd.
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