For the past twenty years, two things have been happening in 2D animation. First, American studios have been offshoring in-between frames to Asia (as was the case in Adventure Time and Steven Universe). Second, Japanese studios have started to do the same thing after being accused of literally killing young people in their own industry by forcing them to create in-between frames under grueling conditions. I've linked to and excerpted two articles under the cut.
( Read more... )To me, the antidote to the "line must always go up" issue with larger studios seems to be smaller studios that are largely independent from such concerns. The problem is that, especially for 2D animation, production is extremely labor-intensive, mainly because of the necessity of creating in-between frames. If you're a manic college student whose body still works, maybe you can do this labor, and you can do it with joy. Back before everyone deleted their accounts, however, Twitter was filled with comics drawn by indie animators in their late 20s explaining why they were quitting: working that hard fucks you up both physically and psychologically. The labor is literally disabling.
Based on the foundation of work pioneered by 3D animation, the generation of in-between frames by AI could be a good and useful application for the technology as a labor-saving tool. It has so much potential, and I hate that it's being used
against artists, specifically with the aim of eliminating them entirely. The technology has an amazing potential to solve critical problems that have persisted in the animation industry for decades; but, instead of empowering artists, it's become an existential threat. This is dystopian, and I hate it.
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rynling
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