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Source: Global Times

[Global Times reporter Ding Yazhi] In traditional animation production, animators are magicians who create miracles. They start with sketches, build the outline of the characters step by step, and then give life to the characters through color matching and finalization. However, with the introduction of AI technology, the work of animators will usher in some changes.

In early February, the American artificial intelligence (AI) research company OpenAI announced that Sora had made a breakthrough in the field of live video. At that time, the animation and film and television industries reacted most strongly to this. Not long ago, a blogger named "AI Madhouse" posted a nearly 4-minute AI concept animation of "Journey to the West: The Birth of the Monkey King" on the Internet. In an interview with the media, the blogger said that he made the most of AI technology to create this short film, selecting more than 70 pictures from more than 2,000 pictures generated, and then using intelligent picture-generated video software to create animations, and using AI for sound effects and dubbing. In the end, he used more than 6 days to make a nearly 4-minute 2D animation short film, which would take more than a year if it was purely manual.

The high efficiency makes people wonder whether AI will replace designers. How has traditional animation production changed under the influence of AI? And how has the work of animation designers changed?

From a narrow perspective, animation designers usually refer to the early stage design of animation, which is only a part of the entire animation workflow. Sun Wenshuo, 30 years old this year, has been engaged in work related to animation and IP design for two years. He told the Global Times reporter that animation production involves conception, storyboards, character image determination, three-view drawing, modeling and other work, and different designers are responsible for it. "The emergence of AI has made the entire production process relatively efficient." Sun Wenshuo took animation modeling as an example and said that in the past it might take a week to complete a model, but AI can complete it in just 1 hour, and the accuracy and details are good.

However, AI is not omnipotent. In the design process, the consideration of rationality and feasibility still requires the participation of human designers. Communication and collaboration between directors, modelers, sketchers, etc. are still an indispensable part of animation production. Therefore, Sun Wenshuo believes that although the impact of AI in improving efficiency and saving costs is obvious, at present, the application of AI technology in animation design is still mainly auxiliary.

Liu Shuliang, a teacher of animation at Communication University of China, has the same view. He believes that AI technology can improve the efficiency of traditional animation processes, but it is not enough to form a subversive impact. "For animation character design and scene design, the most common way now is to use AI for brainstorming. Designers give AI an instruction, and it can generate a design in a very short time. Although it may not fully meet the needs, it is fast enough. This is the most popular but also the crudest method of use in the industry. Then designers can choose from dozens of designs generated by AI and process them on this basis." He said.

In the past two years, there have been many works created and released using the "rotoscope" animation technology, such as "Rock, Scissors, Paper" and "To My Dear Myself". Among them, "Rock, Scissors, Paper" has become a benchmark work that has attracted many people to learn. "Rotoscope" can be understood as allowing AI to transfer style based on real-life materials to create an effect closer to animation. According to Liu Shuliang, the "rotoscope" technology has a long history in the entire animation industry, but it is actually different from the traditional animation production process. Strictly speaking, this type of work is not a pure animation work, so it cannot be said that AI has fundamentally shaken traditional animation production.

"However, technologies like Wensheng 3D or Tusheng 3D, which have just been developed, can already be used in the animation production process. In the future, they may serve as a substitute for designers or modelers." Liu Shuliang used the relationship between "Party B" and "Party A" to illustrate the roles of AI and designers. "As Party A, designers give instructions to AI, and Party B can respond quickly. It can be said that the work efficiency is high, but the uncertainty is also high."

In terms of talent cultivation, China's animation majors are also making positive changes. According to Liu Shuliang, currently various universities with animation-related majors are also actively promoting teaching and curriculum reforms. He cited himself as an example, "I teach three courses to undergraduates and two courses to graduate students, and I have added AI-related knowledge learning to all of them. I have added AI topics to the animation overview course last semester, and I will also add AI topics to the animation criticism course next semester."