The world and future of animation are constantly evolving because of the intervention of AI in animation. The economy of VFX artists and content creators has to be more creative, in line with AI tech, to survive in the world of machine learning, AI, and other functionalities in animation.
If you’re a student of VFX, gaming, or animation, this blog will educate you on the latest developments of AI in animation and its related fields. This way, you can make better and justifiable decisions on how you want to learn and execute your creativity with the help of AI in your field.
In fact, you can learn the latest animation courses from top-notch academies like Frameboxx.in to grasp the updated knowledge on these courses. So, let’s begin the blog and educate you more on the future of animation.
What do we actually mean by AI or artificial intelligence?
AI has been there between humanity since the 1950s when John McCarthy coined this term. AI or artificial intelligence is the science or method using modern computer tech to allow it to act and reason like an average human being.
AI machines and tools help human beings to speed up the computation process. It recognises patterns, trends, and correlations relatively fast in volatile, incomplete, or incomprehensible data sets for churning out better outcomes within a limited time.
Today’s AI tech helps humans to search, generate, and execute mundane, trivial, or common tasks within seconds. So, it allows us to focus on more creative and mind-bending activities.
AI in Animation
Today, the use case of AI in animation is mostly in rotoscope automation, creating, developing and designing 3D models of a human being. There are multiple voiceover techs available to automate the process of animation sound design.
Such add-ons or apps help animators to focus on storytelling more often. They can research more and create a layered character arc or graph. Moreover, animators can pull off multiple projects in a shorter time with the help of the latest AI tools.
Read more about the AI intervention in rotoscope, 3D models, and animation sound design below.
- AI in rotoscope animation
Animators apply rotoscope methodology to create characters that look similar to human beings. They do this by tracing the real-life action frame of the characters frame by frame. Rotoscope artists can use various studios to mix the physical puppets and the lighting to adjust the scene depending on the required frame.
Manual efforts can take years for a rotoscope artist to use the studio and refine the characters line by line. To avoid the time-consuming process, AI has started to take its course, fastening the rotoscoping process aiding animators to complete their projects on time without losing the quality.
- AI in 3D modelling of a human face
Animators need to get the right expression right of a character as per the scene, act, or shot. It becomes challenging for them to twerk their facial expression even in a single frame. They lose too much time in inspecting the real-life expression of a chosen face. Plus, they have to supervise whether the rendered 3D model of a human face looks like a real one or not.
Modelling a 3D face can be easy. However, animating the same with the right tonality of the expression and keeping up with the details of the fine lines of the face is totally painstaking.
However, with the advent of AI in animation, we have technologies for nonlinear 3D modelling. These tools or apps can create multiple 3D iterations of the same face within seconds to supervise and approve.
There are other tools online that can completely automate the 3D and 2D face modelling process. The animators will guide the tool and let it choreograph the entire 3D or 2D faces with action if required.
Plus, these tools speed up the production and design time. So, each project gets completed within a faster turnaround time, even for beginners in animation.
- AI in voiceover for sound design animation
Sound design is one of the elements of animation videos that you must master as a student or a beginner. Live-action videos record sounds naturally. However, sound design in animation needs to be created and developed from scratch.
Designers design the audio effects to adjust and apply to the frames of the animated video. However, AI comes into the picture in the post-production of the audio design to aid in the voiceover of the characters.
It reduces the burden on the animators and allows them to speed up the voiceover work of their animation videos.
For example, AI-powered lip-syncing tools synchronise animated characters' lips according to the script and the applied animated sounds. So, the AI in animated sound designs helps animators record and design sound in any language. These tools can also use any public or iconic figure’s speech and voice to make the videos more dramatic.
So, animators have the flexibility to expand their imagination when it comes to choosing the right language, sound, and style of the voiceover for their animated sound design.
Pros of AI in Animation
- Better efficiency of animators
- Hightened speed of completing projects on time
- Improved scope of creativity
Can AI replace human animators?
Having AI and machine learning technologies hooked to an animation project helps you speed up the process, spark more creativity, and refine the quality. It is like giving an extra helping hand when you’re working on complicated projects and have stringent deadlines.
However, it cannot completely replace human animators as it does not have the capability to match human intelligence. Human intervention will also be the top requirement to create projects like films, games, and shows for a human audience.
So, you should not worry about AI taking over your job as an animator. Instead, focus on how to make the most of it and bring more creativity to your latest projects.
Conclusion
As a student, studying AI in animation is crucial when you are about to enrol in a course from renowned academies like Frameboxx.in. The course must also teach you the latest content and trends on AI and machine learning's importance in animation. You must also learn numerous tools and get first-hand experience in playing around with different tools to fasten the projects that you take the lead on.