I found 'Symphony of Two Minds' while browsing on CartoonBrew. It is an expository of the identity crisis of CGI Animation caused by its versatility as a medium. It was initially clear that CGI Animation is made to improve entertainment experience by engaging the audience with photorealistic computer generated imagery until there is a distinctive dip in the relationship between human-likeness and emotional response, that coined the term 'the uncanny valley'.
A new way of using CGI to creating organic-looking animation has gained attention among artists ever since Disney's Paperman was made. Paperman pioneers the development of the non-photorealistic rendering technology in CGI Animation. The availability of such technology allows artists to accentuate hand-made quality, and hence adds personality to their animation as mentioned by Patrick Osborne in his interview on 'Feast' by CartoonBrew. Patrick also said that 'there is no reason for CG to look in a particular way' suggesting the potential of this versatile medium, and softwares are just tools to achieve a goal, which I think is the key to coherence between the look and the narrative.
The Boy who Learned to Fly is a good example of stylised CGI animation which accentuate the narrative with textures, bold colours and lighting. The design-centric look makes the animation stands out from the basic smooth, synthetic look of CGI animation.
The potential of CGI as a tool to make hybrid animation is endless as more cutting edge technology are being invented. A gadget called StyLit is being developed to preserve the expressiveness of hand-crafted artwork. It works based on the light propagation in the scene which gives the artist freedom to use their own choice of colour to emphasise the lighting effect, instead of using the true colours in the scene.
Although the 2D-3D hybrid approach gives a new and more acceptable aesthetic than the uncanny valley to the CGI animation through incorporating some of the organic elements inherent in traditional hand-drawn animation, I still think technology could not replicate the unique craft of traditional hand-drawn animation. If the sole purpose of the hybrid approach is to replicate traditional animation, this is just another hypocrisy, just like when a vegan eats Quorn's meatless meatballs.
Sources
- StyLit: Illumination-Guided Example-Based Stylization of 3D Renderings
- ‘Symphony of Two Minds’ by Valere Amirault (Exclusive Premiere)
- Making CGI Less Perfect: How Michael Fragstein Made ‘Dagner’
- VIDEO: Patrick Osborne Talks Disney’s ‘Feast’
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