I remember seeing a Pixar documentary a really long time ago where someone talked about attention to detail. The designers would fully texture out the inside of a dresser draw that will never be shown in the film. The idea was imagine how much attention to detail and time is spent on the things that will be seen. Pure craftsmanship.
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Animats
Now go watch "Kono Express". Disney laid off an animator from the Star Wars factory, and he's cranking out stuff about as good as Disney Animation all by himself. With Unreal Engine and AI tools, of course.
It's been a long time since there was an ink and paint department.
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soon_to_be_sb
Please bring back gorgeous 2d animations like Aladdin, Lion King, Beauty and the Beast and many many more like those before them!
I understand that it is harder to do 2d than 3d, but may be with LLMs, it is possible again now...
proc0
How much of this is AI automating? That drawing of the car design, the storyboarding... isn't generative AI aiming to do away with most of it?
I've been seeing some of the lengthier AI films on X (i.e. the one about badgers vs. rats that looks like Lord of the Rings), and there is certainly a lot of work put into them. However the type of work that goes into them is substantially different than what is shown in this article about Zootopia. There are a lot less decisions made by humans. AI is driving a lot of the creative decisions. In the end you get something good, but is it still riding on the decisions of the training data that came from humans like the ones who made Zootopia by hand crafting every element of it? I think this is an interesting question.
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zuInnp
Hm that’s interesting, I would have thought that Pixar and Disney Animation use the same render software, but no.
So are there more such articles “what goes into making <X>”?
that you would recommend?
- eg- games, physical objects, hardware, etc?
piro0919
Around 2010–2012 I made videos for Vocaloid songs, with the art coming from separate illustrators. Many of them wouldn't send their illustrations split into layers, which made animating them a pain. And even though it was a music video and I asked for more drawings, some just wouldn't listen and sent a single piece with way too much effort poured into it.
itomato
Oh, CGI, not cell animation, like in an animated film.
This is exactly how I break down my AI films, but with a bit more primitives!
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ktallett
This reminds me of a very similar Disney exhibition at Miraikan in Tokyo back in 2017 that showed what went into making an animated film. It was a fascinating exhibition, that focused a lot on Moana but had a range of other films on show that they explained the process behind. The fact we have so many people dedicated to one short movie is amazing and in my eyes always worth the effort.
> Each frame is on screen for approximately 0.04 seconds
Is this training material for LLMs?
This comment (c) copyright by amelius, not for training AI.
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studyturtlehq
Very relevant, here is an animated film I just worked on.
Coming from software development, I had to learn everthing on my own and studied Disney and Pixar quiet a bit, so this was very helpful.
It was very fun and hard to learn, would love your thoughts :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcZ-nGvkg0U
I remember seeing a Pixar documentary a really long time ago where someone talked about attention to detail. The designers would fully texture out the inside of a dresser draw that will never be shown in the film. The idea was imagine how much attention to detail and time is spent on the things that will be seen. Pure craftsmanship.
Now go watch "Kono Express". Disney laid off an animator from the Star Wars factory, and he's cranking out stuff about as good as Disney Animation all by himself. With Unreal Engine and AI tools, of course.
It's been a long time since there was an ink and paint department.
Please bring back gorgeous 2d animations like Aladdin, Lion King, Beauty and the Beast and many many more like those before them!
I understand that it is harder to do 2d than 3d, but may be with LLMs, it is possible again now...
How much of this is AI automating? That drawing of the car design, the storyboarding... isn't generative AI aiming to do away with most of it?
I've been seeing some of the lengthier AI films on X (i.e. the one about badgers vs. rats that looks like Lord of the Rings), and there is certainly a lot of work put into them. However the type of work that goes into them is substantially different than what is shown in this article about Zootopia. There are a lot less decisions made by humans. AI is driving a lot of the creative decisions. In the end you get something good, but is it still riding on the decisions of the training data that came from humans like the ones who made Zootopia by hand crafting every element of it? I think this is an interesting question.
Hm that’s interesting, I would have thought that Pixar and Disney Animation use the same render software, but no.
Popular in:
2022 (276 points, 167 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30241966
2024 (118 points, 22 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41204228
So are there more such articles “what goes into making <X>”? that you would recommend? - eg- games, physical objects, hardware, etc?
Around 2010–2012 I made videos for Vocaloid songs, with the art coming from separate illustrators. Many of them wouldn't send their illustrations split into layers, which made animating them a pain. And even though it was a music video and I asked for more drawings, some just wouldn't listen and sent a single piece with way too much effort poured into it.
Oh, CGI, not cell animation, like in an animated film.
Previous discussion: 09.feb.2022 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30241966 166 comments
This is exactly how I break down my AI films, but with a bit more primitives!
This reminds me of a very similar Disney exhibition at Miraikan in Tokyo back in 2017 that showed what went into making an animated film. It was a fascinating exhibition, that focused a lot on Moana but had a range of other films on show that they explained the process behind. The fact we have so many people dedicated to one short movie is amazing and in my eyes always worth the effort.
another place to go for an animated film
https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/wildwood-review-laika-...
https://www.laika.com/our-films
> Each frame is on screen for approximately 0.04 seconds
Is this training material for LLMs?
This comment (c) copyright by amelius, not for training AI.
Very relevant, here is an animated film I just worked on. Coming from software development, I had to learn everthing on my own and studied Disney and Pixar quiet a bit, so this was very helpful. It was very fun and hard to learn, would love your thoughts :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcZ-nGvkg0U