Creative arts has been in the blood of mankind right from the times of cave-dwellers. With advances in technology, techniques, apps and software, it’s now becoming increasingly possible for artists to create art using computers through algorithms. This is known as AI animation and has proved to be a very handy tool for animators.
The application of artificial intelligence has breathed new life into animation and enriched it further – by introducing more innovative and inventive ways to create art. For example, use of AI in animation can create more realistic character movements, lip-sync or backdrops that look increasingly more realistic. Aside from this, AI applications results in saving substantial amount of time – what would have needed days to complete earlier, can now be completed within a few hours. All this has meant that animators now have additional time to focus on more creative work, including fresh ideas and concepts, instead of monotonous repetitive work. And with businesses focused on creating increasingly more compelling creative content, the future of animators has never looked brighter.
As with everything else, there are some advantages and disadvantages associated with using AI in animation – from a creative standpoint. Here’s a look at some of them:
A Bridge with Greater Efficiency
Applying AI into animation would result in increasing the accuracy of the final product. This is because many creative tasks can get automated using AI, leaving no space for human error. An example is using DALL-E2 to generate static character images, and then applying a living portrait-style model for faster and more efficient end-product. Or the use of Proxy tool to create crowds using low resolution duplicates.
Increased speed
As expected, an animator can apply AI and create character images in a significantly shorter time. For example, DALL-E and the Nvidia Canvas software can be used to create real-life images from simple line drawings, all within minutes! Time factor is always crucial to any animation studio.
Financial angle
With AI doing the job much faster and with reasonably good accuracy, less manpower is needed for creating animation art. This translates into substantial monetary savings.
Perfection
AI animation tools don’t create 100% perfection and form the in-between stage only. Human intervention is necessary for final product correction.
Higher cost
Another disadvantage to using AI animation is it could get expensive. Though many tools are free, important software and hardware required for running AI can get expensive.
Concerns over control
Another pitfall is that since AI understands perspective, it can take over control on the final product and limit the animator’s input. Tools like AIRender and Blender can use randomly placed 3D blocks and create an image that the animator might not always agree with.
Conclusion
Do note here that AI cannot take over human animator’s jobs as feared by some. This is because an artist is needed to feed in the prompts and create the storyline – put simply, the animation artist is irreplaceable. Aside from this, AI gifts animation artists with diverse imagery that can ignite their imagination and creativity further. So, AI is definitely the way forward for animation of the future!
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