Traditional vs Vector vs CGI animation

[Plonkett 345]

Which of the three styles of animation do you prefer? Traditional hand drawn animation (raster, if digital), vector puppet based animation (which MLP is known for), or 3d CGI animation?

 

EDIT: Could someone move this to the media forum by any chance?

Edited November 21, 2016 by vgmaster9

[I used to be a stranger 7,994]

All animation turns up in the form of raster pictures in video files, so the term "vector" confused me briefly.

 

I'm assuming:

 

Traditional = Drawn or painted frames (digital or traditional)

Vector = Flash formatted animation

CGI = 3D polygon-based animation (There are several other 3D animation styles such as NURBS or Voxels but people don't make movies or shows with them.)

 

In the end, they all depend on the story being told. Animation isn't a genre, it's a medium; and a versatile one.

Edited November 14, 2016 by Blue

[Guac 25]

all are aesthetically pleasing when done right, and are unpleasant to watch when done improperly.

all have equal advantages and disadvantages.

yet i am more drawn towards traditional animation, such as disney. it is extremely smooth and fluid.

[Dreambiscuit 10,095]

I personally like the look of traditional animation best. It's really easy to get swept up in the art when you can see the natural flow of the artist's hand. And in some cases like Xerography, you can literally see the animators' rough lines in the final product. 

I do like the other mediums as well though and all have their place. Some of my favorite movies and shows of all time are CG and Flash. But if I had to pick just one, I'd go traditional. 

 

In the end, they all depend on the story being told. Animation isn't a genre, it's a medium; and a versatile one.

Exactly this. Without a good story it could be animated in magic marker on a cocktail napkin and it would make little difference. 

[I used to be a stranger 7,994]

 

 

yet i am more drawn towards traditional animation, such as disney. it is extremely smooth and fluid.

 

 

Disney's animated feature films use a different kind of technique than most TV shows.

 

A movie like The Little Mermaid uses a technique called Feature Animation. It's very expensive in terms of effort and time. Every minute detail is planned and created nearly from scratch. It's what people usually think of when they think of someone animating something. A great example of demonstrating how Feature Animation tries to make everything diverse and interesting is they will avoid repetitive action if they can: you will have a hard time finding a scene in a Disney movie of just two people walking together with a flat shot from the front or side.

 

Every TV show you've seen from Magic School Bus and Dexter's Labratory to Miraculous and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic use what's called Limited Animation (or Production Animation). It's purpose is to give the illusion of high quality while cutting corners and reducing the amount of effort and time each sequence takes to make. Common corner-cuts are giving characters standard run and walk cycles that can be repeated, using interchangeable facial expressions and having a set catalog of background details to drag-and-drop, rather than drawing or painting everything nearly new every other scene. For example, having scenes showing characters just from the front or side are common,

 

[Wind Chaser 4,768]

I voted for all three. The reason why is because there are different media for different purposes. You also forgot to mention stop motion which is a medium that I hold in high esteem for its craftsmanship, rarity, and charm.

 

For whatever the story is, the director, producer, or writer must determine which medium is best for its needs. Traditional animation is best for fast action and/or visual gags. Vector animation is great if you're on a budget or want a slick art style, and when used right, offers some of the same flexibility traditional animation does. CGI is great for realism, depth, and intricacy.

 

There are drawbacks to each, too. Traditional animation is expensive to make and many budgets these days don't justify it, but it is great for arthouse projects. Vector animation has a niche on TV and the Internet but is unflattering if done for a theatrical film, and CGI to me is a big no-no for TV as it comes nowhere close to matching the speed, flexibility, and creativity of CGI on a film budget.

 

In all truth, go with whatever matches your preferences and the medium you're most interested in.

Edited November 14, 2016 by Wind Chaser

[cmarston1 5,959]

I am generally more interested in the style that comes from traditional animation and stuff like that.

[CheeryFox 23,822]

Traditional. It's always been that way for me. Though I do love all of the above... IDK, ya just can't beat classical animation... ^.^

[Odd Ball 231]

Hand drawn animation will always be my favourite, I also enjoy CGI animation. But I do wish we'd get more of what started animation in the first place. As for Flash, I started to like it more once MLP:FIM started improving it's animation, but still prefer the old fashion way.

 

Though I personally feel CGI animation should tone down the realistic fur/skin on characters. This is why I like 2D animation more because you don't always need to add much detail to characters.

[Plonkett 345]

Would be nice if 2d hand drawn animation could be brought back to feature length cinema. Now with programs like TVPaint, it creates an even bigger chance.

[Merion 783]

Stop motion *drops mic*

 

(I guess that still counts as traditional animation, tho)

[ThunderCrush 1,850]

I like traditional, but I haven't really had any experience with animation myself. I'm actually looking for a program to do 2D animation, any preferences?

 

PS (I don't have any money to buy or pay a subscription for a software, so anything free would be best)

Edited November 21, 2016 by ThunderCrush

[Merrypaws 71]

Can't really choose one. Like some people have said already, all of these can be done either well or badly, and some things look better in one style while others may be better in another. Plus, the line between them is often blurry. For example in Disney's Treasure Planet most of the animation was done traditionally, but John Silver's cybernetics were done in 3D and then combined with the 2D animation.

 

In terms of visual look, I think I like the vector/flash puppets the least, because they often tend to be visually the least varied and interesting. I do still understand their value in creating content on a schedule and on a lower budget than feature length films.

[GrimGrimoire 4,973]

All three are good when done well as someone above stated. I prefer traditional hand drawn animation for the most part, but as long as the film is good and looks good, then I am OK with whatever medium they decide to go with.

 

Although the industry itself is pushing more for CG I suppose.

[EpicEnergy 23,224]

Depends on how well it's done. Though I would say I've seen more shows and movies with CGI Animation, so I'll go with that even though the other two types can be just as good if not better.

[Iforgotmybrain 5,771]

Hand drawn for sure, it can’t be beat imo. Lot more labor intensive obviously which is why it’s becoming less and less common. But if you look at Studio Ghibli, classic anime from the 90s and early 00s, they have such beautiful art and animation thanks to being hand drawn.

Vector/flash is alright, it works very well for shows like MLP which don’t really need flashy or complex animation every episode to be engaging.

CGI depends a lot on its usage, more so than the other two imo. Obviously the Avatar movies are examples of great CGI animation. Dragon Ball Super Hero was fully 3D CGI animated and looked pretty good. Not as good as say the Broly movie that came before it but still, it wasn’t bad. Some of the Marvel movies have had some not very good CGI recently, which I think is partly due to time constraints that the animators have had to deal with. Early G5 MYM had some uncanny moments as well but they eventually managed to work out those kinks later on imo.

[IronM17 5,399]

When it is good made, then all three can look really great. But from the nostalgic fact, my favorite is still traditional hand drawn. I rised up with the old 2d animated disney and non-disney movies and shows from the 80s and 90s and so, this will be always my favored kind of animation. It is sad for me that hand drawing is less common nowadays (except for anime), but also understandable since to create a hand animated movie or show can take a lot of time. 

[Valynne 2,726]

I tried the 3 of them, I can say that Vector it suits best for me, 3D is intense as animator/programmer because if you want to make a good work you have to invest a lot of time even more than learning traditional/vector, you have to have a very good and powerful computer to render images and animations and even if it does you still have to wait a long time to render your work and programs like Blender even if they have tutorials there are things you have to discover yourself and that is easier said than done BUTTT!! If you have patience and dedication and push yourself to bring the best, the result is going to be *chef kiss* perfect!!

 

As for vectors well they are an enhandced version than the traiditional style, Is like more assisted drawing, I feel is much better because if you master it, you can make complex animations like more artistic, more complex and abstract, Traditional is artistic, Vector is technic and CGI is realistic

 

 

 

 

[Snoopy Fan 1,354]

I like all, but I think traditional animation is the best.