Rotoscoping Technology Industry with LIAF
In many animation companies, rotoscoping technology is very common. Many animators are trying to use this method to complete many animations, which has been highly praised by the audience.
This technique is used by animators to draw frame by frame. Using animation technology, the director will project the pre-shot actor’s film onto the ground glass, and then let the animators to describe it according to the performance of the characters in the animation film. This technique has a long history. It was first invented by Marx Fleischer in 1914. This kind of project was applying for the Digital Cartoon and Animation Process, and he finished the animation of Cab Calloway dancing action of Betty Boop in 1930s.
Later, this technique was widely used in Disney animation works, so that the early Disney animation can achieve the animation in a very realistic and fluent effect. The most popular film is Snow White in 1937. This technology is mainly for learning the movement of humans and animals rather than copying it for filming easily. Next, this technique has been used in China, The Princess of Iron Fan 1941 uses this kind of technique, too. Many Japanese animations, also apply rotoscoping technology, which shows the real character animation. Among them, in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, the heroine Haruhi Suzumiya has a very vivid facial expression in the concert, referred to the actual singing video of the sound actor Hirano Aya, and drew and cooperated with many animators to achieve the expected effect of the director.
This technique has many advantages. Initially, animators save a lot of time only by shooting, because there are many companies often consider the production cost and time cycle. Nevertheless, in a limited time, even the original painter cannot achieve such an amazing lens taken by photography. Therefore, this shooting method not only directly saves manpower, but also allows the animator to describe it according to the change of each frame of the lens, to reflect the real effect of animation.
However, this technology also has an obvious disadvantage, which is the lack of artistic sense. It is not enough to only come from reality. For example, many abstract animations need to be created by animators rather than reduplication.
Therefore, in my LIAF project, both 2D animators and 3D animators are playing an essential role. The team will draw 2D animation actions through a 3D model as an active reference, which has achieved the real effect of animation. When animators finished the 3D models of a woman, they will be skeletoned and use different angles of camera shots to realize it. According to the actress acting in animation, a 3D model of a woman will follow the performance in the software. After rendering, it will be put in the background of 2D software, such as TV paint, Animate, After Effects and so on. Finally, the 2D animator will draw the 2D woman on the reference of 3D womans’ actions rather than thinking about how to draw tween. Therefore, the rotoscoping technology will be fully applied and save a lot of time in this cooperation.
