Release. Pressure. Animate.

2. The difference in Animation fields
There‟s quite some difference between 3D Computer Animation and the more traditional
styles like 2D and Stop-Motion. It‟s digital, relatively new and seems to be quite
technical. Though at least one thing they seem to have in common is the need of a
workflow. This chapter will discuss these workflows of the different animation forms and
will be discussed in comparison with the 3D computer animation workflow. This is to find
structure and default procedures in an animator‟s workflow that have been defined in
these fields through a (often) significant longer period than those in 3D Computer
Animation. We‟ll be able to compare the differences, but even more learn about the room
for improvement. Furthermore we‟ll acquire a mindset on animation that‟s often hard for
3D animators to wrap their head around instantly, providing these insights are of great
importance for any development. Thus, besides just delivering a small background of
animation and its workflow in these field there‟s a lot more relevant information and data
we can extract from this.
There is a lot of difference in the habits between different studios even only within the
field of Computer Animation. Even among students there is a different way of
approaching the same thing, which makes generalization of „the workflow‟ hard or almost
impossible. The same thing happens to be with the other forms of animation, as even
some studios say they don‟t have a workflow, but a variety ways of starting a project
depending on the needs of the project. A workflow for them is better defined with the
word blueprint. By checking the development, the variety in workflows and the
techniques used for animators to achieve their results in the variety of forms we can gain
a better understanding of animation in general and find clues, tips and guidance towards
ideas on how to animate that have been developed through a longer time period than the
development of 3D Computer Animation.
Also insight in structure of production, shot layout, shot staging, character
personalities and character development can be gained and we‟ll see in this chapter how
individuals divide this up, but even more how animators fit into the bigger studios‟
structure. The differences in productions as described in this chapter lead up to an
extraction of the base of production environment gaining insight and info on productive
workflows and pipelines. From this I‟ll constantly try to compare this with 3D computer
animation. At the end of each paragraph I‟ll shortly conclude my findings which will form
the basis for the concepts designed and presented later in this thesis.
2. The difference in Animation fields
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