hollywood draws line between 2d, 3d - digital drawing tablet

What brings artist Kevin Koch into the animation world is a pencil.
What left him in the industry was a digital tablet.
Like dozens of animators working for the film studio DreamWorks SKG, Koch spent nearly a decade honing his pencils --on-
Paper art tips: turn curved lines into tight back, blurry colors bring subtle blush to a woman's cheek, turning graphic painting into a living, breathing creature.
Then, this year, Koch's manager at DreamWorks sat down and told him the news: The studio was facing a stable box --
Old Office declinefashioned two-
3D animation film is making a big push into the new field of digital animation.
Put down the pencil and let's re-train you to use the software palette, his boss said.
Or you have to go.
As chairman of the union local chapter representing animators, Koch knows that this is the choice that thousands of other artists in California have to make.
As the work of 2D animators moves overseas, they face wave after wave of layoffs with only one answer.
"You re-train with 3D," said Koch . ".
"If you keep your eyes on the horizon, it's clear that this will come. "Computer-
The production of animated films, or CG, is the pride of Hollywood today.
George Lucas recently announced the production of a computer for film animation-
Animation function.
Sony Animation is currently developing six CG films.
Four DreamWorks are in the pipeline, including a sequel to 2001 Shrek and a mob-
Comedy with the theme of "shark layer.
Of the 15 animators engaged in Shrek 2, except for two, everyone else has tradition, non-
Digital animation.
Of the 40 artists working on the "shark layer", almost all of them retrained from 2D.
Even Walt Disney.
, The studio that led us forward-
For nearly a century, the animation is embracing the computer.
While some 2D features-
The film project is underway, and artists at the Disney animation headquarters in Burbank are nervously talking about putting tables into storage space, replaced by Linux machines.
Staff noted that this spring, David Stanton, president of the animation department, declared at an employee meeting that the future would be digital and that more than 500 animators would have to be retrained, to work on a computer.
The changing landscape inside the Hollywood animation studio has resulted in artists who grew up in the tradition of "Pinocchio" and "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" with those from Toy Story.
Digital artists understand technology.
Animation is usually about creating 3D reality for them-
Make the characters on the screen look lifelike.
2D artists, on the other hand, tend to focus on acting.
For them, animation is about creating performances. -
Turn the character into a trusted actor.
For artists like Koch, the shift from 2D to 3D means facing criticism from both camps.
The traditionalists insist that their brothers have betrayed their roots, while the digital crowd is unhappy with a new group of artists competing for a limited number of jobs.
"It's like the tectonic plates rub against each other," said Charles zembilas, founder and animation artist of the Burbank Animation Academy . ".
"It's an exciting moment and a stressful one.
It would be an understatement to say that there is a lot of tension.
"Not long ago, film companies began to be passionate about traditional painting films.
In the 1980 s, Steven pilberg entered the animation space with a very successful film, American Tail.
Sold a seat for an animated film at that time.
This prompted Disney to push back its production plans.
It employs thousands of animators and story artists.
By the beginning of 1990, Disney released
Drawing function almost every year-
Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin--
Made hundreds of millions of dollars in domestic boxes. office sales.
The Lion King has made $0. 328 billion.
Other studios have built their own 2D animation facilities.
Creative results are strong, but financial figures are not notable at $24.
The fornditch: The Last Rainforest of 20 th century Fox brought about $6 million.
1 million from Freddie as F. R. O. 7.
From independent British studios.
As the studio began to evacuate, the artists first felt the pain.
In 2000, Fox shuttered, a 2D animation factory in Phoenix, laid off nearly 400 jobs.
Disney's troubled animation department has undergone three management changes in four years, and has cut about 75% of the more than 2,000 artists in the peak period.
"Artists are watching the current studio buzz about the 3D project and wondering if history will repeat itself," said Brian Reynolds, who is in charge of animation production.
Com, an "online water dispenser" for artists and other workers in the animation industry ".
"Will there be as much demand for these films in five years?
Will the work still be here?
Or will the studio be closed again?
"This concern has increased the pressure on jobs to move overseas for more than 30 years.
For example, the Philippines has long attracted American jobs. S.
Studio eager for English
Speech artists willing to work for far less than their American counterparts.
Now that the Philippines is losing jobs, South Korea has helped produce the TV series the Simpsons and Indian animation companies with nearly $100 million in sales last year.
Executives at the studio say most 3D works are too technical to ship overseas.
But these guarantees do not calm the fear of artists.
"If they have previously shipped jobs overseas, the studio can do so again in the future," Zembillas said . ".
"There's just no guarantee.
This is one of the reasons why people are trained in 3D.
This is to protect their future.
"Whether painting with a pencil or a pencil, breathing life for an animated character is not a simple task.
Each camp has medium size
Specific skills and talents that others may lack.
So when 2D artists learn to use 3D tools, some 3D animators are re-familiarizing themselves with paper and chalk.
Sony Pictures, a visual effects giant in Culver City, encourages employees to take life painting courses.
During lunch time on the most recent working day, animators, software designers, technical directors and digital typesetting teachers slipped into a small room on the first floor from their office.
The students, dressed in jeans and crumpled shirts, crossed wooden benches and began to paint nude female models on a small square stage.
Slowly, their casual pencil strokes turned into shapes. A woman's face.
The bend of her wrist.
The sharp, crisp edge of the magazine thrown at her feet.
Coach Karl Guass told them: "It's not the details that matter . ".
"This is sports.
This is the activity.
"Upstairs, Jiang Bowman hosted a course on composition software.
Green lines of code scroll on the tablet-
Arrange the panel monitor on the table.
Students enter a file name from the movie Spider-Man.
"Bowman guides students, including software programmers and traditional animators, to complete the steps needed to manipulate the color of the face and the nearby brick house of the illuminated actor Toby Maguire. Such cross-
The exchange between 2D and 3D experts inspired a storytelling course to create a hilarious future --of-
The age story of a tadpole called "early bloat.
"We have people from a completely different background doing this," said lecturer Kevin Johnson, the main storyboard artist for Sony's film animation.
"Everyone has learned a lot.
"Sony played the short film as a preview in the recent Eddie Murphy movie Daddy Daycare.
"This story is at the heart of Pixar Animation Studio, with so many lessons ---
From Maya software to oil painting to improvisation-
CG animation giant has set up its own internal "university" in emmerville, California", headquarters.
"Everything we do stems from the story itself," says Dylan Brown, a 3D artist who oversees animators in Pixar's Finding Nemo.
"If you have a compelling story, it doesn't matter what the media is.
"In addition to providing training, studios such as DreamWorks are also customizing their software tools to get more graphical interfaces ---
For 2D animators, this may be more comfortable than a system that requires typing
In the program command.
A whiteboard at the back of DreamWorks animator Ken Duncan's desk takes this home.
There was a sad and grumpy little face painted inside.
Above is a cartoon thought bubble full of chaotic mathematical gibberish.
"I just don't want the software on the computer to get in the way of creativity and art," said Duncan, sequence director at the shark layer.
DreamWorks's software team has built a program that allows animators to break down and track each sequence of movies using the exposure table-
Just like it was made in 2D.
Each frame of the movie is marked along the timeline.
In addition to that, there is the time that each pose and each action that the character will do will take.
Paired with the geometric coordinates of the muscles and skeletal systems of each character.
For example, if an animator wants to make a change to one of the Sharks, they can go to the menu and the buttons of the menu are arranged in the shape of the shark's body.
Want to adjust the spine?
Click the button running in the middle of the menu.
Want to laugh?
Click the button near the top of the menu "head" and move its mouth.
Although these tools are more and more used by users.
Friendly, they haven't completely eased the fear of the artist's transition to 3D.
"The biggest obstacle for me is not technology.
This is psychological, "said Presse romanlo, a DreamWorks animator who is working on his first 3D project, Shrek 2.
"What I'm worried about is whether I can do the same quality work ---
Convey the same emotion--
In 3D, I can do this in 2D.
"His answer is on his computer.
With just a mouse click, Romanillos will show a short film in Shrek 2.
"The hero of the Green eater glared at the castle window with melancholy, wondering if he saved Princess Fiona and did the right thing.
Or did he steal her from the real Prince Charming?
"Look at the mood on his face!
"Said Roman Nello.
"It's so expressive.
Look at the lights.
What you can do on your computer is amazing.