It was 1832 when a creative artist started drawing some lines and shapes in a second-hand book and after opening the book, a little cute ball was moving back and forth on pages! This is the story of animation. Some animators hate the future of the 3D animation industry due to rapid technological advancements and changing market dynamics. Key issues include the increasing use of AI and automation in animation processes, which some fear may reduce the need for traditional artistic skills and potentially lead to job displacement.
In the following paragraphs, we are going to introduce future trends in the 3D animation industry.
3D animation as it is
When a 3D artist adds depth to still images, she or he is creating 3D animation. The most distinctive feature of 3D animation is bringing things to life and giving them the ability to get a more realistic connection with kids and adults. Before discussing the future of the 3D animation industry, we need to know more about this type of animation.
We also need to go through some market statistics to make predictions about the future of the 3D animation industry. An analytical report indicates that the global 3D animation market industry size was about $14 billion in 2018 while the number will be expected to reach $33 billion by the end of 2026. while many industries were hit by the pandemic, the 3D animation industry survived the harsh times. further, the report suggests that the industry can overcome the economic recession after covid-19 recovery. Moreover, researchers identified the most promising areas for the application of 3D animation which are media, entertainment, and healthcare. the latter would need more 3D animations in the next few years to produce bio-medical devices and examine patients more quickly.
How about the future? well, the only constant thing is the change. It means that key players in the 3D animation industry avidly look for modern tools and methods to improve their work processes and the final output they deliver. We are going to explore what will 3D animation industry be like in near future? will the future be a sort of Disney happily ever after or an apocalypse?!
Future of 3D animation industry: trends
So far we read about the current situation of the 3D animation industry. Now, it is time to embrace the future and depict an amazing picture of this industry in the upcoming years. Below, we indicate the major trends including the ubiquity of 3D animations, using cloud services, applying machine learning, interacting with AI, combining 2D and 3D, branding with animation, and using VR.
The ubiquity of 3D animations
A Monsters, Inc. character will teach math, or Edna from the Incredibles tutors professional sewing classes for fashion designers! Welcome to the future of 3D animation where many industries use 3D animations or at least some sort of 3D modeling to reach their business goals. For example, physicists examine 3D medical images, architects exhibit their designs in 3D animations and marketers increase brand awareness through 3D animations.
Using cloud services
Experts predict that animators will migrate more and more to cloud solutions and infrastructure since traditional storage solutions will not be adequate and secure enough to host 3D animation data. Utilizing cloud solutions has some advantages including more integration for long-term projects as studios usually need more than a year to finish a feature film. Furthermore, it adds a security level to 3D animation projects and lets studios protect their works from possible online piracy. Studios also can access rendering software in a cloud environment that reduces their costs.
Applying machine learning
Machine learning makes it easy to find solutions for tough problems that humans cannot deal with on their own. This technology learns from humans’ actions or behaviors to provide more comprehensive solutions. Let’s assume that you are playing chess with a computer program coded with machine learning. You may win for a few rounds, but gradually as you play more, you will be checkmate more easily. That is the power of machine learning going to help animators to facilitate and streamline processes. Currently, there are some novel tools that deliver 3D animation using machine learning techniques such as Radical and Anything World. The latter allows users to create 3D works 40% faster and more cost-effective. It is also helpful for modelers when they want to make the process of rigging faster. Indeed, the future of the 3d animation industry is where animators let machine learning predict and even create a new frame based on previous frames.
Interacting with AI
Stephen Hawking said that the formation of powerful artificial intelligence will be “either the best or the worst thing, ever to happen to humanity.” Artificial intelligence has a crucial role in the future of the 3D animation industry. There are already online services that produce static and motion pictures for textual input and it is not surprising to see they are delivering 3D animations in near future. Ai reduces costs in processing and rendering as well as saving time for producing features which leads to more productivity and efficiency for studios.
Combining 2D and 3D
we all love 2D cartoons such as Popeye the Sailor Man. The 2D world is still funny and friendly. Studios in the future will continue 2D because they are usually cost-effective and they provide an opportunity to test a new idea before launching fully 3D animated movies. merging 2D and 3D is also predictable as it can create fancy animation, especially for educational purposes at schools.
Branding with Animation
Gen Xers are the biggest users of social media and spend a considerable amount of time on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and so on. Many brands hire animators or motion graphics experts to make enticing short videos for their brands with the aim of storytelling and brand awareness. Branding with 3D animation expands the brand capability to engage more users and build a bigger fan base. It also lets content managers create a more diverse content calendar and publish a set of 3D to 2D animations according to the marketing funnel stages of a brand.
VR role in the future of the 3D animation industry
Introducing Virtual Reality (VR) is another major change in the 3D animation industry. Technically, VR aids animators to strengthen their spacial comprehension, increase creativity and shape a new viewing experience for the audience. For example, an animator will do rigging and posing characters more elaborately with VR options. They also throw away the mouse and keyboard and use VR interfaces to create frames. Moreover, The studios make an immersive experience for the audiences by allowing them to interact with the characters.
Why is the future of 3D animation scary for some animators?
When reviewing those trends of the future 3D animation industry, we should consider protagonists and antagonists since they look at the future from different viewpoints. The optimists believe that the future of the 3D animation industry is brilliant when they can produce fully feature films with unprecedented freedom and huge cost-effectiveness. However, Antagonists agree with Miyazaki when he says “I strongly feel that this is an insult to life itself. I feel like we are nearing to the end of times. We humans are losing faith in ourselves.” They foresight a horrible reduction in jobs for animators when technologies like AI or VR dominate the 3D animation industry. This debate is going on and we should wait at least a decade to see the outcome.
In Conclusion
In this article on Pixune, we explained the current state of the 3D animation industry, we also provided some market data and then mentioned interesting trends in the future of 3D animation. Future animators, modelers and almost anyone involved in the industry will find new clients from medicine, education, marketing, and architecture. Studios invest more in new technologies such as cloud infrastructure, machine learning, AI, and VR to keep their place in the market. This is all that we expect to happen in the future for the 3D animation industry, but until then there is an ongoing discussion about whether animators should embrace transformations or fight to survive.
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