The State of AI in Animation:
Reflecting on 2024, Looking Forward to 2025
As many do around this time of year, I thought it would be interesting to collect some notes on the past year and look a bit into the future. This time I'm focusing on AI tools in animation, so in 12 months I can either laugh at how wrong I was or congratulate myself on a lucky guess!
The past year has seen astonishing advances in AI tools for animation, making possible things that felt years away in December 2023. However, generative AI tools - despite all the hype and media attention they are getting - still aren’t ready yet for professional large-scale animation projects.
The chief issues still ailing Gen-AI tools in December 2024
• Copyright/Legal Concerns: No broadcaster will buy content that doesn't have a clear chain-of-title, which you can't get with most Gen-AI models.
• Consistency: Ensuring uniform quality and style across a larger production remains a major challenge.
• Creative Control: Current generative tools are still very much akin to a slot machine, and the outputs can't be modified easily on another software.
Because of these limitations, my focus has instead been on the wide array of Machine Learning and AI-enabled tools that do not suffer from any of the above issues, and still deliver tangible efficiencies when used correctly. These tools may not grab headlines like generative models do, but they’re quietly transforming workflows for those who know how to use them to their potential.
Highlights from 2024
This year has brought some incredible examples of what’s possible with AI tools, both in creative and technical terms. Here are three standout projects:
Schnitzel Dilemma - short film - This short film is a great example of a concise story, told well, and then executed with AI tools. It proves two points:
1. A well-formed story is the most important part of any piece of content.
2. There’s no reason why AI-created content should somehow get extra points for the tools used - if a comedic story doesn’t make you laugh, it doesn’t matter what tools were used to make it!
Spacevets - Holiday Special This is a kids’ TV series in development at Storybook Studios in Germany. It’s amazing how efficient they’ve made their workflows while still keeping consistency and creative control. Btw, this is not the trailer I shared before but an entire episode!
Where the Robots Grow- feature film From Pigeon Shrine and AImation, this is a full feature film, made by 9 people in just 90 days - that’s quite the feat! What stands out to me here is the clever planning, where the filmmakers have leaned into what comes easy to the tech and have avoided many pitfalls. It really is reminds me a lot of Toy Story: Pixar didn't go all out on the lavish hair simulations of Monsters Inc in their first film. Woody & co have smooth plastic surfaces and some of the characters (like the toy soldiers) even have very limited movement, the reason for which is in the story itself.
Looking Forward to 2025
While 2024 has been an exciting year, things will continue to evolve fast in 2025. Here are some key trends and developments I’m tracking closely:
1. Consensual Training Data - There are several AI models currently being trained on consensual datasets. This includes models based on public domain content, libraries licensed via specialized brokers, and even synthetic data (video training data generated in tools like Unreal Engine). This would address many of the copyright and ethical concerns that have held AI back in professional settings, and since the business opportunity is so huge, it is bound to happen.
2. Hybrid Pipelines - In 2025 more productions will combine traditional tools with AI-enabled, non-GenAI tools - in the right places. These hybrid pipelines will increasingly be adopted in “real” productions, i.e. not just for short trailers and clips designed to generate likes on LinkedIn.
3. AI-Focused Studios as Co-Pro Partners - Studios that embrace AI-first workflows are positioning themselves as serious options to become co-production partners. It is well possible that this will really catch on 12 from now, but it’s a really interesting space to watch.
Closing Thoughts
Like it or not, AI is changing animation production, and it’s happening fast. Whether you’re excited, skeptical, or somewhere in between, the only way to make an informed decision is to dive in. Small-scale tests and R&D sprints are a fantastic way to see what works (and what doesn’t) for your team and projects.
Not sure where to start? That’s where we can help: Our consultancy focuses on optimizing animation pipelines using AI tools that are reliable, efficient, and legally sound. If you have a project that could use an efficiency boost, or would be interested in an external R&D team - let's talk (just hit 'reply' on this email)!
Happy Holidays to you and yours, see you all next year! 🎄🎄🎄
- Nick
Nick Dorra
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