Traditional Cartoon Style 3D Computer Animation

Nabil Nasr and Nick Higgett

De Montfort University, Faculty of Art and Design, Digital Media Centre

Abstract
This paper discusses an MA project concerned with the development of new techniques to allow the creation of new
graphical styles for 3D animation.

Introduction 1st Stage using Lightwave 3D

Computer animation has always looked - All objects are given a bright colour…e.g.
too glossy and shiny, which is why Saturation value using the HSV slider has to be
traditional cartoon specialists, such as Matt between70%-100%
Groening have often avoided using the 3D - All objects have a high specular value with a
computer graphic medium as a solution [1] sharp fall of e.g. A lights
Traditional animation's flexibility in terms of
choice of appearance and style is appealing but in
certain aspects it is very time consuming. There is
therefore a need to develop techniques that exploit
the speed of computer animation but provide the
variety of styles of traditional animation.
Traditional Animation Styles
There are thousands of different styles of
2D hand drawn animations and the strength of this
technique is that objects can be freely modified
with ease and there is no limit to how the Fig 1
animation is rendered. The beauty and humanity of highlight on an object is always strong. No smooth
drawn 2D animation is the main reason why so light shines can be seen any where in the
few cartoons created today are computer animated. animation.
The technology severely limits the possible - All objects except for highly complex ones (the
stylisation of the 'animation'. As the head of the plant) have a black outline around them.
Simpson's Creative team state "Digital is too slick - The size of the outline varies according to the
and too bright – that is, too digital" [2] distance from the camera and the importance of
New Style Development the objects role within a particular scene. e.g. the
The goal of this research is therefore to X key will have a more dominant outline than the
attempt to simulate hand drawn cartoon animation monitor object.
styling while incorporating traditional exaggerated - All objects are assigned a "cell shader" plug-in
cartoon movement. Low cost applications that further flattens the
including Lightwave 3D along with Adobe After- colours on an object.
effects as well as Adobe Premiere and Adobe - Strong contrasting shadows will be used. (Not
Photoshop were chosen to develop the final style smooth realistic ones)
for a cartoon short featuring the adventure of an - All objects are smoothed by using the "phong"
"E" key on a compute keyboard. The development shading technique.
of special shading techniques was identified as the
key to the design solution. A unique shading 2nd stage using Photoshop
method involving the use of up to 4 layers was - All the rendered frames then undergo a
established to give the animation its special look. brightness and illumination boost
See Fig. 1. This process is described and in Photoshop.
illustrated below: - All frames undergo a splatter filter which
"bubbles" everything…making
straight lines more squiggly, and hand drawn like.
3rd stage using After effects

Proceedings of the 20th Eurographics UK Conference (EGUK’02)

0-7695-1518-5/02 $17.00 © 2002 IEEE
 -
- A bulge camera effect is added to make the
whole visible frame bulge out a bit from the
centre. This will round some lines within the
frame.
- All night time shots within the animation were
rendered with bright lights and after the render
was achieved the whole scene was darkened
manually in Photoshop. This was essential as the
Cell shader output looked very dull when rendered
in Lightwave with a few lights Fig. 2
See Fig. 2 and developed consists of up to 4 layers, Future work
http://www.pocketmovies.net/detail_187.html will include the application of a fifth layer where
for final results. the outlines around the objects would be drawn
Evaluation, Conclusions and Recommendations manually frame by frame. This should give the
The final sequence was shown to both animation whole animation a "bubble" effect and hopefully
experts and a typical audience. Feedback indicated further develop the technique and help achieve the
that the animation did not resemble any existing goal of a traditional hand drawn visual style 3D
3D animation and in essence a new style of animation.
animation had been created. However several References
people, still felt the smooth camera movements 1. Kaufman, D (1995), and Stepping into a new
used implied the use of the digital media. Had the generation: US Animation Digital Ink & Paint,
animation been created at 12 frames per second Animation Magazine, Vol 8 I 4, p58 (3)
(instead of 25) and if static camera shots had been 2. Lasseter, J, (1994) Viewpoint, Animation magazine,
used, then possibly the animation would have Vol 7, I 14, p44
looked less digital. The style that has been

Proceedings of the 20th Eurographics UK Conference (EGUK’02)

0-7695-1518-5/02 $17.00 © 2002 IEEE