The Box Trolls

A movie that I believe has utilized a lot of interesting animation technology recently was "The Box Trolls." In 2015, I believe it paved a way for animators to be more creative and utilize different types of animation throughout movies. One thing that it used was CG- generated stop motion that combined visual effects with the originality of stop motion animation as well. This caused them to create more complex scenes that were more intriguing to watch. In addition, they also used 3D printing to create their models for characters. This was innovative and something that is sure to be seen in future animation movies to come. I certainly enjoyed the animation and thought it was different and something cool to watch, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a a new animation to watch.

3D Printing and Animation

This post relates more to how amazing 3D printing is and how it relates to stop motion animation. There is nothing I love more than miniaturized anythings. Whether it be a doll house or claymating characters, I think the intricate art of piecing together detailed aspects of characters/ houses/ any setting, just highlights the artistic talent and dexterity. Doing all of that handmade is a feat on it's own, however now that we have 3D printing, I think it's a step towards efficient and ground breaking animation. Please check out this amazing video on how the artists for Paranorman were able to capture an unrealistic amount of expressions by 3D printing every characters face!

3D Printed Animation

This is an example of a type of animation I had never seen before. Not 3D animation... 3D printed animation. This animation, called "Bears On Stairs" by DBLG, was created by using a 3D printer to individually print about 50 frames of a bear walking up stairs. The 3D printed bears & stairs were all placed and photographed one-by-one, then stitched together to create the animation. The result is something that I think looks much more interesting and organic than anything that could be made using CGI.
Watch a short video about how it was made here: