Animation has transformed from a mere visual medium into an irreplaceable, multi-functional tool that’s shaping how audiences interact with everything online – including brands – and right now, how they differentiate authentic and intentional content worth stopping by from copy that’s only attempting to waste their time. Digital environments are becoming increasingly saturated and internet users are growing increasingly selective, which makes the need to stand out more pressing than ever. Animators need to adapt and dive into the trends and innovations of the moment, rethinking how animation works and connects. That’s why we’re breaking down four of the red-hot trends that are leveling up automation this year, and you’re invited to come along on this journey.
AI, between fears and advantage
Artificial intelligence (AI) isn’t one of the strongest concerns in the animation industry alone – it’s a universal worry. But simultaneously, it’s transforming into one of the biggest reformers of the industry this year and beyond. AI tools are everywhere, revolutionizing workflows and making tedious tasks, like syncing up body movements, matching colors, syncing voices, and tweening. The technology is even revolutionizing facial animation – there’s software that can replicate human expressions on animated characters with shocking precision. It’s important to realize that creativity and originality can’t be replaced by AI – this breakthrough is mainly helpful in automating dull, tech processes, meaning that successful animators will still hone their imagination to make excellent content designed for modern audiences. A recent study from a UK-based digital product studio named Engine Creative reveals that a comforting 70.5% of video producers and animators don’t feel threatened by AI.
AI assists now with multiple tasks: simulations, previsualization, cleanup tasks, and even email generation. Studios pay close attention to how an email is structured, becoming increasingly selective as they’re inundated with dozens, or even hundreds, of messages daily. Many are now leveraging what’s known as the AI-powered email marketing platform in order to automate newsletters, promo campaigns, client updates, and integration with social media apps, ensuring messages are personalized and timely while offering animators more free time to focus on the creative aspects of their projects that are actually engaging masses.
AI is reducing production impediments, enabling freelancers and smaller studios to race in ways that weren’t possible before. We’re now seeing an industry that’s paving the path for more actors to contribute to an increasingly distributed imaginative landscape instead of concentrating the power in the hands of only a few influential titans.
Lifelike 3D animation
3D animation isn’t going anywhere – it remains the powerhouse it’s been for ages. What’s changing is:
- How models are transitioning from the tool of games and films to industries beyond entertainment, like fashion, architecture, education, and more
- Software that’s being upgraded and enhanced by ongoing tech developments
- How animations are being rendered and brought closer to reality, etc.
3D animation is becoming so lifelike that only the keenest eye can tell it apart from live action. We have highly intelligent rendering models that make textures, shadows, silhouettes, lights, etc. seem scarily real. Take “Avatar: The Way of Water”. It’s 3D rendering and superior techniques in motion capturing that make the aliens seem just real enough that they could walk off the screen. As mentioned, 3D animation is increasingly used in other non-entertainment areas. Here, we can take fashion as an example. Nike provides audiences with a 3D product configurator, allowing them to customize and rotate sneakers before buying. Luxury marketplace Farfetch offers virtual try-on models to help users visualize better how specific items would fit them. More and more brands are leveraging this technology to help the masses gain more insights into targeted purchases, to say the least.
Human-made flaws and contributions
Online platforms are being flooded by AI, with generated and automated content everywhere, blurring the lines between what’s real and what’s fabricated with uncanny exactness. Some creators choose to leave all the work on AI only to end up with content you can tell from a distance was created without any human input. It’s copy that’s stark, cold, lifeless, and gone with the next swipe of the screen. More than 8 in 10 respondents in a recent study evaluating people’s capacity to differentiate AI content from real content can tell fake from genuine, and this skill is only being refined as the incidents of such copies rise. That’s what makes utter reliance on AI the shortcut to failure. And also what pushes animators towards old-time techniques like frame-by-frame animation, film grain, hand-crafted sequences, 2D designs, and the rest of the oldies-but-goldies, helping create content that’s intentional, truly engaging, and capable of nurturing real emotions.
Motion for micro-moments
In today’s fast-scrolling digital world, when customers’ attention span is only decreasing, grabbing or losing attention becomes a matter of seconds. It’s believed that people’s capacity to focus has dropped by more than two-thirds over the past two decades. This tendency is making micro-moments a red-hot trend in animation this year, when short-term content is already dominant on most social media apps. Think about it as integrations on social media posts and websites that are small yet intentional, offering viewers the feeling that they’re interacting with a human instead of an automated robot. Micro-animations in UI and UX are often used to guide users, gather feedback, and improve navigation, for example.
Glossier illustrates clearly and nicely how micro-moments can help enhance one’s visual and emotional experience with a brand and make the company’s proposition easier to digest. It’s combining aesthetics with sensory language and mobile-ready interfaces to make passersby stop, pause, and engage, all of which help it turn brief attention into consideration, and potential purchase.
A final perspective.
Animation can be a competitive advantage when approached right, with the modern internet user in mind. So whether you’re an emerging creator or a studio, staying adaptable, curious, and open can only benefit your work down the road.
