This week we finished the render and Yuting composite the 2D and 3D animation together. I really liked the final effect. Doing something stylized like this is the first reason that got me into this project. I really wanted to work with 2D animator and I really like stylized 3d art.
I noticed that stylized design in 3D animation is very widely used. In the beginning of animation history, stylized art is the kind only option because of the hardware capabilities. However, as audiovisual capacities have developed, caricaturism has provided an option to photorealism when an altogether different audiovisual appearance has been the goal. As the hardware for the 3D production developed, not only stylized design in animation didn’t go forgotten, it became timeless.
I researched and found that stylized graphics focus on presenting a person or an object by exaggerating its most prominent features. Blizzard Entertainment has been well known for using cartoon style since 2000. Blizzard’s former producer and lead programmer Patrick Wyatt explains the reason the style was originally chosen was because the game’s colourful and bright world helped Warcraft stand out from many similar games that used a more realistic and muted colour palette at the time. He also adds that many artists at Blizzard had worked on Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis games where the games required to use more bright colours due to the monitors at the time.
https://kotaku.com/the-inside-story-of-the-making-of-warcraft-part-1-5929157
Stylization makes a 3D work more memorable for the audience. Stylized art captures reality from an artist’s view by processing it with special texture and colour effects. Aside from the aesthetic adaptability, normally stylized graphics are less demanding on the technical side, allowing a game to run on more platforms and hardware. For the animating side, stylized art is faster to render as well. Though production of realistic scenes is moving forward with no intention to stop, which means the application of realism in 3D work will be easier and more affordable. Though it is intimidating how fast it is developing, stylized aesthetics will still be necessary as an alternative choice for visual style.
By combing 2D and 3D here, we really achieve the result we want. I want to explore more and deeper on this path for my personal growth in 3D.
THE FINAL RENDER RESULT: