Findings from Research Methodology

In consideration of the question “Will traditional 2D cel animation techniques remain in the world of 3D CGI” it is helpful to overview the process of traditional 2D cel animation techniques.
Taylor (1996, p52 ) describes the cel as “ a thin , transparent acetate, is an unresponsive substance on which to draw, but it is essential to drawn animation as a means of avoiding unnecessary labour”. ” to avoid the tedious labour of redrawing the entire scene for every movement drawing a single background could be used with all the movement drawings of a scene”. Appendix A
Animations begin with the initial line drawing of the character provided by the original animator and this provides the keyframe. The character(s) are then traced, from the original animators drawings, onto transparent acetate sheet(s) ,coloured and must be kept Laybourne (1998, p175) “in accurate alignment so that the projected image won't be jerky”. Appendix B
Taylor (1996, p53) describes the necessity to use a dope sheet to organise the layout of the frames as “without a dope sheet the cels, no matter how carefully numbered, would be a meaningless heap. On the dope sheet they are organised frame by frame in the correct relationship with each other to create the action as planned”. Appendix C
A camera mounted on a rostrum, outlined by Taylor (1996, p26) as “a film (or video) camera fixed on a stand which varies in complexity, giving movement to the camera and the table on which the drawings are laid”. The rostrum table also enables the background imagery to be moved, creating the illusion that the character is travelling across the screen. In reality, the character remains in the same position on the rostrum table. Appendix D
Computers are now used in many aspects of 2D animation and as outlined by Taylor(1996, p71) “these programs eliminate many of the production stages and assist greatly with others. Even where the original animation drawing is hand -done and scanned into the the computer's system , all manual tracing and colouring is eliminated”. Computer's have been used to combine 2D and CGI where Mitchell ( 2002 ) outlines that “as well as competing, CGI has also been used with cel animation in a co-operative manner”. He continues “films produced using this approach are sometimes called 2D/3D hybrids”. The table in appendix E details box office takings for traditional Disney 2D animated features since 1995 and clearly shows that at that time traditional 2D animation was in in decline.
However, the 2D/3D hybrid collaborative approach had won favour with audiences, who viewed that style of animation as being more realistic and believable especially with regard to animated human characters. However, as increased computing power and Mitchell ( 2002 ) “ software innovations have made it possible to generate and animate complex, photo-realistic scenes” 3D CGI has taken the lead. The table in appendix F details box office takings for Pixar 3D CGI animated features since 1995 and clearly shows that 3D CGI has set a precedent.
Instead of, in the case of 2D animation, actually having to draw a human character to make the animation realistic and believable, CGI enables human emotion to be displayed in any character. Indeed, Monsters Inc's success was Beck (2004, p334) “ largely a result of the level of realistic human emotion portrayed by the characters”. This was achieved by Pixar scientists developing a software tool called Fizt (physics tool) which allowed for Beck (2004, p334)

“realistic facial expressions and body language”. The Fizt software tool enabled the 'Sulley' character's 2,320,413 computer-animated hairs to be created and controlled, something which would not have been achievable using traditionally drawn 2D cel animation techniques.