The Future of Animation with Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence has taken the world by storm, leaving us in awe of its power and curious about the future of different digital industries.

One such industry heavily penetrated by AI is animation. While artificial intelligence has already found application in tasks such as rigging characters and generating motion graphics, the latest advancements have left people wondering if AI can replace animators' creativity and artistry altogether.

In this article, we will explore whether artificial intelligence will replace animators in the near future and how AI-powered tech will alter the animation landscape.

AI's Current Capacity in Graphics and Animation

Artificial intelligence already powers an array of tools that graphic design experts and enthusiasts alike can leverage in their creative endeavors. 

For instance, Canva and Adobe have both developed AI-powered graphic design tools that assist users in creating professional-looking designs – even without them having any prior design experience.

Moreover, there are online tools and software that create AI-generated logos and typography, as well as patterns, illustrations, or even entire music videos.

Last few months, design aficionados got swept away by Midjourney, a creative platform running on a pretty advanced AI technology that allows users to create high-quality images, characters, and worlds using short textual descriptions.

In game design, Norah AI has proven to be a ground-breaking animation tool that leverages deep learning to create game elements like 3D models, animations, and texturing. The tool even comes with an automated rig tool and human motion simulation, minimizing the necessity for human involvement in the animation process.

More recently, Epic Games announced and demonstrated the upgrade to their MetaHuman Animator. The upgrade will boost the capabilities of facial animation in Unreal Engine 5, but also make it possible to apply an animation across multiple character models. 

MetaHuman allows transplanting a person's acting onto a digital character within minutes, even if the character looks nothing like the human actor.

AI's Potentials in the Future of Animation

As with most industries where artificial intelligence is gaining a foothold, in animation too the main goal of AI integration is to simplify and automate laborious and repetitive procedures, speed up design and development time, and minimize production expenses. 

In the near future, AI is likely to automate and accelerate rigging by leveraging deep learning to learn about motion. A character's actions, gestures, and movement – from dance to battle – can be animated largely by drawing from other animated sequences.

Moreover, artificial intelligence will very likely find its application in creating new personalities. It is a frequently challenging task for animators, but AI can come up with fresh characters by studying samples fed into the algorithm. 

AI may also prove quite useful in reestablishing characters, or even powering the 3D design of animated personalities imagined by the works of real-life artists, such as Van Gogh or Dante.

Is AI Threatening Animators?

AI gives artists the freedom to move faster to the next step, or "fail fast" in developing new concept designs. Creating any form of design using artificial intelligence is not flawless by any means, but it's a smart alternative for generating tons of prototypes, quickly and cost-effectively.

Therefore, for the most part, animators shouldn't be worried about AI's advances. Whether we talk about product design, game development, or animated cartoons, artificial intelligence and tools powered by it aren't a threat to the jobs of those animators who learn to leverage it.

Animators should learn to work together with AI and benefit from its tech to improve work performance, allow themselves more time for creative tasks, and boost their skillset to prepare for future innovations.

At the end of the day, the question remains as to the originality AI platforms will be able to achieve. While some believe that AI will suppress uniqueness and innovations in art, others regard it as a force that will ignite a renaissance of creativity.

AI is – for now, at least – conformative by nature. But true art resists conformity. So, while artificial intelligence is bound to further grow, imagination and creativity won't suffer. In fact, artificial intelligence is perhaps more likely to ignite them.

Finally, animators will have greater control over their creations, and the standard of visual effects will increase by bounds and leaps. 

Over time, there will be a bigger need for those who will train these AI algorithms and add finishing touches to digital characters to make them more lifelike. 

Labor-intensive tasks will be performed by AI-powered tools, as animators deal with refining more fascinating things in their designs.