Featured Animator: Latent Space - Developing a Workflow For 2D AI Animation With a Specific Art Style and Character Design

Characters From an Animated Short by Latent Space.

Characters From an Animated Short, featured in a
two part behind the scenes video by Latent Space.

Recently, I've been exploring how to create a 2D animation workflow that allows me to animate with my own art and characters, while incorporating generative AI into the process to do the 'heavy lifting' (basically all the traditionally time consuming stuff like the animation itself).

If you've seen my previous post, Reallusion's Cartoon Animator Versus PixVerse Image to Video and Lip Sync AI - Battle of the Talking Head Avatars, you may have noticed I used green screen (a.k.a. Chroma keying) with my AI output.

This was something I did because, if you want to animate a particularly long scene, especially with lip sync, you need to string a number of generations together. This is easier to do with characters if they don't have any background in the generation - which may not stay as consistent as the character across generations.

To cut a long story short, YouTube, today, randomly served up a video, Digital Diary : Reviving Animation with AI, Transforming 3D into 2D Cartoon Art, to me by animation channel Latent Space, who is primarily a 3D animator and digital artist but recently started experimenting with 2D AI animation.

That particular video was more about using AI to turn 3D characters into a specific 2D art style and is well worth watching for context but it was Part 2, embeded below, that really caught my attention.

Not only will you see a really professionally created cartoon, right at the start, you'll also see the AI incorporated workflow that I was leaning towards, but Latent Space has actually put into practice, as a proof of concept. Watch the video then read my notes below.

Digital Diary. Part 2: Reviving Animation with AI, Transforming 3D into 2D Cartoon Art.

Notable Highlights

The animated short at the start doesn't stand out as AI animated. If you have a really discerning eye there are some small giveaways but otherwise it could pass for a completely human animated short.
As noted in the video, animating all the characters separately allows for more control and flexibility when animating the scene as a whole. It's easy to swap out one character's performance without losing a great performance from your other characters. It also gives you a library of reusable performances of each character for future projects.
Having all the separate components is also beneficial for adding further effects in software like After Effects or your Video Editor.
The lip sync is done by trying to time the audio with the mouth movements of the clips rather than using actual lip syncing. The technique works fairly well as a interim technique until AI finally learns to lip sync simplistic 2D characters more accurately. Currently AI often won't even recognise a stylised human character and will refuse to even try lip sync it.

If you're looking for a 2D animation workflow that still gives you a lot of control Latent Space's two videos are a very good starting point and may well be the future of 2D animation where the vision, art style, and character design needs to be very specific.

o---o--- ---o--- o---

Did you find this article useful?
Subscribe to my newsletter and get the
latest articles delivered to your inbox.

Comments

Eight 2D Animation Apps For Your Phone or Tablet Mobile Device

M obile productivity apps have become so capable that they can be great alternatives to their PC/MAC equivalents or serve as great tools in their own right when you're away from your desk. While some apps simply mimic their desktop counterparts, others offer well thought out, touch-friendly interfaces that are easier and more fun to use. Every so often I check out what's available for 2D animation for Android devices, since that's what I use, that can complement my workflow with Reallusion's Cartoon Animator 5. Some may be available for Apple devices as well. Below I've listed six free (F) apps (with optional paid (P) upgrades) on the Google Play Store that you might want to explore. Some are just fun apps on their own while others may be useful as part of your workflow on bigger animation projects. Not all are exclusively animation apps and could be used on any production. JotterPad (F/P) The name JotterPad makes this sound like a notepad application but it's ...

Inochi2D - Free Open Source 2D VTuber Avatar Rigging and Puppeteering Software (Part 1)

Inochi2D Creator - Free Open Source VTuber Software. If you've been looking for a way to live perform as a 2D cartoon avatar on camera, whether it be for a live stream or for pre-recorded content like educational videos, then VTuber software is a low cost (or even no cost) option worth looking into. In my previous post, How to Become a VTuber - 2D and 3D Software for Creating and Controlling Your Avatar , I took a brief look at the relatively new but completely free and open source Inochi2D which I thought showed great potential for my own needs of creating a live performance character rig for my own TET Avatar that I use for all my promotional materials. While it is possible to live perform my character using Cartoon Animator itself, Reallusion's MotionLive2D capture system isn't great - with lip sync in particular. More importantly though, I can't exactly teach people how to use Cartoon Animator if I'm using Cartoon Animator to control my Avatar. What is Inochi2D...

The Ultimate Independent Animator's App and Resource List - Animation and Video Life

Image created with Cartoon Animator 4. Being an independent animator is not like a studio animation job. There's so much more to do that is indirectly related to the actual task of animating. Over the years I've sought out many apps, tools, and services that can help me achieve that one single task, expressing myself through animation. Below is my Ultimate Independent Animator's Resource List for 2024 (last updated Oct 2024). It started out as a list of free or low cost apps that could help you in every stage of producing either 2D or 3D animation, and then just kind of grew from there. You may not have been looking for a Time Management App as much as you needed something to get you started in 3D animation but when those commissioned projects start coming in you'll have a head start on maximizing your time. All the apps and services on this list had to meet two main criteria: They had to be useful and relevant to an Indy Animator/artist. The base app/se...

Can a Solo Animator Make an Animated Feature Film or TV Series?

Series Creation Tip: If this is your first attempt at a series start small with two to four main characters and two or three sets that you can reuse each episode. My new series in development, Resident Dragon has four characters and is set in a suburban home. Recently I was asked if a solo animator could make a feature film? The short answer is 'YES'. Logically, with enough time, you can achieve anything. The very next question I was asked is how long do I think it would take and could it be done within a year? My initial answer was, it depends on the skill of the creator, noting that a Disney feature film takes a minimum of (I'm only guesstimating here) three to five years, based on when a movie is announced to when it actually gets released, with thousands of people working on it. Which implies that a single person trying to do the same thing may take the best part of a lifetime to make just one animated feature film. However is this really the case? Let's be clear, ...

Create 2D Animated Characters with 3D Character Creator Tools and Artistic Filters

3D CC3 TET Character, based on my Oppa Doll Avatar, used as the base for a 2D CA4 character. One of my favorite things to do is to create characters with any type of Avatar/Character creator app. In fact the first test I usually try with these tools is, can I make an avatar of me (or at least my The Extraordinary Tourist persona). Previously I've used 2D character creators like Oppa Doll as a source of artwork for some characters I've made for Reallusion's Cartoon Animator 4 animation studio but 2D character creators are limited to... well 2D. 3D Character Creators While you may think 3D character creators have no place in creating characters for 2D animation there are quite a number of advantages including: No drawing skills required. Render characters in any style. Use an art filter or even hand trace into line art. Need to animate the character in a specific pose or angle? Render out an image of the character in the required angle and animate it in 2D. Quicker to crea...

Jarrad Wright, The Big Lez Show - Who Would've thought Animating with MS Paint Could Take You So Far?

A friend of mine recommended I should check out The Big Lez Show after I mentioned to him I make animations for living. He said the show's creator, Australian animator, Jarrad Wright , just makes episodes from his home using MS Paint. Somewhat shamefully I hadn't heard of The Big Lez Show, but the fact that it was being made with MS Paint absolutely hooked me into checking out. If you've never heard or seen the show then you, like I was, are probably thinking how good could it be? MS Paint has kind of a cult following of hardcore animators but no one would use it as their primary animation tool on a series, right? WARNING - before going any further, you need to know The Big Lez Show and its humor contains some pretty strong language. By strong I mean it's peppered very liberally with the 'F' and 'C' words and is very every day Aussie, blue collar speak. Unapologetically, all of that, is part of why it's so good. There's a good chance you've...

Wonder Unit Storyboarder - Free Storyboarding Software for People Who Can (or Can't) Draw

Wonder Unit Storyboarder. As an independent and solo animator I'm always tempted to try and skip storyboarding my animated shorts because they're usually only single scene sketch comedy type jokes. As a result I have many unfinished projects that kind of petered out due to having no clear finishing line. Storyboarding your productions, no matter how small, gives you a step by step guide of every shot that needs to be completed (no planning shots as you animate). It also allows you to create an animatic that gives you a rough preview of the finished production. In short, you shouldn't skip storyboards as they, generally, increase the chance of the project being completed. Disclaimer - I'm Not a Fan of Storyboarder Upfront, Wonder Unit's Storyboarder is not my preferred storyboarding software. However it's completely free, has a number of very compelling featu...

Animation and Video Life

Search This Blog