by Japan is an anime powerhouse. Overlooking the city, there are posters and rap ads for products advertised by anime characters, and there are so many anime broadcasts in one course that you have to sacrifice sleep if you check everything. The Cabinet Office is promoting “animation” as one of the attractions of Japan that foreigners perceive as cool in the Cool Japan strategy. It is nationally endorsed.
But, I say whether all of the Japanese anime has been successful, not necessarily the case. Japanese anime that has received high praise from foreigners are all those released in the 1980s and 1990s, such as “AKIRA,” ” Ghost in the Shell, ” and ” Neon Genesis Evangelion,” and are actually popular with overseas anime fans. According to the story, old 2D animation was of unrivaled quality, but now Japanese animation is not as overwhelming as it used to be. So what is Japanese anime today? Hybrid energies that create robots, backgrounds, and props with CG and draw characters in 2D are still highly regarded, but full 3DCG animations tend to be criticized. This year too, ” Aya and the Witch ” and “Ryoma! Works such as “The Prince of Tennis for the New Theatrical Version” and “Ghost in the Shell SAC_2045” have been released/distributed in theaters, and the anime industry as a whole does not seem to stop expecting or pursuing CG works. So what are the recent efforts of Japanese 3DCG animation? While touching on the issues, I would like to think about Japan’s ideal whole 3DCG spirit.
Japanese full 3DCG animation and challenges Even if you say full 3DCG animation, models like the “STAND BY ME Doraemon” series are cartoon and real.Rendered ones, those that look like watercolors like “Ashura,” volume-rendered ones like “Saint Seiya,” 3DCG cels like “Arpeggio of Blue Steel -Ars Nova- DC” The appearance and the way of making are different, such as a cell look with a contour line that makes it look like an animation of a picture. However, the lack of facial expression is often said in common with any taste. If you are accustomed to watching Japanese 2D animation and overseas 3DCG animation, you can’t help but look flat. As with the movement of the mouth, the appearance of the face feels strange when the character is viewed from a position other than the front. I feel. Body movements had improved compared to when CG animation began to be used in the field, but why do facial expressions tend to be left behind?
Schedule and budget issues It is well known that Japanese animation production sites have been plagued by budgets and schedules both now and in the past. The workflow is much better than it was a long time ago, but if you don’t have the budget, you can’t have enough people, and if you don’t have a generous schedule, you can develop slowly. It will be a rush work without it. It’s not a facial-specific thing. It has a significant impact on the overall quality, but if you’re focusing on facials, here’s the problem in the field. When making an animation, in addition to the character’s design, a facial expression collection that depicts what kind of facial expression the character makes is prepared. In 2D, it is possible to distinguish even the most deformed facial expressions. Still, in full 3DCG animation, the polygons of face modeling are divided in advance, assuming changes in facial expressions and the mouth, eyes, eyebrows, etc. You should have as much stock of morph target variations as possible to transform each element, such as the nose. This process becomes essential to enrich your facial expressions, but if the work time and the number of people who can work are short, the work will inevitably be simplified. Since the production site in Japan is constantly fighting against the schedule, vowels, largemouths, smallmouths, facial expressions are prepared with emotions and α for lip-synching, and the rest is specially made for what is needed for cutting. Measures have been taken, and it isn’t easy to reuse one built-in model in all directions.
Differences in approach to 3DCG works seen in Japanese and overseas studios It was more than ten years ago, but the author has worked on 3DCG production in Japanese and overseas studios. At that time, I noticed that Japanese studios still have strong 2D power and 3DC. Even when making G movies and anime, the budget and schedule would be the same as 2D anime. Also, due to the nature of using computers and software, it was misunderstood that it would be easy to make, and on the contrary, it was thought that the range of expressive power was narrower than that of 2D, although it took time and money.
This is not because it was more than ten years ago. The short animation “Boro the Caterpillar,” released in 2018, was planned to be the first 3D animation work directed by Hayao Miyazaki at the beginning of production. Still, I was not satisfied with the expression, and finally, the 3DCG part was drastically removed. , Hand-painted is added. So what kind of approach is being taken at overseas 3DCG studios? In the case of a major studio, it is a project contract for each work. In other words, a budget and schedule are set for the job, and staff is invited from worldwide for the position. If the project is a complete 3DCG work, there is no deviation, and the experts gather.
Then, take a sufficient period of pre-production, which is the most important for 3DCG works, and decide on the settings as much as possible so that the process of going back and forth in a complicated workflow does not occur. In Japanese production, the production period to make this script, setting, storyboard, animatic, etc., is short. Even if the output that is the modeling, layout, animation process starts, the setting changes, which loads the artist. The current situation is that there are many cases where it has been closed. At the beginning of the production, the mation “Boro the Caterpillar” was planned to be the first 3D animation work directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Still, I was not satisfied with the expression, and in the end, the 3DCG part was drastically removed and hand-painted. So what kind of approach is being taken at overseas 3DCG studios? In the case of a major studio, it is a project contract for each work.
In other words, a budget and schedule are set for the job, and staff is invited from worldwide for the position. If the project is a complete 3DCG work, there is no deviation, and the experts gather. Then, take a sufficient period of pre-production, which is the most important for 3DCG jobs, and decide on the settings as much as possible so that the process of going back and forth in a complicated workflow does not occur. In Japanese production, the production period to make this script, setting, storyboard, animatic, etc., is short. Even if the output that is the modeling, layout, animation process starts, the setting changes, which loads the artist. The current situation is that there are many cases where it has been closed. At the beginning of the production, the mation “Boro the Caterpillar” was planned to be the first 3D animation work directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Still, I was not satisfied with the expression, and in the end, the 3DCG part was drastically removed and hand-painted. .. So what kind of approach is being taken at overseas 3DCG studios? In the case of a major studio, it is a project contract for each work. In other words, a budget and schedule are set for the job, and staff is invited from worldwide for the position. If the project is a complete 3DCG work, there is no deviation, and the experts gather. Then, take a sufficient period of pre-production, which is the most important for 3DCG jobs, and decide on the settings as much as possible so that the process of going back and forth in a complicated workflow does not occur. In Japanese production, the production period to make this script, setting, storyboard, animatic, etc., is short. Even if the output that is the modeling, layout, animation process starts, the setting changes, which loads the artist. The current situation is that there are many cases where it has been closed.
Future Japanese 3DCG works are unlikely to undergo drastic changes as Disney turned from 2D to 3DCG animation. Unless you can let an artist change from a pencil to a pen tab from the top down, the bigger you are, the more “request-based” the transition will be. In writing this article, I spoke to director Yasufumi Soejima, who said, “I think Japan will be able to create 3DCG works that are comparable to overseas studios in about 15 years.” Because change is happening steadily, nowadays, the number of young people who have mastered 3D open-source software called “blender” has increased since they were students. In addition, it is said that drawing animators use “blenders” to layout and pose at video production sites. As the number of people familiar with 3DCG software increases, the affinity between CG and drawing may increase. “I think the seeds have been sown and are steadily starting to grow,” Soejima said, even if there hasn’t been any change in the last few years.
On top of that, Mr. Soejima hopes that if the number of directors from 3DCG fields increases, more interesting 3DCG works will be created. Nowadays, there are many cases where the director who initially took cel animation and live-action film learns CG and shoots 3DCG assignments. Still, if a person who specializes in CG supervises 3DCG, there will be different changes. It may be born.
When Japanese 3DCG movies enjoy development, I feel that the Japanese entire 3DCG film has not yet technically caught up with overseas ones. But that’s not bad. In the 2000s, the technological progress of 3DCG works overseas was remarkable, especially the full CG animation “Happy” that made the penguins released in 2006 dance tap dance. From “Foot” to “Toy Story 4”, every time a new work was released, I was thrilled by expanding the range of expression. However, the technology of overseas animation seems to have already matured, and even if new technology is developed, it is difficult for even an amateur to notice. Neither the dynamic camera work nor the expression of water and snow is novel, and the story has come to be emphasized.
On the other hand, Japanese 3DCG animation has a lot of room for growth, and you can enjoy the development of technology. Moreover, in the case of Japan, instead of following that of overseas, it is full of discoveries and surprises as it tries to track its route while taking into account the 2D technology that has been loved for a long time. Sure, it’s often criticized now, but it’s likely going to be ultimately a thing of the past in 15 years.
