Supplementary Stop-Motion Research IN PROGRESS

CGI Mimicing Stop-Motion

CGI has occasionally been used in the past to recreate a stop-motion effect, but it doesn’t count as stop motion as it is created digitally. With this same logic, a stop motion style video generated by an AI would still not count as authentic AI. The amount of human effort that goes into could be an effective way to protest Generative AI.

Examples of  CGI imitating a stop-motion effect include:

The Lego Movie (2014) - it's actually entirely CGI, as are most of the subsequent Lego movies



South of Midnight - stop motion is used in promo materials, and real models are scanned in, but the actual gameplay is CGI with the option to either play with the stop motion fps or the full 60 fps


Flushed Away (2006) - the only fully CGI Aardman film. While it isn't animated to imitate stop motion it does keep the iconic style


I know there are adverts and short films that mimic stop motion with CGI too, but am struggling to locate any at the moment. It's by no means a common technique to do entire projects like this, but studios like Laika have been integrating it in their films, such as for crowds and backgrounds. Anyway, my original point is that even though CGI can mimic stop-motion, it isn't authentic - and neither would any Generative AI imitation


Puppet Animation - Facial Animation

Some studios will do full head replacements (example: Jack Skellington from The Nightmare Before Christmas). But often just the faces will be replaced, in different expressions and mouth shapes for dialogue


Laika pioneered 3D printing for replacement faces, allowing for a wider range of microexpressions. The join seams are then usually painted out in post-production


Wendell and Wild (2023) was unique, in that the face plates were a featured part of the design


I had initially wanted to learn 3D character modelling to see if I could have a go at making my own 3D printed replacement faces. However I fear a whole detailed rigged humanoid face is still a bit too advanced for me, so I've decided to use a much simpler method






Armatures

Typically, puppets with have a metal armature inside functioning as a skeleton, and often use silicone for fabricating hands and skin. However due to my budget I’ve been using basic wire frames and sponge foam, most likely using a fabric coating instead. As much as I want to learn industry standard modelling techniques, I unfortunately don’t have the budget for that



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