Generative AI for Cel-Animation: A Survey
Yunlong Tang, Junjia Guo, Pinxin Liu, Zhiyuan Wang, Hang Hua, Jia-Xing Zhong, Yunzhong Xiao, Chao Huang, Luchuan Song, Susan Liang, Yizhi Song, Liu He, Jing Bi, Mingqian Feng, Xinyang Li, Zeliang Zhang, Chenliang Xu
2025-01-13
Summary
This paper talks about how new AI technology is changing the way traditional cartoon animation (called Cel-Animation) is made, making it easier and faster for more people to create animations.
What's the problem?
Making traditional cartoons is really hard work. It takes a lot of time, skill, and effort to do things like drawing each frame, coloring them, and creating the story. This makes it difficult for many people to create animations and limits how much can be produced.
What's the solution?
The researchers looked at how new AI tools can help with animation. These AI tools can do things like automatically fill in frames between key drawings, add color to sketches, and even help create storyboards. They studied different AI tools like AniDoc, ToonCrafter, and AniSora that make it easier for more people to create animations without needing as much technical skill.
Why it matters?
This matters because it could change the animation industry in a big way. It means more people could create their own cartoons without needing years of training. Professional animators could work faster and focus more on being creative rather than doing repetitive tasks. However, there are still challenges to solve, like making sure the AI-generated parts match the style of the human-drawn parts and dealing with ethical issues. Overall, this research could lead to more diverse and creative animations in the future.
Abstract
Traditional Celluloid (Cel) Animation production pipeline encompasses multiple essential steps, including storyboarding, layout design, keyframe animation, inbetweening, and colorization, which demand substantial manual effort, technical expertise, and significant time investment. These challenges have historically impeded the efficiency and scalability of Cel-Animation production. The rise of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), encompassing large language models, multimodal models, and diffusion models, offers innovative solutions by automating tasks such as inbetween frame generation, colorization, and storyboard creation. This survey explores how GenAI integration is revolutionizing traditional animation workflows by lowering technical barriers, broadening accessibility for a wider range of creators through tools like AniDoc, ToonCrafter, and AniSora, and enabling artists to focus more on creative expression and artistic innovation. Despite its potential, issues such as maintaining visual consistency, ensuring stylistic coherence, and addressing ethical considerations continue to pose challenges. Furthermore, this paper discusses future directions and explores potential advancements in AI-assisted animation. For further exploration and resources, please visit our GitHub repository: https://github.com/yunlong10/Awesome-AI4Animation