PixiVision visited Sanzigen, a studio that uses 3DCG animation, preserving a hand-drawn feel, to talk about some of the 3D techniques that can used for anime.

How does one mix traditional Japanese anime (cel animation) and 3DCG animation? Traditional 2D anime are generated by combining several frames by moving them to create a sequence, but animators are starting to use CG elements when working on faces and bodies of their characters. The thing is that these character still preserve traditional look. PixiVision visited Sanzigen, a studio that uses 3DCG animation, preserving a hand-drawn feel, to talk about some of the 3D techniques that can used for anime.  

Storyboard: the animation blueprint.

Camera Test: a process used to determine the characters acting, the relation between the position of various elements, the direction of the camera and so on.

Animation Fix: the process according to which the flow of the animation is decided.

Finishing: the process of adding shades to the polygon model in order to make it look 2D.

After building a model, we perform a task called rigging, and we establish where the girl’s joints are, how the clothes are moving etc. Once this is finished, we pass it to the animator, and the animator moves the character just like in MMD. 

Mr. Uetaka, 3DCG animator, supervisor and consultant at Sanzigen