My Animation Era

As the saying goes, slow work produces careful work.

In the field of animation production, this is not necessarily true, but it also makes sense, because the construction period is an important factor in determining the quality of the work.

The construction period of "Guardians of Yangcun" is quite generous, and this alone is enough to ensure that the completion quality of the animation will not be any worse.

But then again...

Although Gu Miao's tolerance for the construction period is higher than that of ordinary works, the long construction period does not mean that everyone can take advantage of it.

Wanbao Group has previously reached a cooperation with Mr. Tan’s company. The two parties have had in-depth exchanges in the field of AI drawing and painting, and many projects have benefited from this.

Among them is the Yangcun Guardian.

There are quite a few intermediate frames that are actually drawn with AI assistance, and AI is also involved in the coloring part.

Initially, this technology was introduced to save labor costs and construction time. After all, painting intermediate frames and coloring are indeed a waste of manpower, and they are all highly repetitive processes that require a large number of outsourced personnel.

But later Gu Miao discovered that someone seemed to be using AI to be lazy. It was clear that AI was only playing a "auxiliary" role, but it suddenly became the main C.

Don't ask him how he found out...

At this stage, AI has not evolved to a perfect level, and its participation in animation production is more of a auxiliary role. If you expect AI to do all the work for you, you are definitely overthinking it.

Since Gu Miao discovered that there was a problem with some of the intermediate frames, and it turned out that they were drawn by AI, he immediately called a meeting with all members and criticized some people.

"Do you think this saves trouble? Do you think you are very smart?"

Gu Miao sneered and said: "You are right, it is really easy to do this. So I think firing some people will have no impact on our future work."

Good guy!

As soon as these words came out, many people suddenly had cold sweat on their foreheads, and their attitudes immediately changed.

This is an unemployment crisis!

Mr. Gu has made it so clear. If you think AI can replace your job, then get out of here. Wanbao does not support idle people.

Do you like using AI?

Don’t feel aggrieved when your job is taken away by AI and you are kicked out of the company with a cardboard box.

AI is not omnipotent...

But in some specific fields, or in work environments with particularly restrictive conditions, AI is easier to use than humans.

This is what Mr. Tan said himself when Gu Miao was chatting with Mr. Tan.

The current AI technology will not impact the animation production field and will not cause an unemployment crisis, but the future is hard to say.

"Maybe ten years from now, Wanbao will really be able to lay off employees."

When Gu Miao told Mr. Tan what happened to the production team of "Guardian of Yangcun", Mr. Tan couldn't help laughing and said: "The AI ​​technology in ten years' time may really be able to draw the middle where you can't see the flaws." frame."

"Ten years? I don't think it will be used."

"Maybe five or six years at most. I think with the current development speed of AI technology, maybe in five or six years, the middle frame guys in animation production will be unemployed."

Why is the younger brother in the middle frame the younger brother?

Because the people who draw in-between frames are doing extremely repetitive and dirty work, they have the lowest status in an animation production team.

Gu Miao is not surprised at all that this kind of work will be replaced by AI in the future, and she will even applaud.

Actually, regarding the problem of animation intermediate frames, there is now another way to solve the problem, which is to use "software algorithms" to draw.

However, the intermediate frames "calculated" by the software algorithm have relatively harsh usage conditions and require subsequent modification and adjustment. The technology development potential is far less broad than that of AI.

…

The laziness incident that occurred in the production team of "Yangcun Guardian" is actually a microcosm of Wanbao's internal affairs.

Wanbao has become bloated!

In the past few years, Wanbao Animation has continued to expand, and the number of employees has continued to grow every year. As of now, the total number of employees of Wanbao Animation has reached 2,253.

This still does not include the number of people in the Neon Division and the North American Division. If all were included, there should be 2,800 people.

As the saying goes, there are all kinds of birds in the forest, and with such a large number of employees, it is inevitable that there will be overstaffing and cheating.

After high-level management meetings and discussions, Gu Miao signed an announcement to lay off some employees. This is the first time that Wanbao Animation has had layoffs since its establishment.

The total number of layoffs reached 247.

This scale is almost as large as the total number of people in domestic first-line animation production companies.

Wanbao Animation laid off 200 employees in one fell swoop, and dozens of versions of speculation about what happened to Wanbao popped up across the Internet overnight.

Some people say that Wanbao's boss Gu Sanshui ran away with his sister-in-law, and Wanbao is about to go bankrupt...

Some people also say that Wanbao's layoffs are to save expenses. The company's profitability is worrying, and many internal projects have been axed.

There are also people who are just spreading rumors, saying that there is serious internal party strife in Wanbao, that outsiders and veteran factions are fighting fiercely, and that the layoffs are just losers who are being liquidated.

"What is this all about?"

Gu Miao casually threw her phone aside and said speechlessly after reading a piece of financial news: "We are not the only animation company that has laid off employees. Why are you just staring at us and spreading rumors?"

"no way!"

Lao Zhang explained with a smile: "Who makes us the leader in domestic animation? No one pays attention to us. That's weird, right?"

"It makes sense! Don't talk about this..."

Gu Miao waved her hand and didn't want to continue talking about layoffs. She asked, "Has there been any result about what I asked you to inquire about?"

"Yes and no!"

"The studio that previously produced the "Superman" animation series for Weller Company was disbanded five years ago. The main creative staff retired and changed careers."

Lao Zhang said with a grimace: "I finally found a former original animator of "Superman" animation. Do you know what he said to me?"

"What did you say?"

"Please! I've been Superman for forty years, and I really don't want to see this guy wearing underwear outside now..."

Lao Zhang spread his hands and said with a very helpless expression: "The situation is roughly like this. The previous batch of Superman animation production staff are basically unwilling to return."

The corner of Gu Miao's mouth twitched, as if she didn't expect that these old Superman production staff would actually say such a thing.

But... I can understand it!

After all, these people have been exposed to Superman for decades, so it is expected that they are not interested in this series.

If it were you, who had been eating instant noodles for almost fifty years, wouldn't you want to try something else for a change?

But this ruined Gu Miao's plan.

Because he originally planned to hire some old Superman production staff to return and let these people provide suggestions for the Wanbao version of "Superman" animation.

But if these people can't be invited back, it would be a bit embarrassing, so Wanbao can only do it himself.

The Wanbao version of the "Superman" animation is based on the 1996 version of Superman TAS. This version of Superman has a fatal flaw, that is, its weak strength has attracted complaints from countless viewers.

Gu Miao has thought about borrowing from the 1996 version of Superman TAS in terms of painting style, plot, etc., but in terms of settings, he should be more powerful.

But Superman’s setting system is very complicated.

Comics, animations, TV series, movies, stage plays... various versions of Superman almost have a unique setting system, some are ridiculously strong, and some are ridiculously weak.

Among so many Superman setting systems, which set should they refer to and integrate into the Wanbao version of the "Superman" animation?

Is it possible...

Reprogram a set of settings?

I didn't notice the 96 version of Superman when I saw it, but later I found out that he was really weak and that many of his abilities were missing.