The difference between traditional and computer animation is easy to define: traditional animation uses methods that do not use digital tools, while computer animation methods use — you guessed it — computers. Another way to distinguish the two is physical versus virtual; traditional animation uses physical materials and activities, while computer animation uses virtual materials in a digital space.
The 5 types of animation
Traditional 2D cel animation and stop-motion animation both fall under the category of traditional animation, even though both ultimately use digital filmmaking methods. What matters is the method of producing the animation itself. Cel animation involves hand-drawing, hand-inking, and hand-painting thousands of frames onto clear cels that are displayed against painted backgrounds and photographed in rapid sequence, while stop-motion animation involves working with physical models and objects that are captured on camera one frame at a time.
This hands-on method requires a team of artists, clean-up artists, painters, directors, background artists, and camera crews — along with storyboard artists and script writers to flesh out the original concepts. For large-scale projects, the amount of time, labor, and equipment involved is staggering.
When you animate on screen, you are working with computer animation. 3D animation has its own origins with computers. Computer animation can be 2D or 3D, but 2D computer animation often involves virtualization of the traditional 2D animation workspace, bringing pen and paper into the digital environment to recreate cartoon animation workflows and styles. 3D computer animation uses hybrid workflows that follow traditional timelines adapted to working in a virtual 3D space.
