Eh, are we talking about 2D animation in general or traditional animation?

Well, unless it's in 3D, isn't all animation in 2D? Since it's translated into 2D format whether stop motion or CGI?

Cel has been reduced to niche market, but 2D animation will never die. However, if we're talking about quality of animation shows, then it's a bit of a different story.

Dreamworks has no further plans to create anymore hand drawn (2D animated films).
As far as I'm aware, Blue Sky is sticking to CG films.

Disney has been tossing back and forth whether or not to create any more 2D animated features.
The question is whether or not Winnie the Pooh will be the last 2D animated feature for Disney if it does/doesn't profit at the box office.

It has been declining, but dead? No way, jose.

People are lazy.  The fear campaign against Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and training in better work ergonomics, the production time to box office gross ratio of hand-drawn vs 3D animation, the manpower to a second of footage ratio, and of course these major animation studios catering to whichever gives them more dollar signs.  Most recent 2D animation I've seen is The Secret of Kells.  Made in USA?  No, Ireland.  The US based companies like Disney and Dreamworks care about what their immediate viewers want to see in animation.  As long as it's cheap explosions, ridiculous action sequences and shiny metal, they'll watch.  All that can be accomplished by not doing 2D.

Of course 1300 animators got laid off.  Why pay 1300 animators to hand-draw a feature animated film for 3 to 5 years when a mere 100 can generate a feature in 2?

What I can tell from your title post, Dew, is that Hollywood has moved on from 2D animation, that's all.  It's not dead because it's still being taught, for one.  It's still being done with or without the aid of a computer.  Fresco painters and landscape artists aren't gone.  They're just fewer in number.  Frescos aren't dead, their still being made.  History has shown that these so called "dead" arts manage to survive millenniums and are brought back in for contemporary usage.  It's not dead, it's been shelved.  Disney made it popular, that's all.  And like fashion trends, these art come and go.  You hear about cubism anymore?  No, but it'll come back someday.  And after the last nuclear missile launches and humanity is in its post-apocalyptic age, there will still be a marking stick and a surface to draw on and like cavemen drawings, isn't that how art started?

EDIT: I'm sure realist painters were worried about impressionist painters putting them out of work, too.

Last edited by Lechnology (July 7, 2011 (12:10am))

Let's look at this from a different standpoint. TV shows are actually much easier to animate in two dimensions than in three. For one thing, access to programs like Flash or Toon Boom makes 2D animation much cheaper to produce. A show like (shudder) Mickey Mouse Clubhouse costs more man hours, computing power, and raw dollars than a show like My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic does, which is animated using Flash.
Another thing is that there are some things that can only really be accomplished in a 2D universe. Much higher levels of quality can be achieved using the same or less resources in a 2D universe than in a 3D universe, and much quicker. Budgets for TV shows are far lower than those for feature films, so can you imagine what an anvil would look like in a 3D TV show compared to a 2D TV show? It would look absolutely horrendous.
Watch this clip very carefully. Do you see the little swooshes emanating from just about anything that moves? That really can't be accomplished with 3D animation without some serious compromising.
2D animation has its limitations, but so does 3D. I've seen the new Roadrunner/Wile E. Coyote cartoons that are animated in 3D, and they are ridiculously horrendous (at least they're better than the rest of the show that they are a part of though (shudder shudder).

As for Cel animation, that is near-dead. I can only see independent/experimental filmmakers making those.

Last edited by mcoov (July 7, 2011 (02:22pm))

Umm, you should take off those 3D glasses and put on your reading ones. Re-read this thread when you have done.

It's rather hard for things to become non-existent now. People on the internet can for communities based on small niches.

To be honest I couldn't give a damn. Just thought I'd add something to the discussion, but obviously wasn't as the topic title implied.

Also: this doesn't mean I've come back. Jus' saying.