Blender 2D/3D Hybrid Animation Class

The most actively growing Free Open Source Software in the world, Blender, has now evolved beyond a simple 3D creation tool into a comprehensive DCC tool (Digital Content Creation Tool) that encompasses the entire creative process from previsualization to post-production compositing.

In particular, it provides powerful 2D animation creation features (Grease Pencil) that are difficult to find in existing 3D tools, so it has the unique characteristic that even when creating the same output, the workflow efficiency varies greatly depending on the user's understanding and design capabilities.

This class thoroughly covers three key areas to help you maximize Blender's potential: how 2D and 3D animation work within Blender, the pros and cons and utilization strategies when combining both styles, and the optimal hybrid workflow through actual project-based case studies.

For those who want to expand Blender as their own creative tool in the era of generative AI, or those interested in new animation styles that transcend the boundaries between 2D and 3D, this class will help you discover broader possibilities than the Blender you previously knew.

In the case of existing 3D programs, there was a contradiction where creators had to invest almost all their time in technical setup rather than focusing on the content they wanted to express, due to the complexity of the character setup stage. While sophisticated character setup is necessary when working within the pipeline of a large-scale company, even if the setup time is lengthy, the reality is that for individual creators, such traditional approaches struggle to keep up with the current pace of content creation. By examining a simple yet versatile basic stick figure setup workflow using Blender, we explore new content production methods suitable for the new era.

The biggest trend in modeling and animation these days is probably utilizing pre-built assets. Blender provides a powerful pose library feature that helps with animation work, and this feature has seen significant improvements in work intuitiveness with the Screenshot Thumbnail feature introduced in Blender 4.5. We'll explore how to use this newly improved user-centered feature instead of the existing complex and cumbersome methods.

Blender provides a timeline and 2D animation system for 2D animation, while simultaneously offering a powerful bone animation system for traditional 3D animation. The bone system can be combined with Blender's driver system to be utilized as a setup tool for animating characters very simply.

We'll look at an example of how to set up characters very simply by controlling the timeline of 2D animation using Blender's Time Offset modifier.

With the advent of the AI era, many things have changed. The position of existing modeling techniques has been significantly narrowed by generative 3D modeling services. In times like these, it's important to plan content from new perspectives and build your own workflow that can be implemented quickly.

I hope this class will be helpful to those who are curious about the various applications of Blender, which is evolving into the ultimate DCC tool that aims to encompass the entire workflow from initial planning to post-production, beyond just being a simple 3D production tool.