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Reason isn't technological. It has to do with background being static and shaded (painted like that) while animation cels are painted flat and overlaid like tha

Reason isn't technological. It has to do with background being static and shaded (painted like that) while animation cels are painted flat and overlaid like that. Cels could be shaded as well, but getting the shading right for each and every frame would be extremely time intensive task and a big if if it could be done at all by hand. Newer cartoons have opted for more flat shading in the background, so it kind of looks the same to the animated parts.

talmand 10y ago
>> Reason isn't technological. I would say that was the technology of the time. A common cause of this problem was that the cells were often not completely transparent. So the differences became more apparent as more layers were stacked. I guess we could agree that maybe they used a cheaper version of the technology. Newer cartoons don't have to use the flat shading on backgrounds method because today's technology is different than the past. Cartoons of today can be drawn and shaded however the artists wish and they will not be limited by the cell layering method. Unless, their production methods force the issue, which is still possible. But you are correct there ways to overcome the problems of the layering method, but it wasn't worth doing for most projects at the time.
- Keyframe 10y ago
  It isn't due to transparency of cels. They were transparent back then too (you can buy ye olde cels from productions and see on youtube how it was done in ye olde days). I did in-betweening and later layout for years, first by hand and later on computers. It's simply due to when you paint your cel, you can either paint it flat (like a bucket fill) or shade it when you paint. You get an inked one (photocopied) where ink is on one side, you flip it over and paint behind the ink lines. When you paint, you paint as anything else, thus you can shade it. However, keeping shading consistent and in motion between each frame (frame, not keyframe, since you're painting in-betweens as well) is mission impossible task. It's extremely intensive process which is 'dancing' around because you can't keep shading consistent. What you will get is what someone else has linked here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnZD6RBt9S0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnZD6RBt9S0 this was oil painted/shaded per frame.

talmand 10y ago

>> Reason isn't technological. I would say that was the technology of the time. A common cause of this problem was that the cells were often not completely transparent. So the differences became more apparent as more layers were stacked. I guess we could agree that maybe they used a cheaper version of the technology. Newer cartoons don't have to use the flat shading on backgrounds method because today's technology is different than the past. Cartoons of today can be drawn and shaded however the artists wish and they will not be limited by the cell layering method. Unless, their production methods force the issue, which is still possible. But you are correct there ways to overcome the problems of the layering method, but it wasn't worth doing for most projects at the time.

Keyframe 10y ago
It isn't due to transparency of cels. They were transparent back then too (you can buy ye olde cels from productions and see on youtube how it was done in ye olde days). I did in-betweening and later layout for years, first by hand and later on computers. It's simply due to when you paint your cel, you can either paint it flat (like a bucket fill) or shade it when you paint. You get an inked one (photocopied) where ink is on one side, you flip it over and paint behind the ink lines. When you paint, you paint as anything else, thus you can shade it. However, keeping shading consistent and in motion between each frame (frame, not keyframe, since you're painting in-betweens as well) is mission impossible task. It's extremely intensive process which is 'dancing' around because you can't keep shading consistent. What you will get is what someone else has linked here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnZD6RBt9S0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnZD6RBt9S0 this was oil painted/shaded per frame.