Cel Animation vs Stop Motion

セル・アニメーション / ストップモーション

Both sit in Animation Techniques, so the question is not what they belong to but how they behave. Both are read here as technique. They are reached for with some of the same intent, which is where they get confused.

Cel Animation

Cel Animation — ウィンザー・マッケイ『ルシタニア号の沈没』セル 1918 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domainCel Animation — セルへの彩色作業（CC BY-SA 3.0）Cel Animation — 『大鬧天宮』セル画 1961–64 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

The division-of-labor technique of painting only the moving parts on transparent celluloid layered over a still background. It defined the industrial structure of commercial animation for nearly a century.

Stop Motion

Stop Motion — ウィリス・オブライエン『ロスト・ワールド』1925 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domainStop Motion — 『ロスト・ワールド』の恐竜と俳優の合成 1925 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domainStop Motion — ポーランドのパペットアニメ『Smok Barnaba』（1977）の人形 — Wikimedia Commons / CC0

Moving puppets and models one frame at a time to give matter life. The faint tremor of handwork and the presence of real materials remain a charm CG cannot replace.

Cel AnimationStop Motion
Era1915–1990s1898–
FamilyAnimation TechniquesAnimation Techniques
KindTechniqueTechnique
CuesLayered transparent cels / Uniform paint / Background separated from movement / Traced ink linesFrame-by-frame shooting / Real models and textures / A faint tremor / Miniature lighting
Best used forKeeping a character stable over a long run with even paint and clear outlines · Pairing richly painted backgrounds with plainly drawn moving figuresFood and household product ads that must keep the feel of real material · Shorts and music videos where the warmth of handwork is the point
TypeTitles live on their own layer, never sharing a plane with the celsBuild the lettering as a physical object and light it with the set
CompositionSplit moving and still elements into layers and compose each layerShallow depth of field, with the miniature scale left visible
MaterialPainterly backgrounds under figures filled with perfectly even colorFabric, clay and paper chosen to hold up under close inspection
CautionCalling it cel shading while adding gradients and soft shadows, which muddies the area inside the outline and loses the strength of the flat plane.Smoothing away every tremor and fingerprint until the result is something computer graphics would have produced faster and cheaper.

Put these two together

Animation Techniques

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