Animating with Support from AI: Studio Art Major Explores the Line Between Technology and Human Creativity

By Stephanie Godward, Communications and Marketing Director, College of Arts & Sciences 

Aaron Burns approached his summer research on AI as a tool in animation from a standpoint of exploration, weighing the roles it could play in the process, while recognizing the essential need for the human experience and perspective to create a desired outcome. 

“Animation is very personal for animators. It's a very human experience,” he said. “One of my main problems that I feel like I've seen with AI is a lot of it, it feels almost...soulless a little bit, where it's like it doesn't have the experience behind it.” 

Projected to graduate this December, Burns, a Louisville native, is majoring in studio art at UofL’s Hite Institute of Art + Design. Focused on 3D animation, Burns participated in the Summer Research Opportunity Program to explore how AI could potentially be used for 3D animation in film and in storytelling. 

“In the last few years, AI has become unavoidable, and its use has become a big question for people in the industry,” Burns said. 

His project centered on how AI could be used for 3D film and storytelling to determine what it’s good at, where it falls short, and in what parts of the process Burns would feel comfortable using AI as a collaborative tool. 

As an artist, Burns has taken a stance against AI on one level but wanted to use this project as an exploration of a topic that is prevalent and widely debated. For this project, he created a short film, wrote the script, animated it, and used AI at different points in the process. 

“I created my ideas and everything myself and then what I basically did was use AI at different points in the production pipeline to see and record - how useful is this? How well does it do at this phase or how well did it do with this job?” 

Burns found that AI is best used for pre-visualization pre-production purposes and spoke of the unique ability that animators have as human beings to breathe life into characters – and that ability comes from understanding the totality of the human experience themselves. 

“When it comes to actually producing the art of a film and stuff, AI is still not there yet,” he states. 

In his research, he also examined the audience’s experience and perception of the use of AI in art. 

"Viewers almost feel kind of cheated when they don't know that something is AI, and then after they've said like, oh, this is so good, this is amazing, and then learn that it's AI, it kind of makes them feel cheated,” he said. “It leads me to ask, ‘How can I create stuff that doesn't make my audience feel that way?’” 

Having the opportunity to produce a short film through the SROP has boosted his confidence as an artist. 

"Making a short film is a task with a lot of moving parts, and it's something I've wanted to do for a while, so getting to a point where I've gotten done with the animation and stuff feels really good,” Burns said. “It makes me want to do more of it. It’s been cool getting to work with my professors to show them my progress, and I made 3D printed versions of my characters at the Speed School makerspace.” 

One aspect of participating in the SROP and of his education at UofL that he has truly enjoyed has been the chance to explore different areas of interests and fields through experience. 

“One of the things I really like is how much my teachers have let me use my outside skills to work on my projects or just different assignments. I felt like this project was really the most I've gotten a chance to have freedom to explore a field that I really enjoy,” Burns said. “I would say that it's an opportunity to - within academia - explore different fields that you really feel passionate about.”