Name: The art (and science) of stop-motion animation
Uploaded: 2026-01-14T16:04:53Z
Duration: 17 min 28 s
Description: You're invited into the world of stop-motion animation, where design and engineering collide to create fan-favorite films. Visual effects artist Brian McLean (from the Oscar-winning studio behind "Coraline" and "ParaNorman") explores how 3D printing is revolutionizing this century-old craft, showing how creative obsession paired with cutting-edge technology can reinvent the way we make things.

Brian McLean: The art (and science) of stop-motion animation

The art (and science) of stop-motion animation

You're invited into the world of stop-motion animation, where design and engineering collide to create fan-favorite films. Visual effects artist Brian McLean (from the Oscar-winning studio behind "Coraline" and "ParaNorman") explores how 3D printing is revolutionizing this century-old craft, showing how creative obsession paired with cutting-edge technology can reinvent the way we make things.

Stop-motion animation merges human creativity with engineering, as new technologies reinvent the craft. The use of 3D printing, including techniques like voxel printing, has enabled studios to create over 100,000 unique character faces for a single film. Even a single second of animation can require 24 individually crafted facial expressions. This blend of imagination and precision is now influencing not just movies but also fields like medicine.

3D Printing Transforms Stop-Motion Into Limitless Handcrafted Art

Stop-motion filmmaking has been revolutionized by blending century-old animation techniques with cutting-edge 3D printing. Studios now print over 100,000 unique facial expressions for a single movie, each one designed and cataloged by artists. This marriage of engineering and creativity enables complex, handcrafted visuals at a scale and precision never before possible. Even medical fields are adopting these innovations, printing detailed replicas of human anatomy for surgeons to practice on.