How Netflix's 'Klaus' Made 2D Animation Look 3D | Movies Insider

“Klaus,” Netflix’s first animated film, is an origin story of Santa Claus. Because the Oscar-nominated movie appeals to nostalgia, director Sergio Pablos and his team at The SPA Studios in Madrid decided to make the film in 2D. But they also wanted to advance the look, so they developed new technology that adds details like lighting and texture to the characters that make them appear 3D. We spoke with Pablos to find out how they made the innovative film, which earned an Academy Award nomination for best Animated Feature and seven Annie Awards. “Klaus” stars Jason Schwartzman, J.K. Simmons, Rashida Jones, Will Sasso, Norm MacDonald, and Joan Cusack.
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How Netflix's 'Klaus' Made 2D Animation Look 3D | Movies Insider

[@smoker3092]

"Initial sketches were very rough" *shows clean line art*

[@gwendolyn9300]

Me: ... * Looks at my own artwork * Me: "So this is what, post apocalyptic?!"

[@rainbow4352]

Right 😁

[@jamgin9890]

people who dont do art probably see all sketches and unfinished work as 'rough' even if it's extremely clean for the stage it's at.

[@delaneym2446]

lmao my reaction exactly

[@everywhereman9003]

Rough sketches arent bad

[@Daniel-wg7sv]

Into the Spider-Verse: A 3D movie made to look 2D Klaus: A 2D movie made to look 3D

[@nekroneko]

Spider-verse was meant to look 2D?

[@Daniel-wg7sv]

@@nekroneko not all of the movie, but most scenes used cel-shading, comic book style linework, animation smears and a less fluent frame rate to mimic a frame by frame 2D animation.

[@eboyicecream1305]

@ra thats the point.

[@ollie2111]

@@Daniel-wg7sv I love the stylistic choices people are making that blends the two mediums. Spiderverse and Klaus are thinking outside the box while using modern tools/technology, love that.

[@somyxztique9585]

And they both look amazing!

[@w_nder]

Klaus, spiderverse, bad guys/puss n boots, are exactly where animation should be going, innovating what we have and combining mediums because we can!

[@Merlincat007]

Arcane too! If you haven't seen it, it's amazing.

[@joaquinbarrera9324]

And the Paperman short film too!!! Combining the best of both worlds

[@Merlincat007]

@@joaquinbarrera9324 Nice recommendation, thanks! Very cute :)

[@SpriteCranberryReal]

The directors and writers of all of those movues SHOULD GATHER TOGETHER. They know everything that makes a movie bad and good.

[@chrissoldi2080]

Don’t forget about the cancelled “Me and My Shadow”.

[@SC-RGX7]

I actually loved that way of animation. It felt so nostalgic, yet so modern.

[@BoPplle]

me too

[@jangguttok7437]

should have won that oscar instead of toy story 4

[@Sierra410]

"The initial sketches were very rough" The initial sketches: * butter smooth animation *

[@bongobliss5795]

Looks like theyre the type of ppl who would say that the movie isnt that good, then it turns out to be the most deserving animation oscar movie

[@Keenonf]

omg i was thinking the same thing. like thats notttt rough. lol

[@tenderandmoist5011]

He ment the lining not the transition between frames

[@Delnyque]

Keri Diablo / DevilSide Those lines were butter smooth too

[@tenderandmoist5011]

Delnike nah they wouldn't be called sketches if they were smooth

[@dumbgayenby]

Artists: So is this movie going to be 3D? Director: Yesn’t

[@-shyboi6494]

Well no but actually yes

[@moth_ishere1513]

Well yes but actually no

[@justsomenonbinarywithamust8006]

your user?? Good

[@victoremisho9432]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 I love u man ..Made me laugh so much.....Yesnt 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@couchpotatomakesart7307]

Hi! Im an aspiring digital artist and i would really appreciate if you guys could support my channel. Thanks!❤️

[@ForTheOmnissiah]

2:02 "the initial stages were very rough" he forgot to mention "and looks fluid, amazing, professional, and better than anything you could DREAM of animating" Those "rough" sketches are some serious talent.

[@yeetyeet1727]

i was thinking that too!

[@manuelamendes5766]

Lol I was thinking exactly that! I'm currently doing a course to enter animation school and they literally give us 2 weeks to make a project, so the animations usually turn very trashy. When I saw the narrator saying that, I thought to myself "damn I wish my animation were rough like that one" 😂

[@Fahimlol]

well if he mentioned it it wouldve been kinda demotivating for some artists

[@residentalien818]

lol yea its so funny seeing non artists describing sketches like that

[@neinja66469]

It's all literally a matter of perspective in your drawing and the movements to follow through each frame tbh perspectives like the one Klaus did in the sunlight are hard to nail for any artist so I get what u mean lol speakin from the soul as an aspiring artist

[@Misha.Raphael]

My mother is a cartoonist and works in animation. I'm so glad that my mom was at least involved in making this movie. It's my favorite animated movie ever!

[@CybzFG]

Are you sure?

[@Misha.Raphael]

@@CybzFG yes am sure! ^^

[@Marco-Champolo]

Congratulations. Your mother helped create a unique and visually stunning movie.

[@Misha.Raphael]

@@Marco-Champolo Thanks you i appreciate your pleased ✨❤️🥰

[@Slippyjerry]

@@CybzFGtf you mean “are you sure” 🤓

[@candifemale5118]

It didn’t even register to me that it was 2D. Such a great a movie.

[@malaineeward5249]

The whole movie I was like "WHAT MEDIUM IS THIS?!?!?!?"

[@daffodille]

read your comment in an Italian accent

[@alibabaintelligence8555]

Well, every movie is actually 2D, because our eyes see 2dimensional.

[@Fabler21]

._.

[@Shadowkey392]

I knew there was 2D involved, but I didn't realize the extent of it.

[@joemps]

I really wish animation wouldn't generally be seen as something for just children. The artists put so much work to make it look as artistically beautiful as possible. Yet most people over 30 will look at this and say its meant for kids. That just really bugs me :/ im an animator in college and when i tell you how hard that stuff is!

[@Nephritesword]

Maybe if Western animation studios would stop making only family-friendly/kids films and start making movies that are actually challenging and diverse in their target audiences, then maybe that can start to change. People see animation as only for kids because that's who the vast majority of animation is made for.

[@joemps]

@@Nephritesword I really wish they would that would be a gamechanger

[@videoguy640]

For now we have video games and stuff like Love, Death, & Robots

[@sasielb8922]

having very subtle adult jokes is usually the way to go. I mean Klaus had a "drug" dealer joke in it

[@user-ct6jm1ze2x]

dude the animation here in india is the worst thing ever. its literally not even for 12 year olds it's for 3. the indian animation industry sucks ass literally

[@midoriyasallmightonesie5190]

In my opinion, i would love this to be the new era of animation, utilizing 3d animation as a tool, making it look 2d and mix them in between. Just How they did with Klaus, Into the Spiderverse, and Arcane.

[@Mediados]

And look there, we have the holy trio of great animation. The industry has forgotten that in order to make great things you need to take great risks.

[@fikarkyu2767]

And welcome the ChainsawMan Anime to this practical 3D Compositing with fluid animation.

[@lanchanoinguyen2914]

It had been done all the time in animations and anime.CGI plus lines.

[@ninisdesk]

There’s a certain charm in the characters that 2D brings which is difficult to replicate in 3D. And I believe it’s in the extent you can over exaggerate and warp something. 3D while you can exaggerate things there are very rigid boundaries you can’t break as you can’t break the model. With 2D your more free to break boundaries and twist the forms. The mixing of both is wonderful as you can use the use both mediums to their full extent to compliment each other.

[@tubester358]

I think the main things is that getting too creative with 3D animation requires a lot of extra manual labour, sometimes frame by frame, which at some point might just defeat the purpose of using 3D instead of 2D, artists have to manually add in all the imperfections that create that charm of good 2D animation. I think it's hardly worth it for most movies (worked great for Spider-verse), but in games it's pretty great & useful when done right like Arc Sys's current fighting games where they add things like smudge lines and deformations in the character animations frame by frame for a 2D-looking game with a 3D camera.

[@AllyGatorAnimator]

Hotel Transylvania is probably the closest I have ever seen 3D animation come to 2D in regards to exaggeration and the main reason why is because the director specialises in 2D animation anyway. He was literally drawing over frames saying "exaggerate it MORE" and it was notoriously hard to do. It paid off though.

[@Exsulator2]

As a 3d animator myself, I'd like to say that we really could go in frame by frame and distort the 3d character if we wanted to. It's just not very efficient and rarely asked for, but technically there's nothing stopping us from doing it. But I think part of 2D animators process is very carefully considering each frame and making it beautiful and also being less distracted by realistic movement (since, you know, fewer frames makes it easier to get away with "unrealistic" movement), wheras in 3D it's more about the movement itself, rather than making beautiful single-frames. In 3D there's a lot more frames anyway, and with mathematical precision of movement you can have "micro-movement" which 2D animation can't really pull off. Actually now that I think about it, 2D animation kind of requires bigger spacing between drawings to avoid the "uncanny" feeling of imperfect/rotoscop-feely imitation of 3D.

[@Sgt_Glory]

I don't think many people realize how big this is. This could be the beginning of the second renaissance of traditional animation.

[@wingedhussar1453]

Except how how hard is it to make.

[@NyeMechworks]

@@wingedhussar1453 Compared to cg? Probably. CG also takes a long time to render. I wonder how much dev time went into perfecting the tool and how much went into making the actual movie? 3 years dev time 2 years movie? How much was movie planning and how much animation?

[@Xxsorafan]

Unfortunately it’s just way easier to do 3D animation and not as time consuming so doubt

[@thiagovidal6137]

Well.. it won't. Its charming and beautiful and made it unique.. but you likely won't see this technique being used again because it still too time consuming. Major animation studios will stick to 3D. It's much easier to reverse this process and do the other way around. Meaning using 3D and make them look 2D instead of making 2D look 3D. There are quite a few incredibly good looking 3D animations that look like 2D paintings out there at the moment.. even on Netflix.

[@sleepyancient6655]

@@NyeMechworks I get what you're saying, and I sort of agree, but GPU tech has come a long way in the past few years. It used to take tens or even nearly 200 compute hours per frame (Finding Dory was, like, 152, iirc) because ray tracing takes time. They used rendering farms to speed that up to make rendering a movie only take a few weeks. But since that movie came out, Nvidia did this little thing (and AMD has followed suit, but with a different approach) where they added ray tracing cores and made ray tracing possible at (now) over 60 frames per second. Granted, ray tracing light by itself is easier than the full scene, but just making the hardware good at doing those kinds of calculations means a re-render of Finding Dory would take far fewer compute hours, and thus 3D rendering may catch up with skilled animators in the next 5-10 years if it hasn't already at the render farm scale.

[@madcrab160]

I still don't get how Klaus didn't won the Oscars. I mean, LOOK AT THIS PRODUCTION

[@shazleaden1457]

Totally agree. The process that this company made up to produce this movie is revolutionary.

[@olleselin]

@@shazleaden1457 I KNOW!!!

[@salimaa9209]

who actually won?

[@_sls7535]

@@salimaa9209 a bit late but it was Spider-Man: Into The Spider-verse

[@kunalpradhan6166]

production of missing link was awesome too.seeing those stop motion creatures is just mind blowing. But again, wrong year.

[@wparo]

Great movie from story to animation to character. I don't celebrate Xmas but really enjoyed watching this film. It had the nostalgia of 2D but with a 3D twist as shown here in this video. Great work, and in par with animations such as The Illusionist, The triplets of Belleville, and works from Studio Ghibli. I am looking forward for their next animation. I hope it will be soon.

[@johnthegamerman404]

Agreeeed

[@gabriellitewski7988]

I can't go back in time to redo my past

[@helixxia9320]

@@gabriellitewski7988 ok

[@kajixdn]

I hope they release this technology to anybody willing to buy it one day, seems like it could be a seriously useful tool for any freelance animators as well as other companies, it could even revive the 2D animation scene a bit

[@BestOneEver247]

**nock** **nock** **nock** Hello?

[@RodrigoVazquez91]

This is what Disney shoud be working on, innovation in animation techniques, new ways of telling new stories, instead of those live action films that break the original stories.

[@cocovid1323]

Problem is Disney cares more about making money.

[@ceciliamateo8730]

@@cocovid1323 your right, when I was a kid it's more detailed now its just live action..

[@mhm77887]

I love the original concept of this film.

[@poweroffriendship2.0]

The saddest part is that the 2D animation in Mary Poppins Return made a huge step for the "Revival Era" of animation but it seemed like the current CEO of Disney throws some darts on Walt Disney's portrait picture.

[@TanmayBarri]

I agree... Feels like they pushed that experimentality to Pixar now...

[@dsmaymay6426]

2:02 "The initial sketches were very rough" *shows cleanest sketches in the History of sketches*

[@bugfairy]

u should see my sketches, hella messy

[@windmage0168]

@@bugfairy My final line art is very scratchy because I can't draw a smooth and consistent line for the life of me.

[@imnotactivern3120]

for some reason i like rough sketches more than clean ones

[@LetsSewIt]

when I tell you I made rough sketches, boi you see nothing but a tangled yarn ball full of mess

[@KidKusU]

@@imnotactivern3120 same

[@movingchannels2203]

Went back to watch this movie Still makes me cry

[@spritemon98]

Me too 😭

[@drbunglenut]

4:11 never in a million years would i have expected a breaking bad reference

[@stonesword6952]

Mr white theres a new animation called klaus wanna watch it with me Ok jesse lets go but first lets go buy some popcorn and some drinks Ok mr white

[@bakedbeananimation]

It’s not a reference! Breaking Bad was the just comp inspo :)

[@neptune147]

“So it’s 3d?” “Good guess, but actually no.”

[@Sofi-ng3ll]

Yesn't

[@greyslaurenciana9249]

"Wait it's all 2D?" "Always has been."

[@dapht_03]

@@greyslaurenciana9249 your comment is so underrated

[@Lemon-yp5ed]

Steen universe, great pfp and name

[@rainalystre1877]

No joke, I watched this with having no clue it was 2D. “It’s 3D. Wait. No. That’s near impossible to do in 3D. So it must be 2D. But. But the lighting, the texture, the smoothness; it *has* to be 3D. Woah. Hold on-“ This would play on rewind in my head every 10-15 minutes as I watched this. Only looking into it later was I left astounded (granted, I was amazed through to the end) and with a peace of mind.

[@VeloxFox]

"When Jasper is handing out letters to kids like a drug-dealer" A sentence I never thought I'd love to hear XD

[@elsaekberg5616]

I looooved all the “adult” jokes in this movie

[@theimpostor9510]

Indeed

[@koolaidguy315]

*Hey kid.... Want presents?*

[@abrarrahman4844]

literally what I thought when watching the movie lol

[@rainbowspongebob]

Lol

[@tehkuwen5222]

To see a company like this do justice to 2D animation in our day and age, is incredible I hope for the innovative return of this style in more modern films

[@onedoesnotsimply7375]

Klaus is such a great movie all around. The story, the characters, the soundtrack, the animation... all of this just works and harmonizes so well together that it creates something bigger than the sum of its parts. This movie should've won the Academy Award if you ask me.

[@Duelkitten]

Spidervers and now this? Animation is evolving and i couldn't be happier

[@zeddy2284]

At last

[@justawhim]

Well it always has been moving forward...just in undesired directions until it stumbled back on teack

[@justawhim]

@Colin Moore Studios Spiderverse used cgi, its proably the only creative use of cgi in recent memory

[@vibing6530]

@Colin Moore Studios It DID use cgi. Mixed in with a little 2d animation

[@zeddy2284]

@Colin Moore Studios still great

[@iamfa27]

Klaus* is honestly such an underrated heart warming Christmas movie for the entire family

[@aoiblues7928]

Made by netflix

[@ZiRR0]

Its honestly so overrated here ngl

[@nazrinlipy2559]

So true

[@blacksolidChrome]

It’s one of the very best xmas movies imo! I loved it:)

[@thiagosaisart]

Netflix agenda

[@candycane3739]

Honestly, I'm so surprised at the lack of shading and lighting in a lot of 2D animated films. It makes it seem so much cooler, and it brings so much more individual style and personal touch to it. As someone who is bad at sketching but has some skill in shading and lighting and enjoys the practice, hats off to the animating team of this film. We need more like you, to prove animation isn't just flat color or semi-realistic CGI (with unrealistic faces/heads/proportions but everything else looking normal. Why do they go for realism and then make people's heads look weird? Or their hands 1/5 the size of their face. Sorry, I'm just particular about this stuff.) Excited to see more innovation in the future. P.S. if you want a disney film that actually has cool 2D animation, watch treasure planet. Just watched it recently and it's great.

[@AufWiedersehen550]

I wish there were more movies that looked like this. Or possibly going back to 2D animation

[@theunkownartist4605]

Don't get me wrong I love CGI but I love a hand-drawn animation more.

[@suugiart]

Same. Hand-drawn animation can just be so satisfying for both the audience and the animator. I always feel so satisfied when I finish an animation and it's smooth.

[@phil..rubi123]

Agree 100% I love CGI too but it can still not to this day reach the same smoothness as hand-drawn animation.

[@PersonMan-qf3om]

Same here

[@Bollalillo]

"hand drawn" its still considered CGI since its made on a computer by a software

[@BioClone]

@@suugiart actually you feel the same doing it on 3D

[@ramabg2]

I wish Disney had pursued this animation technique for remaking old movies instead of making the live action so they can reproduce the expression, vibe, & fantasy of the cartoon one

[@lauralaura4362]

Rama Raditya the remakes should be different to the originals as well, whats the point of watching a remake when its the same plot as the original?

[@IngvarMar]

Rama Raditya Imagine 2d animated Lion King with this technology? It would look gorgeous

[@OutlawKING111]

Damn now I want a 2d animated fantasy film.

[@iclaimthisname9767]

Damn that would be awesome

[@babyboomer1786]

The only reason why they are making live actions is to cash out on nostalgia, Disney currently only cares about money. You tell even more because of the fact they made a frozen 2, and even aired it in theaters, because the first one was so popular. With all the other Disney movies, the only sequels they have ever done were straight to dvd ones, which were also cash grabs and had smaller budgets. Although I do agree that I’d like a 2D remake, but I know they’ll never do that since they declared the last 2D movie they’ll make is princess and the frog unfortunately

[@TYsdrawkcaB]

all of this and so much more is why klaus remains my favourite movie of all time, and will almost certainly remain my favourite christmas movie

[@jeepmega629]

As someones who likes pretty lighting, its incredible that you can do something like this.

[@herosive8762]

2:26 The redness of his ears shows how the sunlight shines through his ears, well done

[@sweep8311]

Ikr? I love that type of lighting

[@viriel6349]

That's called subsurface scattering.

[@epiksebastian3272]

@@randyfortin3405 ok knowitall

[@Vissorilio]

Yeah its called blood vessels which are in the ear and throughout your body.

[@You-vf4fj]

@@randyfortin3405 elementary doesn't teach you that neither do people talk about it. We just notice our ears and just forget about it. Mr Knowitall

[@guy5529]

Is it just me or are the rest of y’all getting sick and tired of CGI animation and want to see more hand-drawn movies

[@KHALI_SEAWEED]

Well, most of us are just tierd of the "artstyle" used in the modern films. You know, the cartoony looking characters with hyper-realistic fur, clothing and textures. Though I'm a-ok with films like these because it takes a lot of art work to create a film that looks like that but I can understand why people start disliking it. People really want to see movies with a diffrent look to them since all the modern films are starting to look the same. People crave a new animation style and things like that. That's why "into the spiderverse" was such a popular movie, it was diffrent from what we usually see on the silver screen.

[@skyesyd221]

I knoe

[@nataliaborys1554]

I love CGI movies, they can be really beautiful, like Coco or Inside Out or Moana and so on, I am usually more impressed when something is hand-drawn. When I first saw Klaus, the animation absolutely amazed me. The artstyle is original yet beautiful. Or a year earlier, I was watching the anime Mob Psycho 100 and it also impressed me by the pretty non-standard animation, like the artsyle being simpler yet still expressive and entertaining to watch or the usage of paint on glass in some scenes in between animation. Really, we need more movies/shows experimenting with what they can do with animation.

[@jameslf1233]

Hand drawn is actually a harder method since you have to copy each frame, because if this movie was 40 frames per second then I would be pretty impressed since its 1 hour long

[@axolotls_are_cute7799]

Hand drawn movies were so much prettier

[@lenardbordo9838]

I know enough about animation to know how hard, time-consuming and complex animation is. I actually thought the background was hand-drawn but NOT the figures. Amazing. Just amazing! Klaus might become what Snow White once was: Another milestone to western animation.

[@huntercool2232]

This film was an absolute masterpiece! I come back and watch it every year. The emotion that this movie delivered was incredible and of course not to mention the amazing and original animation that is the first of its kind! An absolute masterpiece and it not winning an Oscar is a literal war crime.

[@MochiPuff58]

Anyone who isn’t an artist has no idea how revolutionary this approach is. It’s so painfully hard to animate and hand drawn more than that, and the fact they made this look effortless will leave anyone in awe. 2d really has that organic medium that allows more creativity and unique than 3D. Every film looks the the same now

[@Pchetsu]

@@DanielkaElliott rip it could've done so much better

[@isabeldrilon]

Treasure planet and atlantis

[@ameliamurray9572]

silkyeoja not all films look the same what are you talking about

[@Kirayni]

@Eustace Bagge Thank you for teaching me about the things I don't know enough because I don't have access to the resources. Thank you, random stranger, for telling me I'm wrong on the name of the technique, which I don't even know the real name of in my native language. Thank you for teaching me that hard work means advance, and that your circumstances do not affect that. I'll go look about that technique on my uni library on the newest books from 1998. I have deleted the comments to avoid further embarrassment about missing a knowledge so well known. I hope you have a nice day and I wish you success in your creative endeavors. I may excuse myself now, so that I can go animate on Krita while my software crashes on me so that I may animate legally. Goodbye.

[@clickbait3753]

Spiderverse looked extremley different than what we see today

[@ioquirk3798]

Seeing this movie gives me hope that there could be a 2D resurgence coming in the near future, even if it isn't likely to actually happen.

[@malaineeward5249]

Well, with live action movies becoming harder to make because of... well... corona... Animation in general should get even more popular, and maybe 2d can get some more people behind it!

[@graceann147]

uhhhhh anime is still going strong am i wrong? lol

[@beankaty2651]

@@graceann147 Not everyone likes anime

[@plantland7205]

@@beankaty2651 but whats the diffrence anime is just means that it is made in japan not the west. Or is the artstyle really that unappeling to some people? I mean the artstyle can vary alot in anime but generally it has a certain feel to it and if that is really that unwatchable than I can understand your reasoning.

[@beankaty2651]

@@plantland7205 No, it’s because almost every anime is the same thing. And yes the art style is also a main reason. Also, I have no idea what you’re even asking. The guy said that anime was going strong, I said not everyone likes anime. So are you asking why people don’t like anime?

[@arc7818]

I'm always glad to see studios carry on the tradition of 2D films. I like it so much more than 3D, just a personal preference.

[@anonymanonymus4706]

i thought humanity had reached its peak at creating movies technology. but then i saw that movie and that video. i didn't even thought that there are people there who actually care about the movies they make anymore.

[@tonycezar1645]

"I never looked 3d as an evolution of 2d" YESSSS, thank you so much for saying that, it's two totally different worlds (that can be mixed for sure), but we need a reviving of 2d animation

[@burgrz_tasty1237]

Whoever thinks 3d is an evolution of 2d, please coat yourself in orange juice and walk up to a wasp nest.

[@julioangelinfantesedano5650]

3D is more like sculpting than drawing. I never felt one was the evolution of the other either.

[@ellie8272]

@@johjoh6429 Then there's no such thing as 2d animation? Lmao

[@amosdeguzman9980]

@@ellie8272 There hasn't been a lot of mainstream 2D films in the last decade.

[@ellie8272]

@@amosdeguzman9980 My comment made sense in context but the one I was replying to was deleted

[@jesseherrera6487]

When you make people think you're 3D, but you're actually 2D: *_The Trickster_*

[@poweroffriendship2.0]

As an animator, I concurred with that.

[@justzack641]

*Illusion 100*

[@dutch6245]

Tricery

[@leannluxcristobal9998]

Here's a little lesson in trickery

[@springward7277]

*The spy*

[@Brigeb20]

Screaming and crying on the floor, this work of art is far too underated. People watch Rudolph every year while this gem is ignored with all the other actually good ones

[@danibnnuy]

2:48 missed oportunity to call it KLaUS (Klaus Light and Ultra-Shadow, or something similar)

[@magelamurielle7686]

When i first watched it, i had no expectations. I thought it was just another cartoon movie. But I was blown away by it. The story, the song, the heart warming effect it gives. I am more fascinated after watching this,

[@sourpuss5951]

If you wanna keep getting blown away by 2D movies, maybe get into anime lol. AKIRA and Perfect Blue are good examples, although those two are films for adults and aren't as cute and heart warming as this one lol

[@phil..rubi123]

I wouldn’t recommend those two movies to someone who loves a heart warming movie as Klaus. They are obviously the opposite to Klaus

[@whuddup1249]

@@sourpuss5951 i starting to watch it with my mom (im 13) and that explosion on the beggining was s m o o t h

[@couchpotatomakesart7307]

Hi! Im an aspiring digital artist and i would really appreciate if you guys could support my channel. Thanks!❤️

[@PersonMan-qf3om]

I cried at the ending

[@5MadMovieMakers]

I hope this wins best animated movie

[@aoiblues7928]

Yah it won the kids nominee award it was shown at Netflix picture

[@luvhlee_.112]

I cried at the ending... *wHy DiD hE DiE???!?!??1??1!*

[@a9yearold913]

@@luvhlee_.112 ahh fck spoiler

[@bulletthebeagle]

luvhlee_. Shhhhh

[@justsomegreendude9034]

Nope

[@rudedogflicks]

I wasn't expecting much when I discovered this movie on Netflix and was delighted to discover an absolute masterpiece. It is gratifying to see the effort, both artistically and technically, that went into making this movie.

[@thomascarl5977]

This video made me see the movie a few months back, I have absolutely loved it since then. Such a beautiful Christmas movie, absolutely adore both the plot, but also the effort put in by the animation and lighting teams. So beautiful. Great job on the video Business insider!

[@TechnoLadz]

And this, kids, was how 2.5D was born officially

[@Andrea_404]

* coughs in Zbrush *

[@primrose446]

@@Andrea_404 * laughs in 4D *

[@Andrea_404]

@@primrose446 Nah.

[@primrose446]

@@khloe1755 If 2.5D looks weird, think about how will look a movie in 4D

[@primrose446]

@@khloe1755 It hurts your head, 'cause your brain is trying to tell if it's 2D or 3D

[@bulletthebeagle]

“Wait it’s all 2D?” “Always has been.”

[@enternlv0id]

No reply’s? Werid

[@theimpostor9510]

@@enternlv0id Imagine nothing like's your comment.

[@enternlv0id]

@@theimpostor9510 ?

[@theimpostor9510]

@@enternlv0id No reply's

[@emilycastaneda4750]

@@theimpostor9510 oof

[@RM_VFX]

When I worked on The Iron Giant, we did a lot of this "lighting" by hand animating highlights and shadows on top of the characters. This looks similar, but with a high contrast color model using a lot more layers, and some improved Photoshop layer-style type filters added in post.

[@AsiaNoble]

this is a wild amount of work its so well done

[@owendelatorre16yearsago14]

I honestly can't believe that they actually chose Toy Story 4 over THIS at the Oscars…

[@abrupta]

Because they dont care about quality

[@HotChocolate2070]

IKR

[@randominternetguy3537]

Imma tell you a lil secret. Come closer. ᴵᵗ'ˢ ᵃˡˡ ˢᵗᵃᵍᵉᵈ Yup. All about influence and connections. I bet you anything the people who were choosing which movie to give the Oscar to were either directly involved in toy story 4, or had friends who were.

[@Palkia21]

Toy Story 4 is beautifully animated and is one of the most realistic animations ever. The story I thought was gonna be bad but it actually does a good job. It focuses on Woody and gives him a good character arc, and concludes a long-lasting franchise in the perfect way. The colors and bright and charming and everything just works. Klaus, on the other hand, is uniquely animated and stands out with how aesthetically pleasing the graphics are. The colors and drawings look smooth and beautiful, and the story is unique, charming, and emotional. It's a hard choice to be sure because both are of equal quality.

[@randominternetguy3537]

@@Palkia21 what about when you consider bribes-i mean budget?

[@BDNeon]

It really kinda hurts knowing that the general public won't really appreciate just how revolutionary this is. To the layperson, all animation is just bundled under the catch-all "cartoons". It pains me. It does. I love animation. I love it in all its forms, in all its artistic beauty. I love hand drawn, stop motion (and its subvariant claymation), CG animation, hybrid animation combining CG and Hand Drawn elements, European, Japanese, American, indie, theatrical. From creators like Disney, Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli, Aardman Animations, Katsuhiro Otomo, Richard Williams, Ralph Bakshi, Satoshi Kon, on and on and on. Animation to me can tell stories in a way that no other medium can. I want nothing more then variety to return to animation. While CG is beautiful and deserves to stand alongside the other forms of animation, I do not feel that it can truly REPLACE the other sorts of animation out there. I see no reason why traditional animation, and animation meshing both elements, cannot coexist. It is true, there was a string of prominent traditionally animated box office failures shortly after the turn of the millenium, Atlantis, Titan AE, Treasure Planet, Home on the Range, and others. But few people criticizing the movies said it was because of how they were animated, indeed, the animation was often considered a redeeming factor in most reviews. It seems like at the time, these projects were being deliberately sabotaged by their own companies to help bury traditional animation so they could move on to the cheaper and faster CG animation. Thankfully, the tide seems to be turning as of late. Disney has been reviving its traditional animation with new original series like The Owl House, Netflix has been backing projects like Green Eggs and Ham and of course Klaus as seen here. The rise of youtube has given the independent animator an unprecedented access to an audience for his or her work (I pray to god that COPPA does not undermine that, COPPA is a disaster that should be repealed immediately, write to your congressman)

[@possiblegames2953]

You wrote an essay!

[@beatm6948]

#1 way to prove this is to compare the original Lion King to the "live action" one. You just can't quite express what you can in cartoons/2D

[@skinnybuggo]

i mean into the spiderverse had really nice visuals and animation and it was cgi

[@zeddy2284]

Fr

[@Naveication]

It's not revolutionary, it's unnecessarily labor intensive This could have been made 10 years ago with enough time and labor... Sure they got a few more fancy tools that speed up the process a little nowadays, but ultimately if you compare it to something like Into The Spiderverse, which has a very similar final look in the end but mainly used CGI for the creation process then Klaus simply requires more work to achieve the same thing

[@derpmanthefirst1754]

I adore and massively respect it when studious play around with new and unique animation. It gives it such a new feeling and you can tell they put a lot of work into it.

[@C_Corpze]

I love this kind of clever and artistic animation, mind blown. I'm a 3D artist myself, not super good at drawing so I sometimes want to make my 3D models look more 2D or a combination of two.

[@synderthmc]

"Very rough", makes my sketches look like somebody was in a hurracane.

[@ae1103]

Same

[@belendasalas1306]

To be fair tho, it is sketchy and rough, they just had to make the lines thinner in order to "ink" the sketches to make it easier for the artists

[@synderthmc]

@@belendasalas1306 still looks relatively cleaner than my stuff, I whish my stuff was their "kinda rough"

[@wendykurniawan1515]

Klaus and Into The Spider-verse: *exists* People: so are you 3d or 2d? Klaus and Into The Spider-verse: yes???

[@wiltediris3850]

I'm imagining the two movies talking in a whispery voice at the end

[@Space_Man909]

Yesn't

[@ImmaKillMrHello]

2.5D

[@lynxesghost9918]

well,basically,2d

[@lynxesghost9918]

@@ImmaKillMrHello LMAO

[@aprophetofrng9821]

This movie is so good. My favorite christmas movie of all time now. I'm literally forcing myself not to rewatch it so I can during the holidays.

[@freddino8870]

I like animation without light and shadow, I find it charming, but this technique is also wonderful.

[@martinxy1291]

The art style for the characters reminded me of Atlantis and treasure planet

[@benp.865]

I think the maker of KLAUS also worked on treasure planet

[@liamcurran5612]

The director did the character design of Dr. Doppler for Treasure Planet; he liked it so much it inspired the design of Jesper

[@crownclowncreations]

Yes! I also thought Jesper looked a lot like Dr. Doppler. Treasure Plantet might be my top favorite animated movie still to this day. But Klaus sure is up there as well. I can’t remember the last time a full lenght feature animation made me feel like this.

[@johnramirez3368]

I need more movies like this and just like Atlantis and treasure planet 😎👏🔥

[@MamaFeng]

Lmao, do you mean dumpster fire?

[@fiddyboink]

I love the addition to detail in this movie. Whenever there is a light source that is behind the character, the ears glow up a bit to make seem see through, which is how human ears are. the animators have my upmost respect.

[@VideoJamesNZ]

This is honestly one of the most beautiful, fantastic, creative stories I've ever seen in a long time! I really hope we see alot more from this team. It's absolutely brilliant!

[@Freshieroleplays]

this is absolutely amazing like the style and shading?? it's lovely and amazing to look back at.

[@titansjojo1445]

The fact there's shots with both 2D and 3D reindeer and I couldn't notice a difference blows my mind. I've never seen such a good integration of 3D techniques into 2D animation.

[@MissArtsy]

WE NEED MORE ANIMATIONS LIKE THIS!! KEEP 2D ANIMATION ALIVE why are we really judging about how long it takes to make it and how many people it takes?? who cares? the longer the better I say because it means that there's been a lot of effort and heart being put into it! Movies that are made fast or too rushed and it's all about the money not the story or animation .. we should encourage this kind of group work of animation! A lot of animation movies back then took years to finish and look at them now, old classics♥️♥️ and I love how 3D and 2D animation are finally working together because it felt like it was ways one or the other but now that we know how to use 3D animation we can use some of it to help our 2D animation come to life !!

[@75erick75]

The problem is money. If companies can cut corners, they will

[@justawhim]

And animation is not an art that you can cut corners on, at least not when you are try to make something look good

[@vibing6530]

Pretty expensive also can be time consuming

[@MissArtsy]

@@vibing6530 I understand the money issue and who cares if it's time-consuming? Not everything needs to be made fast..

[@Naveication]

@@MissArtsy animators need to get paid, too If it takes twice as long to create something then that's double the cost it took to produce it. A company wouldn't make any profit if they just pay 40 animators for 5 years straight in order to release a single movie 2D animation is simply to labor intensive, especially this one, for how beautiful Klaus looks and no matter how many awards it won, the movie was a financial failure Into the Spiderverse is a way better approach, basically the opposite of this, it uses cgi for most things and a bit of 2d animation to clean things up, however the final look is almost the same for only a fraction of the labor CGI doesn't have to be bad, it's just a matter of how people use it

[@AstraAnimates]

This is my absolute favourite Christmas movie. Stunning art, amazing character design and style and such a unique story.

[@jeanrenaudviers]

So many visual improvements are a delight for eyes and brains without killing professional artists. Thank you for the good vibes.

[@roofy_9924]

Klaus should win the Oscar

[@10karamel37]

Agreed

[@gumballisthiccfan9710]

Who's Oscar

[@10karamel37]

@@gumballisthiccfan9710 klaus

[@gumballisthiccfan9710]

karima karamel ok but who is Oscar

[@mimicoffey1393]

@@gumballisthiccfan9710 Oscars or Academy Awards are pretty much the most prestigious film awards. They're televised annually.

[@fernandagoncalves9221]

1:19 yes, thank you. 2D animation is so underrated nowadays

[@rob0nemusic369]

Are you kidding me ? I absolutely know anybody that enjoy 3D more than 2D

[@fuyumi4309]

coughs in anime

[@hi.241]

@@rob0nemusic369 hmm how bout da WEEB

[@rob0nemusic369]

@@hi.241 weeb hate CGI, even though they don't understand the real problem behind 3D animes

[@cheetah4776]

@@rob0nemusic369 what did u say? "Hate"? *Big BRUH*

[@r__nyday]

i watched this movie just recently and the first thing i noticed was how the lighting was beautifully done. amazing work!

[@RetroRenegade8706]

There has to be more of this. this just breaths new life into 2D animation.

[@terehayakawa]

I wish everyone would know how much work it takes to make even a 10 second animation :( big respect to every animator out there

[@theazworkshop9280]

“So, is it in 2D or 3D?” *Klaus:* Well yes, but actually no.

[@tapppmaz579]

worst he responded in yes

[@tapppmaz579]

and no

[@Dboi_P]

E

[@supertron6039]

No + Yes

[@supertron6039]

*Ness*

[@DragonBreath3000]

This is so impressive! I hope more films start to use this technique

[@dewitt_cg2641]

This makes me really want to watch it. I saw previews and assumed it was some trickery 3D animation. Love traditional animation so much more than 3D.

[@benedict_bumfluffiii326]

Me: Nice 3D animation. Them: Actually this is 2D with advanced lighting. Me: Oh okay. (Looks at something else) Well this is a great 2D animation. Them: That’s 3D. Me: Nice movie? Them: It’s actually a short film. Me: >:( Them: Just kidding.

[@PhamJam]

Haha I thought the same. Beautiful movie either way. We make animations too!

[@Nugcon]

lmao

[@JoshuaRieth]

Lion King: This is Live Action Me: No it's not.

[@milddiffuse]

@@JoshuaRieth Lion King: This is animation Me: No it's not.

[@MouseGoat]

@@milddiffuse Lion King: This is shit. Me: Agree XD (new one, old was gold!)

[@yuko6794]

I loved every single detail of this movie. the scenery and movements mesmerized me to the core. here in 2:25 you can see that Klaus' ears are red and that comes from the lighting and just.. DETAILS- amazing. Should have won an Oscar btw the level of production, story and emotion they put into it is amazing.

[@aliasgerchallawala4582]

his name is jesper

[@yuko6794]

@@aliasgerchallawala4582 don't judge me I was high on sugar- 👁💧👄💧👁

[@tparadox88]

I'd really like to see more hand-drawn movies use KLaS or similar technology. I guess two years is less than it usually takes for traditionally animated movies, but it seems like you could bring in the lighting pass pretty late in the production process if a director saw Klaus and thought it was the missing piece in the look they wanted. I'd expect it would be best for the team to know going into the animation process that they're going to be using computer assisted lighting, but there's still maybe a year or two of storyboarding and dialogue recording that it could come in after.

[@laughsingay]

This is so dang cool. I love learning about what goes into these kinds of interesting animation styles because it's all so elaborate and cool.

[@thaminduKavinda]

Best animation movie I've ever watched. Breathtaking detailed creation

[@hayzmation5354]

into the spider-verse?

[@thaminduKavinda]

@@hayzmation5354 oh I really forget that one. Both of them are my favorite

[@dkmsn8]

Song of the sea?

[@thaminduKavinda]

@@dkmsn8 can not compared to above two movies because those movies have high level of creativity and advanced graphics manipulations

[@dkmsn8]

@@thaminduKavinda yeah but its animation was also very good

[@Nathan-zi3ff]

this movie is basically made by a hundred James Baxters

[@ferretive]

Precisely correct.

[@Katie-pz4vx]

James Baxter actually worked in this lol

[@lpsquestie3495]

@@Katie-pz4vx really?

[@melovx3928]

@@lpsquestie3495 Mhm, look at his KZbin channel, he worked on a clip

[@ashtonsalinas6336]

A battalion of James Baxters

[@shiftsike7220]

As someone who works with 3D models, it was immensely satisfying when my suspicion that the wagon was a 3D model was confirmed later in the video.

[@thawtianajawnson30]

5:40 why did they throw shade at Hercules? 90's Disney was the peak of western animation.

[@tootiredtothinkofnewhandle]

I love this. This movie made me feel really nostalgic bcus it is made in 2D. I mean, when was the last time a 2D movie was released? While watching it tho, i did confuse myself if i was watching a 2D movie or 3D movie that looks like 2D. So i hope to see 2D movies back in the cinemas again.

[@Kirayni]

Psst. May I recommend you to watch "anime" movies? Those are a show of what modern 2D animation is capable of

[@amybananana]

Watch Princess Kaguya ❤️

[@eleethtahgra7182]

Other than japanese anime, try song of the sea. Oh, if its japanese anime, do try to find studio ghibli product. Recommended movie would be; Grave of fireflies (if you like sad ending) Totoro Pom Poko Mononoke hime Spirited away Ponyo Other anime is usually presented in tv serries (so it could be fukkin looooonggg) instead of movie.

[@jer9635]

Disney also tried getting back with 2D with the princess and the frog 👍🏻

[@amybananana]

If you live in Europe, Netflix releases some of Studio Ghibli's movies tomorrow

[@DelRae]

“The initial sketches were very rough, as you can see here” Yeah I think your editor pulled up the wrong clip 🙄🙄

[@victoremisho9432]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Me too..I'm an illustrator and when he said that, I was like wait wutttttt, excuse me but sir this my cleanest artworks dont even have these kid of polish

[@user-mh6ju3pg8c]

No it's was correct

[@DontEatYourMicrowave]

@@user-mh6ju3pg8c that’s not rough sketches tho, that’s rough lineart

[@Chloestewart._21]

Yea lol I’ll scribble a line and call it clean lines heh

[@HotChocolate2070]

timestamp lol

[@puffer_frog]

This is how AI should be used for art - to help artists develop advanced style and artistry. Not completely replace art itself with weird and uncanny bullshit.

[@samalass466]

That's what sketchbooks and concept art jobs are for.

[@1979Namenlos]

I absolutely love the animation style because it was unlike anything I had seen before and now I know why. Amazing work!

[@gabriellitewski7988]

But it doesn't help now that we have streaming

[@just1randomhooman667]

You know this was the only Christmas movie my dad actually liked, we aren’t Christian but my dad watches some Christmas movies to see what people came up with and he usually sees most as just weirdly made and the plot never makes sense on how Santa becomes Santa and stuff until we came across this, and he was surprised a Christmas movie that was actually good was made, and he liked the plot and the emotions conveyed in the movie was wonderful, till now this is one of my top favorites.

[@aris1869]

I agree. Most Christmas movies are kinda predictable, or just remakes of classics. That’s just one of the many things that makes klaus so special

[@biryanibeti3767]

Same here. I don’t like Christmas movies but this was my favorite one.

[@BetONpineappLes]

It has become a tradition for me and my sister to watch this movie every Christmas. There was not a lot of animated movies that had a good plot, well good enough to be memorable or make me awe. Never expected to bawl my eyes out for a Christmas movie. And this movie made santa feel more human like. Huge fan of this movie and am excited for more future projects

[@yourmum69_420]

best christmas movie is still Die Hard

[@rayvalentine3751]

@@yourmum69_420 LMAOOO you play too much 🤣 😂

[@skibur848]

This is unironically the best animated movie ever

[@Space_Man909]

Yep

[@u-thix2436]

Absolutely

[@johnthegamerman404]

100% yes, watched it while browsing Netflix, just to watch something new. I was blown away.

[@skibur848]

@@johnthegamerman404 totally thought you were 3 blue 1 brown and now im kinda sad

[@ar.viayubasa635]

The message and the quality of this movie is superb! never said such a great cartoon until this one came! Now my favorite animation evr!!!

[@kajamaja7148]

When i first saw the picture for the movie i fell in love with the look. And then i fell in love with the movie itself but wouldn't it be just amazing to see another movie made this way. I LOVE the look so much

[@BiggiN483]

He says “3d here is not real, it's just an illusion“. But a 3d animation on a 2d tv screen is also an illusion...

[@luvhlee_.112]

True, never noticed

[@raphdraws]

Yeah but when creating and lighting a “reel” 3D movie it is all 3D, while this was created as a 2d and then lighted to look deepened: sure both are illusions but the first one was created as a 3D and the render makes it kind of an illusion as you say but that’s where the difference is. The illusion in Klaus is that 2d created characters look 3D modelled while they’re not 🙂

[@BiggiN483]

Yes, I realise that, but a 3d model on a screen is still 2d, cleverly lit, animated and made 3d by software that creates meshes that give a 3d illusion on a 2d surface. As long as the screen does not bend it stays an optical illusion. You just work in a simulated 3d environment. It's not actually 3d.

[@mendoxei]

Big brain

[@choten8345]

Miku

[@Gh0st_Cl0ver166]

Klaus have one of the best 2D animation that i ever see

[@rickydinto]

Because it's looks 3D, anything with 3D always objectively fundamental superior.

[@alphasaiyanrex1616]

This is exactly what Disneys Wish should’ve looked like

[@_mustard_]

its so actually well made i didnt know it was 2d UNTIL this video showed up

[@brunav1987]

This became one of my favourite Christmas movies of all time. I just love everything about it from the animation to the story. Just Truly Marvelous.

[@minaminasctftlkhttydfan9958]

Same :D

[@beyzacanturk24]

I actually went to its studio before it was released because my teachers husband worked on the animation and it was super rare it was so awsome

[@aris1869]

Your so lucky. I’m happy for you!

[@Kalaxian80animations]

Very nice man

[@crazydragy4233]

That's so cool!

[@beyzacanturk24]

Thank you guys!

[@looshypooshy]

i recently thought of this movie and legit couldn’t remember if it was 2d or 3d

[@LRon-ef7ni]

Holy crap. That’s unbelievable. Like practical sets, costumes, and stunts, hand drawn animation still amazes me.