Top Video Animation Trends to Expect in 2025

The video animation industry is entering a new phase influenced by the changes in technologies and tools by the year 2025. New trends (and techniques) emerge every year, and it is very important for brands and businesses to keep up with them.

The increasing GPU power is shaking the video animation industry in general, especially the 3D animation sector.

Modern GPUs have equipped animators with the ability to create extremely fine and complex scenes and basics of the graphics and effects and the efficiency is raised and various options are introduced. Such a significant raise in power together with tendencies such as AI tools and real-time rendering is creating the basis of what can be referred to as the new generation of animated narration, quality, and interactivity.

Herein, the principal prospective directions in animation are defined and shown as the major trends for the year 2025 and explained how these trends will advance the field of animation and make the process of consuming animated materials easier and more effective for the viewer.

1) AI-Driven Video Animation

It is expected that in the year 2025, AI techniques will further affect the animation industry in a way that will increase effectiveness and innovation. The current tools such as NVIDIA Omniverse and DeepMotion are already enhancing character animation as well as the visuals. Artificial Intelligence is expected to be involved in every process of production from writing the script to the final editing. This is because businesses in the various industries such as advertising and entertainment will likely continue to incorporate AI-generated animation to create more appropriate and entertaining content as it can anticipate viewers’ reactions and optimize several processes. The reason behind their decision is the speed and low cost that AI brings to the table.

Also, if SORA from OpenAI appears in the market, it will greatly affect the animation industry since it can produce various forms of animations. Still, based on the presented potential, the actual usability and quality of SORA in practice could be rather subpar. I guess we shall see!

Coca-Cola recently used artificial intelligence to come up with a holiday campaign that is as enchanting as it is intimate. Coca-Cola was able to create a video that not only brings the feeling of joy that is associated with the holiday season but also was able to capture the audience in a more personal way through the use of OpenAI. The AI played a critical role in creating the complex graphics and stories in the video so that every aspect of the video would be relevant to the audience. We predict the use cases like this will increase in 2025.

2) Procedural and Real-Time Rendering

Procedural animation and real-time rendering are expected to revolutionalise the animation field in the near future. Procedural animation makes it possible to create intricate worlds and effects without much direct input from the user, thus transforming the creation of content mainly in gaming and virtual production. Real-time rendering that provides an on the spot view enables the creators to alter the contents which is very useful in virtual reality and live-action.

By the year 2025, these advancements are most likely to extend to virtual events, and further to interactive media to improve the immersion. However, some of the issues include hardware requirements and photorealistic rendering, however, these tools are becoming more and more available and effective due to the continuous advancement in technology. With the increasing application of real-time rendering across industries, it will pave way for more interactive and tailored content which will redefine the way visual content is presented.

3) Augmented Reality & Virtual Reality Animation

AR and VR are the next big things that are predicted to become as common as the social media platforms when it comes to marketing and branding. Think about being able to visualize how a particular piece of furniture will look in your home prior to purchasing it. Companies such as IKEA are already working on utilizing this. It will not end there though. It is expected that by 2025 AR will be nearly everywhere and brands will use it to create engaging ads and consumers to see the products in their environment before buying them.

On the other hand, the level of customer engagement is expected to rise to an all-new level with the help of VR. Just think about it, you are sitting on your couch and you can visit a tourist attraction or move to a new house. In the future, as the VR technology develops, brands will be able to offer customers a complete immersion into the brand’s world where the customer will be able to virtually visit the brand.

As the demand for these technologies increases, more video production companies will probably expand their services to include AR and VR, to meet the increasing client expectations for such innovative solutions.

4) Collage Animation and Alternative Art Styles

Collage animation is becoming more popular as brands attempt to capture the consumers’ attention in a world of overstimulation. By 2025, this trend will continue as more companies try to create visually unique and emotionally compelling stories through collage animation. The application of collage animation in the advertising of Coca-Cola has depicted how this technique can produce a more impactful content that can be easily remembered by the consumers, as well as combining the past with the present to target a wide range of consumers.

Due to the specificity of collage animation, brands can tell modern stories and create a feeling of nostalgia at the same time. In this way, this approach creates a new perspective in the midst of digital spaces and aids brands in building better relationships with consumers. The use of collage animation is expected to rise in the near future and become a powerful means of visual communication in brand marketing.

5) Advanced Simulations and Visual Effects

Simulation and visual effects are expected to improve in their complexity in the coming five years due to the enhancements in software such as Houdini. Even though today it is used in automotive and aerospace industries to explain some processes, in the future, healthcare and consumer electronics may also use it. The capacity to produce hyper-realistic replicas will assist brands in conveying the value of their products, especially in regions where the technical aspects are critical to the consumer’s choice.

”BYE-BYE” by Boxel Studio is an indie VFX short film that effectively used AI tools to produce quality VFX effects especially in the real-time aging of a character. Applying CopyCat in Nuke to rotoscope and Leonardo for rotoscoping. for creating a customized digital makeup, the filmmakers could alter an actor’s look in a way that is both time-consuming and complicated to do manually. These AI tools not only speed up the process but also enabled the filmmakers to explore a lot of possibilities which led to the making of a beautiful and moving film.

6) Flat Graphic Animation & Minimalist Design

This trend of flat graphic animation is expected to continue in 2025 because it is very efficient and cost effective. Indeed, this results to branding adopting the minimalist design approach since it enables brands to create content fast and cheap, which is important especially in the digital environment where timely creation of content is central to the goal of staying relevant. Due to the simplicity that is characteristic of flat animation, it can easily be adapted on different platforms while keeping the brand image consistent without having to go through the processes and costs of incorporating other complex styles.

Besides, the simplified shapes, clear colors, and lack of details characteristic of flat design will come in handy as they help attract the audience’s attention, notably in mobile contexts where simplicity and effectiveness are crucial. This way, the brands get to present audiences with appealing, professional, and versatile graphics that will respond to a number of users’ preferences and needs while, at the same time, require as little time and money as possible to complete.

7) Social Media Video Animations

TikTok and Instagram as social media giants will still be on the spotlight in the future. These platforms are characterized by the use of short content. Therefore, using animated videos to pass short, interesting messages is very effective in creating engagement as the content does not get lost in the feeds.

Thanks to the AI based tools, even the amateur creators will be able to create professional level animations, which will result in the inflation of content. As new social networks appear in the years to come, the focus on animated content will only increase. Especially the ones that provide an interactive and customizable experience to the users and the content in general. This trend might lead more and more brands and influencers to use animations to engage with their audience. That’s why we believe social media video animations will be a solid trend in 2025 and beyond.

AI vs. Human-Made Video Animation

AI-generated animations are quick and cheap. They can perform tasks such as inbetweening and lip-syncing in a blazing speed. However, these animations are not always as original and touching as the works of human animators, which results in rather stiff or unoriginal-looking content.

Human animators are better at creating better and unique work with good plots, characterization and artistry which are some areas that AI cannot fully capture at the moment. Although the AI is expected to enhance in the future, the human touch especially in the area of creativity cannot be replaced by AI (yet) especially where there is need to create a convincing and compelling story or emotionally appealing content. After all, our audience are real humans (not Robots or AI!)

Thus, until the current issues are fixed with AI platforms, the need for human-made video animations will remain high in the year 2025.

5G Technology Helps Animation Collaboration

5G will help in the transformation of the animation industry because it enables high-speed data transfer and low latency. This is important for real-time collaboration and remote working. This technology will also improve the high-quality animated content streaming which will be easily accessed by many people across the globe.

So when we have 5G tech available widely everywhere, the trends will change accordingly.

We can expect higher resolutions, more details and depths and longer duration content in the area of video animation.

Final Thoughts

By 2025, video animation will be transformed by AI, real-time rendering, and AR/VR, allowing brands to create more personalized and immersive content. However, while technology will drive innovation, the heart of any great animation lies in the human touch and storytelling that connects on an emotional level. Success will come from blending these new tools with the creativity and authenticity that only people can bring.

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