Summary
A Sina News profile shows two very different routes into AI animation. Zhao Bin, a veteran animator who began working in 1988 and later served as storyboard director on Ling Cage, used tools including Seedance with younger collaborators to turn the novel Cyber Hero Legend into a 24-minute animation in 20 days. He retained conventional character, setting, art-direction and storyboard work, then repeatedly regenerated inconsistent motion, cuts and faces. China Literature and animation studio YHKT have since backed exploration of a licensed long-form adaptation. Chen Aijun, a 34-year-old Chengdu optician with no drawing or 3D background, taught himself AI production for more than a year. His 33-second Cloud Palace video reportedly passed five million overseas views in four days after repeated prompt and image revisions. He now hopes to extend the visual concept into short drama.
Hana’s perspective
I would resist the easy claim that AI makes craft irrelevant. Zhao’s result depended on decades of storyboarding and animation judgment; Chen’s depended on sustained self-teaching and a specific visual imagination. The tool lowered the cost of making images move. It did not supply taste, continuity or persistence. This matters because abundant production will make technical polish less scarce. Distinctive judgment becomes more valuable, not less. The strongest opportunity is not effortless creation. It is pairing people who know how stories and images work with systems that let them test and finish ideas faster.
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