Cited on HN 5 times, 2022–2025, never outright recommendedscore 0
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026
Cited in AI-art and video-stylization threads as an example of a manual, artist-driven alternative to AI tools, and as a demo of EbSynth.
Animator Joel Haver explains how he makes his short films using rotoscoping and the EbSynth tool, along with the software he uses. The method is a labor-intensive, frame-by-frame process.
“His method is the literal opposite of using an AI tool.” (HN, 2023)
A good example are Joel Haver's videos on youtube. He explains his process here: [this video] . He produces animations by rotoscoping live footage, with only a few keyframes being done by hand and the rest by AI, using something similar to style transfer.
Joel Haver explains his rotoscoping animation process
As someone who is in touch with a lot of people acting as VTubers in order to keep privacy while being able to express themselves, I'm very happy to see this! EbSynth gave Joel Haver a trademark style[1], and I feel this might be the next step. 1. [this video]
>There's a popular youtuber named Joel Haver who films videos, then uses an AI tool to convert them into animations, so they can be magically put into a space or fantasy setting. Hang on, AI tool? Joel Haver converts every frame manually. His method is the literal opposite of using an AI tool. It's incredibly painstaking. [this video]
Shows the painstaking manual frame-by-frame method
Looks like rotoscoping: [link] . The closest you would get is maybe an edge detection filter. Or AI rotoscoping: [link] . Or maybe EbSynth, as demoed by this guy: [this video] But it never looks as nice as the hand-drawn way.
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