Animation Changes

Animation Changes have taken place throughout the series' run. The first four seasons were produced using a variety of programs, mostly Power Animator, with new character designs often made in a program called Corel. The fifth season was delayed for some months, beginning in June, so the animation staff could learn the animation program Maya, a powerful 3-D animation program which the series has used to this day. As a result, the series' animation has changed greatly over the years, though it still uses construction paper textures, and the video game South Park: The Fractured But Whole was even built on an engine that could share artistic assets with the series.

As a result of these advancing techniques and the gradual evolution of the show's style, character designs and locations are updated periodically - especially beginning around Season Eleven onward - to look more refined and better reflect the greater skills and capabilities of the Animation Department.

Animation Evolution

In the "The Spirit of Christmas" shorts and the pilot episode, "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe", the animation was made using stop motion and the characters were made with construction paper, a costly and tine-consuming process dramatized and parodied in "A Very Crappy Christmas". The two shorts and the pilot were the only things to be released using this animation style; all future episodes were created using primarily computer animation software.

During the early episodes "Weight Gain 4000" and "Volcano", the animation was done on a computer using Power Animator. The animation team was still working out the show's style, using relatively few expressions and animations. Trey and the animators experimented with changes to the animation style, such as using flat colors instead of construction paper texture, and using symmetrical eyes without shadow or any lines on them.

The animation was slightly altered in "Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride", introducing new expressions and adding a small black line that divides the two eyes, while very few of the mouth shapes have also been redrawn. The kids have started to have a shadow over their eyes and now the characters have construction paper textures.

From the episode "Tom's Rhinoplasty" on, most adult characters now have shadows under their eyes as well. This was also one of the show's first instances of using a photograph to represent a character's face.

After the changeover to Maya in the fifth season, the animation became more vibrant. The characters gained more expressions and animation. Most background characters have gained a greater variety of clothes and hair. The adults have a shadow over their eyes after this season. The cartoon flames were changed to real-life flames, and new colors were introduced. Most of the fourth graders now use the same basic animation rig, with two major body types. Some of the mouths and expressions are refined again and altered slightly. Characters also are much less often animated tilting their heads as they speak.

By the seventh season, the style for adult characters began to change and diversify. Whereas many older characters like Officer Barbrady or Jimbo Kern and even those introduced in the previous season often had thick black lines to represent both wrinkles on their faces or zippers in their clothing, as well as hand-drawn, uneven ties or vests, designs for new characters like Harrison Yates or Ryan Valmer and Sarah Valmer began to emphasize cleaner, more symmetrical designs and smoother colors. Wrinkles or other body features are now thinner lines with a slightly deeper than flesh color, while zippers are often similarly a slightly deeper shade of the surrounding color. Ties are straightened and belts/pockets become more common and subtler.

Around the same time locations and backgrounds begin to be refined as well. Stark's Pond is expanded significantly in "Toilet Paper" to set the mood of the parodied scene, with a cloudy, foggy look, a more defined shoreline and lots of rocks and trees surrounding it. The completely new Park County Police Station appears for the first time instead of the original station. In the ninth season, Hell's Pass Hospital now has red roofing and an altered sign. Heavn and Hell take on entirely new appearances in "Best Friends Forever" and we even see a new model for Satan himself, with a buffer look with curved horns.

Beginning in the eleventh season, most noticeable in "Night of the Living Homeless", the adult characters' appearances start receiving modifications to fit the style used for new adults over the last few seasons as described above, with their collars and ties tweaked and dark lines softened. Randy Marsh's shirt is altered so his rolled up sleeves are softer and so his now symettrical collar and pockets are a deeper shade of thinned blue lines rather than thick and black lines. Jimbo Kern has a softened chin, a completely new vest and shirt, now with a zipper and visible undershirt, and softened lines on his hat to a deeper shade of orange. Later in the season, Gerald Broflovski has a more colorful yamulke and new collar. By this time, we begin to see fences around the boys' houses and different snow patterns.

background characters for both adults, fourth graders and the police force were first refreshed in the eleventh and twelfth seasons, including more characters with shading effects in their hair. Background women in particular almost never follow the round-faced, swqare-bodied designs of older seasons and now tend to have more petite, thinner bodies. Some characters, such as Lizzy and Mark Cotswolds begin to disappear from background entirely supplanted by the new characters. The adults and police would be refreshed again around Season Nineteen to include more modernized, hippie caricatures for the former, and in the latter case, female officers.

Character Revisions

In recent episodes, many characters' designs have changed as a result, though in some cases they may revert to their older designs.

• Randy Marsh: As of "Chickenlover", he has a different hairstyle and a dimpled chin. From the eleventh season on, his rolled up sleeves are softer and so his now symettrical collar and pockets are a deeper shade of thinned blue lines rather than thick black lines.
• Pip Pirrip: As of "Fourth Grade", he has slightly updated hairstyle, including a small fringe visible from his hat.
• Jesus Christ: As of "Super Best Friends", he has a red sash.
• Bill Allen and Fosse McDonald: They originally had thick eyebrows in the first four seasons, but were redesigned starting in the fifth season to have the same eyebrows as most other child characters.
• Terrance Mephesto: For the first four seasons he had big brown eyebrows and were always visible. After Season Four, his eyebrows got smaller and appeared only when he became worried or angry.
• Ned Gerblanski: From sometime before "I'm a Little Bit Country", one of the brown patches on his camouflage shirt was removed and has not been seen since.
• Satan: First revised in "Best Friends Forever" to have curved horns, stronger arms, and a much more detailed and muscular physique. with an entirely different silhouette.
• Jimbo Kern: As of "Night of the Living Homeless", Jimbo has a softened chin, a completely new vest with realigned pockets and shading effects and a collared shirt, now with a zipper and visible undershirt, and softened lines on his hat to a deeper shade of orange.
• Gerald Broflovski: As of "More Crap", he has a different collar and a new yarmulke. His pants are also shaped slightly differently.
• Sheila Broflovski: From "Major Boobage" on, she has softened lines in her hair and updated earrings as well as a more symmetrical design, with a collar on her jacket and different
• Mr. Mackey: As of "Major Boobage", his shirt now has a pocket and an even collar and tie. He also has a belt.
• Herbert Garrison: As of "Eek, A Penis!", after his second sex change, he has an updated, straightened collar and a belt. His ears use softer lines and his glasses are now shown over his eyes from a sideview, instead of resting on his nose as previously.
• Principal Victoria: In "Breast Cancer Show Ever", her undershirt is a bit lower to show a little more of her lower neck.
• Thomas and Laura Tucker: As of "Pandemic", their faces have both been given a slight clean-up, including shading on their hair respectively.
• Stephen StotchL in "Over Logging" on, has a collar to his shirt and a straightened tie.
• Stuart McCormick: As of "Pinewood Derby", the muss on his face closely resembles dirt, his hat is a dark red with more texture, he has a new realigned collar, and a cleaned-up body overall.
• Carol McCormick: As of "Pinewood Derby", she has more detailed hair, as well as new t-shirt with a different shape and her arms hanging differently, and new blue pants.
• Bartender: Has a major redesign in "W.T.F.".
• Skeeter's Friends: One of them had a major redesign on "W.T.F.".
• Mayor McDaniels: As of "The F Word", the Mayor has a new collar and a small medal.
• Kevin McCormick: As of "Sexual Healing", he has new effects on his hair and face.
• Mecha-Streisand: As of "200", she has a completely new and fully 3D look.
• Dr. Alphonse Mephesto: As of "201", his wrinkles are softened and his hat now has a 3D effect to make it's bottom visible, and his collar has been modified. A few new flowers have been added. His sideview is all-new.
• Nathan: Had a slightly redesigned face in "Crippled Summer".
• Bradley Biggle: As of "Mysterion Rises", his hairstyle has some detail added to it.
• Tuong Lu Kim: From "City Sushi" on, usually has an altered hairline, softened cheekbones and skin details, a realigned vest, and black pants.
• Harrison Yates: From "City Sushi" on, his cheekbones and face detail as well as his hair detail are all softer shades, his holster is changed to a darker shade of brown, and the bottom of his suspenders is removed entirely so they appear to connect directly to his pants.
• Steve and Linda Black: Are first seen with new designs in "1%" which include altered heads, a more detailed suit for Steve and new white sleeves for Linda; more so than many characters, they switch between their old and new designs often for several years.
• Marvin Marsh has an entirely new wheelchair from "Cash For Gold" on, as well as wears a detailed purple blanket over his legs in many scenes.
• Old Farmer: As of "Insecurity", he has a more detailed face, outfit, and hairstyle.
• Laura Tucker has an entirely new body type and design in "The Magic Bush", with both an updated version of her old outfit and an entirely new one including a flowery-patterned skirt.
• Satan: Is redesigned in "Freemium Isn't Free" to follow his original silhouette while still having curved horns and a more muscular form. One of his fingernails is now visible much of the time.
• Karen McCormick: As of "The City Part of Town", she begins wearing her hair in pigtails with new detailed effects.
• Lolly the Candy Man: Has lost weight and has gray hair, and wears a different outfit, when he reappears in "The Scoots".

Video Games

For South Park: The Stick of Truth, the game developers had to recreate everything from the ground up and the models used in game, while intended to be as close to the show as possible, occasionally use different textures, thicker lines or contain small differences that an eagle-eyed fan may notice. Many of the background characters do not resemble those ever actually seen in the show as a result.

South Park: The Fractured But Whole uses the Snowdrop engine by Ubisoft that can actually import and export art assets in a compatible format with Maya, so it therefore uses art assets created for the show and the game's original assets are fully compatible with it.

Trivia

• Liane Cartman, Sharon Marsh and Skeeter are the only adult characters from the first season still active with their original appearances; however, Officer Barbrady is sometimes seen in his old uniform resembling his first season self, and Ned Gerblanski has undergone only a small revision; in later seasons, Sharon's eyebrows are virtually permanent and Liane often wears a jacket, however.