Pushing the Boundaries of Animation Production in Immersive Formats: A Case Study of Quill

Immersive production has become an extended approach to animation-making directly within virtual reality (VR), providing artists and studios new ways to engage with their creative pipelines. This case study investigates Quill, one of the leading tools for virtual reality animation production, employed by award-winning studios and independent teams such as Oculus Story Studio, Studio Syro, Baobab Studios, Lavamachine, and Very Cavaliere Productions. It examines the foundations of this application and critically analyses Quill’s technical capabilities and production workflows, drawing on existing literature, hands-on experimentation with the software, and insights from interviews with professional VR artists. By deconstructing Quill’s technical capabilities and creative methodologies, and mapping production pipelines developed by artists and studios working specifically within its toolset, this paper outlines an emerging field of immersive animation practice. Through this analysis, the paper demonstrates how VR applications such as Quill extends the possibilities of screen-based animation into immersive formats and the challenges of employing such emerging technologies for making animation within VR.