Despicable Me is illustrated.
Computer animation . The more general term computer-generated imagery ( CGI ) encompasses both static scenes and dynamic images , while computer animation only refers to the moving images . Computer animation is essentially a digital successor to the stop motion techniques using 3D models , and traditional animation techniques using frame-by-frame animation of 2D illustrations . Despicable Me is a 2010 American 3D computer-animated comedy film from Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment that was released on July 9 , 2010 in the United States .