SUMMARY This work concentrates on the analysis of the transformation that the cinematographic animation industry has undergone, thanks to the new digital advances in producing 3D animated films and the new digital programmes used in maing 2D animated films, and how the big animation studios have applied these new technologies and achieved the integration of traditional and digital animation in making historical films. The importance of this investigation lies in the inexistence of a similar work about these aspects. This investigation is structured in two parts. The first one concentrates on the analysis of the appearance of the new technologies and the beginning of their use in films made by the main studios of international animation; we also study the development and the later advance of these digital medias (chapter 1 and 2). In the second part we study and analyse the integration of traditional and digital animation in the pre-production and production of historical animated films (Chapters 3 and 4). Also included are appendices with interviews of important professionals, specialists in both 2D and 3D animation. Chapter 1 looks at the working process required in the development of digital animation from its very beginnings, studying the first digital techniques used by Disney studios with the CAPS software, until the latest software developed by Pixar. In Chapter 2 the latest technical advances are studied, those that are being developed at the present time, and the influence that these advances are having on the big production companies, analysing the digital animation programmes that are currently to be found in the market, the use of these programmes and the differences and similarities that can be found between them. Chapter 3 investigates and compares 3D software used by Dreamworks (The Prince of Egypt) and Fox Animation (Anastasia) and how it has been integrated into the 2D aesthetic of each film, and how the work between traditional and digital animators was coordinated. In Chapter 4, there is the anaysis of other animated feature films that have been produced using the latest and ultimate digital technologies, and are based on historical fact. The common theme in all of the films analysed allows us to both examine the importance of the script when an animated film is being produced, and compare their respective development in the preproduction process. Also included is the analysis, from the same basis, of other short film productions based on fact, for example a short animated film produced with the means studied in this investigation.