<![CDATA[Computer animation has evolved from a mere visualization tool into a cross-disciplinary research domain that merges computer graphics, artificial intelligence, and human-computer interaction. This study maps the intellectual structure, thematic evolution, and research frontier of computer animation literature indexed in Scopus between 2021 and 2025 through a bibliometric approach. Data were retrieved from the Scopus database using the boolean string ("computer animation" OR "digital animation" OR "3D animation"); after filtering by publication year, source type, document type, and publication stage, 544 final-stage journal articles were retained for analysis using VOSviewer and Bibliometrix/Biblioshiny. The results show that scientific output grew from 93 articles in 2021 to 117 articles in 2025, accumulating 4,568 citations at an average of 8.4 citations per article. China led national productivity with 180 documents, followed by the United States (83) and the United Kingdom (43), while international collaboration accounted for only 18.4 percent of the dataset. Keyword co-occurrence analysis identified three principal thematic clusters: an animation-virtual reality-education cluster, a three-dimensional computer graphics-modelling cluster, and a human subject-controlled experiment cluster. The terms "3d animation," "computer animation," and "virtual reality" dominated the observation period, while "interactive computer graphics," "digital animation," and experimental demographic descriptors (female, male, middle aged) emerged as strengthening themes between 2023 and 2025. The study further identifies a persistent research gap in the limited representation of Southeast Asian countries, with Indonesia contributing 12 documents and Malaysia 16, alongside a scarcity of pedagogical studies relative to algorithmic-technical ones. These findings offer a directional map for researchers, journal editors, and research policymakers to shape the future agenda of computer animation research, particularly regarding the integration of generative models and their application to vocational education contexts in underrepresented regions.]]>
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