[Music] foreign have you ever wondered why choppy animation sometimes feels better some of you out there are going to immediately disagree but think of it this way animation is not as simple as the frame rate of a video game your average video game is usually between 24 frames a second and 60 frames a second but games will usually try to keep it consistent if the game is optimized it's always going to try and be 24fps 30fps 60fps whatever it stays a consistent solid number of frames per second b
ut animation changes frame rate all the time without you noticing on average animation tends to be at a maximum of 24 frames a second but it's rare for animation to even be at 24 frames a second the whole time usually it'll be half of that at 12 frames a second and even drop down to 8 FPS or even 6 FPS this is referred to as in mini on ones twos threes and fours which is referring to how many frames the drawing is held for take a look at the scene from Cowboy Bebop nobody would call a fight like
this choppy but while most of the fight is on twos or 12 frames a second there are moments where the animation is at a or eight frames a second or on threes here's two frames from that fight look at how huge the jump is between them these two drawings are held on threes at eight frames a second you can see it in the background which is still moving at 24 frames a second holding these drawings for just a frame longer on threes makes them more impactful and more readable compared to the rest of t
he shot which is animated on twos the huge jump between these two frames wasn't an accident and neither is the fact that they're held on for just a frame longer than every other frame it's to make sure you feel those frames in the moment and feel what happens between those two frames when it comes to animation it's often more important what happens between frames more so than what's happening in a single frame because all that matters is how the animation feels as a whole not what it looks like
frame by frame and sometimes what makes the animation feel better is holding on certain frames think about it this way imagine an arrow hitting a bullseye how many frames do you think that takes three frames two what about zero nothing's there and then it suddenly appears with the tail vibrating into place to me this feels far more impactful than animating the frames in between because at the end of the day animation itself is an illusion nothing is actually moving it's your brain inserting the
movement between those two frames so the lack of anything between those two frames results in a far greater impact with your brain filling in all emotion now this isn't some hard and fast rule American animation tends to animate fast movements on ones using smears and multiples for cartoony effect while Japanese animation will focus more on the after effects of the action putting emphasis on what's not there in a single frame or what comes after both Styles can be executed well but what you pref
er is ultimately up to you personally I find the quote-unquote choppy animation far more satisfying and I think when it's done well people prefer it that way I know I literally just said that what you prefer is up to you but hear me out for a second before the 2000s animation made for TV limited the amount of frames drawn as an economical decision Studios only have so much time labor and materials for hundreds of hours of Animation so every frame mattered and they emphasized the impact of an act
ion over the action itself that's why you get these flashes of white in Dragon Ball Z having them there for just a frame makes the impact feel way tougher but over time those economical decisions shifted as new technology made animation more convenient after the 2000s TB animation slowly began to focus on a 2d puppet animation or what a lot of people would know as Flash animation where all those in between frames ended up being filled in by interpolation and animation was often at a full 24 fram
es a second but 2D puppet animation can be executed just as well as the more limited choppy animation of the 90s and using interpolation to your advantage and having every frame animated can be just as strong as a stylistic choice as hand animating on twos and threes obviously I'm a fan of the style hence why dudeley is animated this way but what fascinates me is the recent Trend we've been seeing that mixes the two together digital animation that can interpolate but animators choose to limit th
e animation to twos and threes for the impact we were talking about earlier and I think this style is fantastic in my opinion if you were wondering why the frame rate drops in Puss in Boots 2 looks so good this is why and it works so unbelievably well that I think this is just where digital animation in general is going and I kind of love it when I said earlier that people prefer it this way it's that I think people want to see an artist's decisions like this when an animator is holding on a fra
me like this they want you to feel it you don't get that from fully interpolated digital animation and that decision making deliberately choosing what frames to hold on and for how long is exactly the kind of reasons why people love classic 2D animation it gives animation a soul a lot of people criticize Flash animation for being hollow and too digital and while I think Flash animation can be done well like I've mentioned before I've always seen people praise good Flash animation when they limit
the frame rate like this because they want to feel the artist behind it not the computer and the thing is doing it this way is actually harder than fully interpolated 24 frames a second animation especially in 3D in an article for polygon the director of the bad guys is actually described it as fighting the computer which is a pretty good way to describe it animators and artists are literally fighting against what the computer gives them to add their own touch to it nobody's cutting corners or
doing it this way because it's cheaper it requires far more artistic input and decision making most of all it requires confidence and I think that should be celebrated it's risky and difficult and experimental yet confident that it works anyways maybe it doesn't work for you and that's okay that's what an experiment is for but 3D animation is still a fairly young medium that really only started 25 years ago so we're still figuring it out I've gotten most of this video without mentioning spider-v
erse and you've probably been vibrating your seat waiting for it to get mentioned but yeah it really can't be understated how revolutionary spider-verse was for 3D animation I know it can feel like studios are doing what spider-verse did because it's trendy but I don't think that's the case I think what spider-verse did instead was unlock something nobody realized they wanted in digital animation to fight the computer after 20 years of movies and TV that leans into what the computer can do we're
finally leaning back into what the artist can do and I think that's awesome at the end of the day I'm personally a huge fan of animating on threes fours and Beyond and I love seeing it in animation aside from the economical reasons that make it ideal for animating by yourself because you have to draw far less frames you can get some excellent fluid animation in just a handful of drawings when you know exactly what drawings to emphasize and how long to hold on to them for you don't need to draw
every single frame to get an idea across just the most important ones and then use classical techniques like overshoot and smears to really emphasize the motion but that's for another video hopefully you'll leave this video a little more appreciative of the kinds of decisions that go into animating this way I personally can't wait to see more of it in animation and I hope you do too thanks for watching this video was made possible with my patreon subscribers at patreon.com I don't take sponsorsh
ips so it's currently the best way to support me and you'll get access to an exclusive Channel under Discord server lots of extra content and behind the scenes and your name and videos thank you again to burden Hunter alamaris cgts films just Nero turbo Dev banana man anchor J Eric Rich Richter hobqueer as well as the names you see scrolling now remember to do the usual YouTube stuff and have a good one bye friends [Music] foreign [Music]
Comments
Thanks for the big response to this video, and the 500k! It’s been interesting to hear everyone’s perspectives on this. I want to make it known that my videos are first and foremost for non-animators, so I’ve been trying to hear out any constructive comments from that audience. While I stand by everything laid out in this video, for the past couple days I debated doing a follow-up video to explain/rebuke certain points in-depth. But I think it’s more constructive to just make it a pinned comment instead, so this is that. Sorry for the wall of text, (“happy for you tho/sorry that happened/etc. etc”) but if you disagree with this video, I encourage you to at least read any of the points that interest you. Two biggest ones: Arc System Works: I had a Guilty Gear clip in here (at 5:16 I think) but I exchanged it for 3D anime clips to focus purely on film and TV. It can be tempting to put clips of things in just because you enjoy them, but they don’t always fit – since I already want to do a video on fighting game animation and had mentioned Kinuko’s GDC talk, this was one of those times. But yes, Guilty Gear’s style is impeccable and they were very early to this method, if not the earliest. I think video games in general are pretty early to a lot of artistic styles that have eventually cropped up in TV and film, which is something I eventually want to talk about. Nausea/Discomfort: So, a few people specifically pointed to characters moving at a different framerate than the background creating nausea/discomfort. I can understand that. I mentioned in the video that this whole style is an experiment and maybe things evolve, 5:16. Maybe that aspect gets ditched, or refind, or whatever. I like it, but I get why it can be weird. But aside from that, I want to at least rebuke or question: why do you not feel the same way about stop motion? What about 3D that’s so convincing it looks like stop motion, ala The Lego Movie? That film has characters moving at different rates from the rest of the scene. Or stop motion with digital effects at a different framerate, ala Paranorman? If the main issue is that the images have depth, yet are still held on 2s and 3s, how is any of that different from more obvious 3D? I don’t say this as a “gotcha,” I’m genuinely curious as to what the disconnect is for people. Maybe it's because those films are creating more cohesive, steady images vs something like Puss in Boots and Spiderverse, which really push it. I can get that. But overall, it just seems like people are used to 3D images moving at a smoother rate due to video games. All these methods – 2D, 3D, and stop motion – are just ways of creating flat 2D images. All 2D animation principles apply. Whenever anyone tries to explain why it makes them uncomfortable they almost always use a word like “laggy” or compare it to video games. Again, if you feel nauseous from this style, that’s fine. 5:16 is for you. But as that timestamp says, it’s an experiment. It’s brand new. Have you considered that you're just not used to it yet? A lot of people are just as excited as me to see it considering this video stands at a 99.4% like to dislike ratio. Maybe you should try watching more stuff in this style, let your eyes adjust to it, and see how you feel afterwards. Some other dumb stuff that I’d put in a followup video: - 60fps Footage: I also had a short clip around 0:30 that took 60fps DMC5 footage and crunched it down to 24fps to demonstrate that when a clip isn’t animated with a lower framerate in mind, it looks properly choppy. But I didn’t want to talk about games for too long, so I took it out. I kinda wish I didn't. - 24fps Games: From my own hazy childhood memory I'm fairly confident that a number of PS3 games were specifically developed with 24fps as a target, but the few I was thinking of are indeed 30fps. (Uncharted, The Last of Us, etc.) That's what that section is referring to. There was an entire meme with the PS3 about "gaming at a cinematic 24fps." Anything else is splitting hairs on the silliest part of the video. - White Flashes on Impact: This has been the weirdest series of comments I’ve received, that the white flashing in DBZ and other anime is to censor the impact. If you’ve heard this, can you tell me where you heard it? The footage I’m using is the original Japanese DBZ cut and it has Frieza getting cut in half, so I highly doubt it’s a censorship thing. Thanks for reading if you did. EDIT: One more thing. I stand by the title of this video. I love smooth animation and even mention this in the video, but part of my motivation for the title is that I believe this trend is better for the industry overall. It puts more control into the artists' hands and has a ton of potential. Hence the latter half of the video. Just in case you were wondering!
in the end of the day, there will still be tech bros who will force interpolate 2D or "choppy" animation to "60" or "100" FPS and declare them to be much better than the original.
Spiderverse showed the animation industry that there was success to be found in letting artists go off and make something unique and stylized
2:11 That fact that you made that without the shaft touching the bow is amazing.
I never saw Into the Spider-verse, so this style was new to me. When I first saw it I was a bit confused, but then it really started to click for me. When the smooth animation slipped into choppy, I was clued in that we are entering an action scene with a lot of things going on at once. The slower, more choppy animation gave everything more weight and let me appreciate details that I never could have seen without replaying the scene. I fell in love with the style because it wasn't an overload of data, and it let me just enjoy the scene rather than struggle to keep up.
you did an amazing job with this, very well explained. i love animating with 3s and 2s the most. varying the framerate is so fun and such an interesting topic people always seem to forget. many people just assume every second has 24 drawings, but the truth is that a fair bit of animation productions choose not to use 1s for every scene. ive had plenty of comments on my high framerate animation tests where people say "48fps animation at 5 seconds wow that means theres almost 300 drawings in this!" when the real number of drawings is less than 1/3rd of that. animation fans and enthusiasts have this odd obsession with the sheer number of drawings in any animation, but always seem to gloss over the quality and placement of drawings instead. thinking arbitrary amounts of drawings is as important as the animation itself, when the reality is that a lot of animation runs at varying framerates that are meticulously planned out by the animator, and we as animators are not strictly bound to a single idea of "always on 1s/2s/3s" in our works. its funny, and i wish more people understood about animation
Awesome video! I think the 2015 Peanuts movie deserves more credit for innovating with feature CGI animation using varied frame rates. The animation in the movie is stylish, suits its subject perfectly, and came out three years before Spider-verse.
you animate on less frames because it looks good, i animate on less frames because im lazy. we are not the same
Doodley is the best at explaining animations and animation choices, and I hope he has the best experience on this platform
How animation works with the brain is amazing. Persistence of vision is a brain quirk that without animation wouldn’t exist.
I've been learning to animate in gmod, and I've binged your videos recently. It's all been really helpful.
ok but like the way his collar bone clips through his head if hilarious 5:08
Doodley: *talks about how choppy animation is better* Also Doodley: *animating his character on 86 frames per second*
I have never fully understood animating on ones/twos/threes until you explained it here so thanks! Also slowing down the animation and the arrow example really helped - I never realized HOW much our brain fills in the gaps! Animation is so damn cool!
Hey dude I appreciate thus video. As a rotoscope artist I am so used to drawing every frame. You've taught me that having less frames gives a better feel. Thank you bro. Subscribed
I've recently been transferring from 2d to 3d animation and interpolation has been a new concept as a result, at first I downloaded a pre rigged human to play around with and none of my animation felt right to me, the first breakthrough I had was to get rid of the interpolation in a round about way by setting my frames at the start and ends of it's display time, made everything feel better to me, in hindsight tho it was a lot of extra work to animate him like that and I started wondering how to make the interpolation work, so far I've been just trying to add more detail to the movements and staggering the timings of each bones actions within a single movement but so far it's hard going, this video is making me realize I might've been right the first time and going non interpolation and only bringing in the interpolation when I want a smoother movement does sound like a better strategy overall (so far actually my biggest issue with 3d is not movement but sculpting, like gimme back my paintbrush tool)
This is super educational & well explained. Thank you for taking time to talk about this, more people should understand animation deeper & think about the amount of work & love that’s put into it :)
Its so cool that you have only done a few videos but you have put so much passion and work into it that im learning heaps from it. I love it!
For some reason, the term fighting the computer makes me think like getting up and smacking it around in order for it to do what you want
Absolutely loved this video!!! I think it nails just what I feel about the new trailer of Disney's "Wish"... I'm really excited they're going for a new style, I adore having 3D look different and I think this style could really fit Disney as it very much reminds us of the Old Classic Disney 2D animation, but to me something felt off... and while watching I kinda realized that to me the animation felt way too fluid! As in, exactly what you're mentioning, it felt like they were animation completely on 24fps without variation and that it somewhat clashed and contrasted a bit too much with the more 2D-feeling look of the movie. It didn't blend as well as these kinds of looks do when you have the frame variation on something like Spiderverse, Arcane, Puss in Boots etc. I don't really know if my gut feeling is right about Wish in this sense though haha it's just what it felt to me while watching! would love to hear your thoughts about it 💜