FOLLOW THROUGH & OVERLAPPING ACTION - The 12 Principles of Animation in Games

[@BrodyAnimates]

the way you break everything down so understandably with great examples is so incredibly helpful. i will constantly come back to this series to improve my animation. thank you!!

[@peterrehnqvist2615]

Broodyyy!!!

[@Nugcon]

bruhdy

[@pansucks4908]

hi

[@lunasophia9002]

I'm not an animator, or even any form of visually creative, and I still love these. ❤️

[@BlazeZ__]

So how did you find this

[@leogotlost2482]

@@BlazeZ__ he probly is a sonic fan and found it from the animations of sonic games

[@Johnhamsta]

Same, found this channel when a commentor linked it in another video

[@_doop8257]

@@BlazeZ__ the youtube algorithm???

[@Smileyrat]

Nore am I. But understanding how something is done helps to greater appreciate the thing; animation in this case. That's why I am watching anyway.

[@pedroscoponi4905]

Love the variety of games used for examples, not just in IP but in genre and visual style as well. Really helped selling how it really is a _principle_ of animation - universally applicable, even if that application comes in many different ways, degrees, and effects!

[@SlackwareNVM]

Something nitpicky, but in the future would you consider adding the titles of the games you're showcasing? I like how Mark Brown does it, but I get that's additional work that's not worth much. In any case, thank you for the great video!

[@maxvetter1336]

That’d be great! He could even make a subtitle track with all the movie names in it like Every Frame a Painting.

[@iellswo]

Would love this, I recognize a lot of the clip sources, but every once in a while there is a clip from a game I don't know but would really like to try out.

[@rebecca3369]

Agreed! I came here for that exact reason, to find the name of one of the games he showed.

[@MartinPurathur]

Yes please

[@ZetaPyro]

Another helpful idea would be to state the name of the game in the script, e.g. instead of saying "", say " from " the first time they're introduced.

[@rentaspoon219]

Damn now I can't unsee it

[@corwin32]

Eek. “Successive Breaking of Joints” sounds like what happens when the Mob has to come by a couple of times.

[@TediI47]

Well hey, videogame devs gotta unionize some way right.

[@dolebiscuit]

"Tony, you still haven't paid your dues. So the Don sent me to teach you...some principles of animation."

[@aislingbones1854]

It was shown in some of the clips but not directly talked about, but that term is used precisely because they do "break the joints" of the characters! The best example from the video is the clip of Crash's landing animation. Look at how his elbows bend in the wrong direction as his arms flap back down to his sides like a bird's wings.

[@rasmusdegn9690]

“Successive breaking of joints” sounds like what you're going to do to people who suggest you talk about the rest of the Sonic games.

[@jadewhite766]

I think this is my favourite of the 12 principles videos so far. Your discussion of overlapping action put into clear words something that is very intuitive once it's pointed out and that's really nice. I think it'd be interesting to see a video on how you can violate the principles for effect - say, how a character could have very little overlapping action to convey unnaturalness or control?

[@hyperfox9279]

1 day ago? That was before it released

[@doublesystem9790]

@@hyperfox9279 probably a patreon, lots of channels allow supporters to watch videos some time before making the video public.

[@Cyfrik]

8:50 - Letters on the fridge say "crunch." I wonder if the devs are trying to subtly communicate that they're overworked.

[@Minihood31770]

So glad to see Ratchet and Clank on here. The moment I saw the game in motion I thought, Dan's gonna like this one. Big props to the animation team at Insomniac, in gameplay and in cutscenes there is so much appeal in every single movement.

[@slambamwam3597]

Successive breaking of joints sounds like a terrifying concept out of context.

[@peggyliepmann5248]

Every time I learn something new about animation and how all the parts fit together, my mind is blown at the thought of how animators can make it all look so natural. There's just so much going on underneath the surface!

[@LavenderLinguist]

As an actual comment on the content, you're super right that Zen's arm movements shouldn't be possible for something made of metal, but I always loved the snap of his primary fire precisely because that unnatural snapping is also not something human arms could do!

[@andy4an]

this is possibly my very fav series on youtube... even compared to things like summoning salt's record narratives, overly sarcastic production's misc myths, or Betsy Lee's "No Evil" saga. Dan talking about animation are also my favorite parts of the let's plays as well.

[@arcflashhazard_]

I am not an animator. Heck, I can barely draw. But I absolutely relish these videos. And that's because Dan is so very good at discussing the subject of animation with clarity, expertise, and (most important) passion. I may never be a visually creative person, but I do find myself looking for the application of the technique in games and animation after watching these 12 Principles videos and appreciating the efforts that went into those creations. Thanks for that, Dan!

[@call_me_maple]

Man I love this series, really opens my eyes to the finer details of animation. My favorite principle has to be follow through; I first noticed it with 2B's walk and run animations, the little stop she does similar to Stella's really helps sell the feeling of momentum being carried through until the total stop. Can't wait for the next one :)

[@Focie]

I am not an animator myself, but man do I _love_ watching these videos! I also really love the fact that you show so many great examples as well. You could've built this video around ONLY the one game with Cherry smashing the guitar into the ground, but you didn't. You used Monster Hunter, you used Rocket League, you used Horizon Zero Dawn, Ghost of Tsushima, Crash 4, Spiritfarer, and many more. It shows a kind of dedication I just adore. Good job with these videos!

[@Tustin2121]

16:02 - Omg that Quill animation is adorable! She preps herself to fall backwards when the lever finally snaps into place. You can see the ear and tail pull up in anticipation of falling on her back, so they don’t have a chance of landing wrong! 🥺

[@lavnlvas]

"Game Animator's Tool Belt" Mark Brown won't know what hit him.

[@Kuon_latte]

This makes me admire the amount of work these animators put on their products.

[@ChesireWaltz]

This channel inspired to follow through on something I've wanted since kindergarten and sign up for my first 2D animation class. I'm a data analyst by trade but this is my passion 😊

[@timothymclean]

Good luck, Cheshire.

[@jmagrippis]

What a delightful video! These don’t seem to get as much attention as your other videos, but I hope you continue the series, it’s such an educational treat!

[@blacxthornE]

Jordan Mechner deserves some recognition for being probably the first person, in 1984 with karateka, to bring a lot of these principles into video games, refining them in 1989 with prince of persia.

[@ChanceTheCheetah]

I can't believe Dan buterched his voice for so long for Extra Credits, his natural voice has a real warmth and coziness too it I could listen to him explain animation for hoooours

[@austemousprime]

I enjoyed the "voice butchering" in Extra Credits. Part of what made me like "games might not have tried" is his mix of music, and voice conveyed that warmth. His show is very much "Feel good".

[@alexschalk5439]

Yeah, although I could listen to him in either voice. Shame he doesn't have as much quantity of content, but i'm glad he's doing what makes him happy

[@ZorlockDarksoul]

Small thing, but I love hearing some of my favorite tunes pop up in the background of these videos. Those little touches are appreciated.

[@HewleyxAngel]

I love this series and funnily enough talking about ‘follow through’ and demonstrating with an attack is how I was trained for doing things like board breaking. If you hit to the target your real life attack won’t have the impact won’t have the force requires to break it and in fact will snap back to you (see people breaking stacks of bricks and failing to hit through all of them, they will come away shaking off that reverb). You have to essentially put all of your force in an attack past the goal in order to really connect. Nice to know this also applies to my animations too!

[@ZARAHAnimation]

I've been patiently waiting for the next parts to this series. These videos are amazing. I'll continue to wait because every video takes time for sure. Keep up the amazing stuff.

[@rickvanleeuwen9589]

I'm trying to learn everything I can about game art and animation for my upcoming education in game design. I can't express how helpful your videos are for an outsider like me. Keep it up!

[@nicolascarter48]

I’m pissed that KZbin didn’t notify me about this video. I love your work dude!

[@JoyceW-Art]

The amount of examples you use and explain is so helpful in these principle videos! This is why I love them so much, they are so informative

[@Gilbot9000]

This might be my favorite principle. The way it enables such dynamic motion is so fun. And you've explained it accessibly and engagingly, as always. These are always amazing and I'm so happy you continue to provide this education to us, Dan.

[@SoujiMonaru]

I loved your choice of background of Ariel there. That was one of the reasons I fell in love with her back when I first saw her in the cinema - that sense of movement in her excitement in looking into Eric's eyes gave the right look of follow through in her hair etc when she's looking at the screen. And of course thanks for the exploration of these principles, they are a joy to watch and listen to. And it's fun when I know the meaning of the term as you're explaining it! :)

[@zinka777]

You, sir, are doing God's work for us beginners over here. Thank you so much for you wonderful content.

[@X-35173]

This series really helps me appreciate the attention to detail that a lot of us take for granted.

[@jaydenliberty9536]

I like to think that “Follow Through” is the “coming to a stop” of animation, and that “Overlapping action” is about how the Follow Through affects the windup & animation of the immediately following action (or, how they overlap), like when a character like Doc from Snow White turns his head back and forth (VERY NOTICEABLE at 1:10), the jowls keep going the first direction, which adds momentum when they swing back, letting them take longer to settle even after his head has completely stopped moving, which helps avoid that “only one character in a scene animates while talking” many Cartoons and Anime have

[@Matthew_Klepadlo]

A great way to understand this concept is by spending the afternoon practicing with a pickle ball coach. I’m not even kidding it’s actually somehow connected because it’s about how you swing the paddle: it’s important to focus on what you’re doing after you swing.

[@wearwolf2500]

Cooldown might also be another reason to use follow-through. In games you want the input to be quick, press button and action happens, but once you complete an action we've been taught that it can take time before you can perform that action again. So follow-through sells the power of the action while also being a visual indicator of when we can perform the action again and something to watch in the mean time. Also no mention of the awesome animation on Daffodil?

[@soulzero22]

As an editor I love your cut with the music at 16:24.

[@bowtie_penguin]

New Frame Plus uploads: :o PlayFrame uploads immediately after: :0 *They’re both great vids* : :OOOOOO

[@SourSourSour]

This is one of the principles I have the hardest time implementing, but the greatest appreciation for

[@redkingrauri3769]

With a lot of independent animators often being on time crunches, shortcuts are often used thst can convey a little sense of follow through wothout having to animate them as they're traditionally done. That little bob you see when a relatively stationary character moves between poses, a little extra tilt back when raising a hand up or using the style of the animation itself to almost ignore the need. We're a resourceful bunch.

[@sirB0nes]

It's great to see this series back. I love your commentary about animation; it's one of the things I find most appealing about the videos on your other channel as well.

[@Roxor128]

I remember watching a GDC talk about procedural animation using interpolation, and the host mentioned applying secondary physics, such as on the demonstration character's long ears. It was only when you mentioned it in the terminology section that I remembered it and made the connection between this video and that talk.

[@legomacinnisinc]

These videos are some of my favorite on youtube! What you did with extra credits and now this channel really encouraged me to learn to animate, code, and learn game design, even if I'm just a hobbyist at this point, so thanks!

[@thejananigans431]

As a graphic novel artist, I honestly find these videos extremely helpful as I try to mimic animation principles with a single pose. Thanks!

[@TheWordPlay]

This video actually made this principle make a lot more sense to me! Because when I got the Illusion of Life from a recommendation, overlap and follow through completely stumped me

[@user-sl6gn1ss8p]

I like how on super mario 64 when you try to turn to the opposite direction you are facing mario starts sort of sliding for a little while, and that timeframe can be used for a different kind of jump - it's both physical and responsive and also depth and control

[@l4nzel0d]

That is a wonderful series. Not an animator myself but gosh the videos are extremely interesting to watch

[@jmcman6104]

This isn’t exact what we’re talking about, but this reminded me of something that annoys me in Tomb Raider: when you switch weapons literally only her arms move, the rest of her body is acting like nothing else is going on.

[@IsisAlv]

i love how aspects of different fields have a ripple effect (heh) and affect the work outside that field, like the feedback issue of ux and the nature of animation. i often find that a content from a different area of expertise teaches a lot, and it's great to see people passionate about their work talk about it

[@PurpleFreezerPage]

I love how you use so many varied examples. I love how you explain things concisely. Great video, wish there were more like it on KZbin!

[@Thraim.]

Aren't y'all glad Dan followed through on this series? I'll show myself out now.

[@khodexus4963]

Man, that Play Online music is bringing some serious nostalgia for the early days of Final Fantasy XI, back in 2002.

[@seriomarkj]

I was wondering when the next one of these would come out...and here you are, love it

[@TifaTorta]

Despite me not being a professional animator, I like looking at good animations that express characters and the power of a character. Especially with how fighting games use techniques like smears, squash and stretch, overlap and follow through and breaking the joints. I like how I'm able to earn more unique animation techniques through games in this series.

[@chaim1842]

If you havent already checked this out but Tekken 7 has some pretty fantastic character animation.

[@marcofantozzi]

Been wanting to see the next animation video for ages. Please keep them coming. So good!

[@ascendium]

Just when I thought you were taking a hiatus! Literally checked the channel yesterday to see how long it’s been, so glad to have a new video to watch =)

[@FizzyMutt]

Good video as always! Its always exciting to see youve posted a new video!

[@allentor2876]

I hope I'm not too late in getting here for this to be seen, but there's something I've been curious about for a while now. You've mentioned in the past you used to work on 3D animated movies, and that you work in games now, so I've been wondering if you could tell us a bit about some of the differences between the models for those two things. Like, do film models have more bones than game models? If they do, does that make them harder to work with? What are textures like in the kind of model used in a film? Do they have lots of different lighting or normal maps? Are there any noticeable differences between shaders used? Do films only use one model per character design or do they make different ones for different uses. I'm assuming there are base models involved for making different outfits easier. Are there any notable differences in the way that lighting has to be set up between the two mediums? Or was that part someone else's job? Etc.

[@frixyg2050]

Wow, that POL menu music hit me with a nostalgia I was not expecting. FFXI sure was a time in my life.

[@crispywings9066]

Bro you don’t even know how helpful this vid was, you my friend have just earned a sub

[@okanut]

This makes it so easy to understand! Thank you!

[@chloebangco3752]

Holy crap, Dan. I just realized - you're Dan from Extra Credits! That is so damn cool that you're branching out into more detailed topics on video games. It's a wonder just how much some pitch shifting can change a voice.

[@Guydude777]

Glad to see this series is still chugging along.

[@Evan-rj9xy]

I'm learning to animate in blender and these videos are a godsend! Keep up the great work, Dan! I'm loving every single video

[@ErokowXiyze]

Thank you sooooo much for adding a new part to this fantastic series!

[@calstein6701]

These are so good! Looks like so much work goes into them, thanks for making these

[@thisninja11]

Man I love these videos. Such a good resource. Greetings from a motion designer

[@provendestroyer]

As an outsider looking in, I love watching all these animation principle episodes that you put out, even helps me find the words to describe table top adventures rather than apply them to a 3D virtual environment. Even then, pointing all of this out just makes me appreciate the medium that much more.

[@swarth8632]

Yes! I've been lookin forward to this!!!

[@shawnheatherly]

Nice to have another video on the 12 principles.

[@dacornguy]

Whew! Been waiting for the newest New Frame Plus!

[@BeefForLess]

I would love to hear about the rest of the principal of animation! I look forward to more of your videos and to the rest of this series!

[@superscott597]

It’s video breakdowns like this that make me consider switching careers into animation. So good.

[@R4MM3RNZ]

Most underrated KZbin channel out there! Love every single video!

[@dogthedog1338]

Finally, new episode of this series. Thanks man!

[@Dominik-K]

Thanks a lot, this is a great explanation about those very important principles with examples. Thanks a lot to you

[@WqDnbY52l0]

interacting for almighty algorithm

[@alisoltani5636]

Supporting this movement. Adding words such as good greate educational and should be used in art schools.

[@Stlwartheart14]

For the algorithm!

[@MathDM329]

I'm not an animator, but I enjoy watching these so I can better appreciate great animation when I see it

[@cheenbang]

Great I discovered these 12 principles explanation...I'm very thankful!

[@SEGAClownboss]

Hell yes, nice to see this returned, hope that we'll see the rest of the principles return. Can't wait to see appeal!!

[@son12509]

Seeing such good animation is invigorating.

[@snek616]

Anybody else notice mikel's remixes in the back? Love his stuff, keep doing what you do best dude

[@PangolinMontanari]

This is my favorite of the 12 principles. If you're really limited in your animation, focusing on this can get you a lot out of your work time.

[@tylermccombs4823]

Thank you for posting the songs! There's some serious jams in here.

[@octanios540]

Video idea motion editing (re-posing, re-timing and plusing mocap data)

[@WhoEvenIsAndr]

Dan, these videos are so good.

[@matteobussotti8468]

Hey, what happened to this amazing series? :D

[@noobsaibot4541]

NEW FRAME PLUS hype!

[@mf3626]

wow thank you, i really want to be an animator for my job and this is really helping me understand how animations is done, thank you

[@pairjax8065]

The algorithm absolutely did NOT want me to see this video, even though I'm subscribed! I'm so glad I checked up on the channel.

[@Roxor128]

Subscriptions mean nothing now, and haven't for ages, ever since KZbin removed email notifications. If you want to be sure of finding when a channel uploads something, get an RSS reader like QuiteRSS and add the channel's URL to its list to check.

[@DarkDax]

Brilliant as always!

[@RPGtourguide]

Always enjoy these principle of animation videos. Makes me want to pick up a pen and get animating!

[@Greennoob2]

these videos are so good they make me think being a games animator could be an enjoyable job

[@forceofnature26]

I'm surprised you didn't mention Alucard's sprites from Symphony of the Night. He's got about 14 frames before he starts running that are just showing off his massive cape billow as he starts to move, and an equal amount when he stops to let it settle, it's really beautiful to watch, especially when it came out

[@manu_elle_arg]

The game that does this incredibly well is Darkest Dungeon, specifically physical attacks, you only get the end of the move but the stop feels so enormous and powerful that you can imagine all the wind up for yourself

[@Sleksin]

Physics simulation can add variance to animations as well. Simulated objects will generally follow the same motion during the same animations, but there can be small, random variations, or larger ones from different contexts. A risk of it is that you lose some of the control and need to limit the simulation so that Batman's cape doesn't wrap around his head.

[@bilosofie]

ur content is insaaaaaane man.. cheers from a comrade animator.. i learnd alllot from u

[@user-vz5wu8ty3z]

Heck yeah, love these videos!