The Perils of Interpolation [Animation]

The poses look great, and the timing is perfect!
And yet, the animations look slow...
That's one of the perils of interpolation. You have to be careful to keep this useful feature from undermining your work.

[@BIastProcX]

I love how cool they made Terry in his animations of Ultimate

[@JomaXZ]

And this is exactly why those 60fps 4K Interpolated AI 'enhanced' animation videos are in fact "the pits" and "quite bad".

[@Gabo2oo]

It's taking gamers a painstakingly long amount of time to realize framerate is not only a technical spec, but also a malleable artistic choice (just like color palette or artstyle). You'd think Across the Spider-Verse or HBO's The Last of Us would make them realize not everything's got to be 60 or above.

[@evilded2]

While you're not wrong that those are pretty ass. 2d and 3d interpretation work a little differently so they are bad but for slightly different reasons.

[@LeafRazorStorm]

The point is that it's never enough to just "add more frames" to something. Each set of frames needs to be delicately crafted so the character doesn't move like a melting butter stick. 24fps isn't the best, but it's what most film animators would deem "manageable."

[@spindash64]

@@Gabo2ooPart of it is just that higher frame rate DOES matter in games, because you’re constantly waiting on the next morsel of visual information that you can use to plan your next move. There’s diminishing returns here as well, but there’s still a significant difference in gamefeel between 30fps and 60fps Of course, that doesn’t excuse the spamming of AI enhance on films and TV

[@Appletank8]

@@spindash64 High FPS is important for hitboxes and tracking movement, but I'd argue that character animations may not need to follow that frame rate as much. You can skip a few frames in a reload animation to make it feel more chunky, for example.

[@reubenazza5551]

sakurai singlehandedly making the next "animators survival kit" but for videogames as a game animator myself these videos are a true blessing LOL

[@ckorp666]

id also HIGHLY recommend the old "Making Fluid and Powerful Animations For 'Skullgirls'" GDC talk if u haven't seen it already. a lot of it is fundamentals, but presented in a very practical, applied way in the specific context of fighting games

[@CorporateClimbers]

frfr

[@sirreginaldfishingtonxvii6149]

_This is very important!_ I still see it forgotten pretty often. And when it happens, something in the animations just feel off. Interpolation is _very_ useful, but control it as a tool, don't let _it_ control your animations!

[@StateOfTheMind11225]

is this the reason why attacks from NASB and Multiversus attacks feel stiff and without effort at times?

[@budgetcoinhunter]

@@StateOfTheMind11225 Pretty much. I also remember a Brawl mod of Jade from the MK series that someone made, and her backthrow (being a copy of her 'staffplex' throw from UMK3) just felt slow and without any impact or weight whatsoever. It was as though I could picture a well-interpolated version of it, and could see where I was expecting her limbs to be, but weren't there.

[@Melody-qf5oy]

The KoF snap-kick explanation feels *exactly* like how newbies in martial arts are taught about snap-kicks. You're not swinging your entire leg, you're pointing your knee and the rest goes along with it. It's also interesting on the differences between how the old-school and new-school animators had to change the same representation of a real-world action.

[@BigKlingy]

Watching this makes me appreciate how different Ultimate makes Ryu and Terry look despite both being from 16-bit fighting games, while also keeping them fitting Ultimate's unified style. And I can't even begin to imaging the effort it must make to create fighting game animations, where the frames affect both how it looks AND the gameplay.

[@saiko_oro]

It's not like they don't have 3D modern titles.

[@SSJPENGUIN]

​@@saiko_oroMy thoughts exactly but I'd love see a comparison of the Smash ones alongside other 3D attempts by various developers

[@PingerSurprise]

​@@saiko_oro Smash Ultimate tries to be the closest possible to the original animations. Ryu's are more inspired by his SF2 appearance than his most recent ones.

[@saiko_oro]

@@PingerSurprise Well mostly but not always the case, Ryu still has some SFIV elements integrated in both his design and some of his moves. Terry is mostly based on KOF rather than Fatal Fury, from adapting his more slimmer appearance rather his bulkier one from his original series, to taunts and other animations as well.

[@christianhall3916]

"where the frames affect both how it looks AND the gameplay" I'm not sure I agree with this, because hitboxes/hurtboxes can be shaped quite differently from the pose used for the graphics.

[@Chadius]

Super Castlevania IV has a very unrealistic whipping animation, but the keyframe of Simon snapping his whip is very obvious, and he holds the pose long enough to get the point. Soon after playing that game I made a homebrew game with a whipping animation that had over 20 hand drawn frames. It looked beautiful but never looked powerful. (Also my game ran at 30 fps so it attacks took forever.) Interpolation is a tool, not a cure, to animation.

[@RangoTheMercenary]

You picked one of the greatest games ever made to take cues from.

[@whereami.]

It feels so strange to see movements that should be snappy and their speed emphasised, and instead they look robotic, like sped-up footage of someone doing normal movements. Meanwhile it's amazing how satisfying animation looks when the interpolation and key frames are done right

[@MasterChris666]

Smash games always like that😊

[@paulimbacana]

sakurai has a very unbalanced amount of knowledge, what a talented guy

[@AsparagusEduardo]

And because of that, he's buffing everyone else!

[@nvrndingsmmr]

This is terribly, terribly phrased but thankfully we all know what you mean lmao.

[@paulimbacana]

@@nvrndingsmmr please teach me how to write like a decent human being :(

[@mikeymittens2896]

@@paulimbacanayou wrote fine idk what that guy’s talkin bout lol

[@nvrndingsmmr]

@paulimbacana An "unbalanced amount of knowledge" infers that he knows a lot about some things but very little about others? Imbalance isn't good, lol. Like, I know all you wanted to say was that he's knowledgeable, but you used "unbalanced" in the fighting game lingo sense, like just a synonym for "overpowered" when you should've just used any other word that means large or impressive. Then again, nobody here seems to care so nvm lol.

[@Blargenswarg]

This showcases a good way of making keyframes matter whilst still making the animations fluid and not choppy. I really like that!

[@hemangchauhan2864]

Explains so much how snappy movement happens - the lead-in pose timing is larger than impact

[@SuperFromND]

one game with a really interesting approach to interpolation are the 3D (xrd and later) guilty gear games, because... they don't interpolate at all! they treat every key pose as a standalone frame and just snap to the next one, just like a 2d game would do, the result (combined with some nice model and shader work) being a very one-to-one match with its 2d counterparts!

[@ScareFire]

This reduces the readability of attacks, especially at high framerate. The only good thing is that someone at 144hz doesn’t have much edge over one at 60

[@presquenolife]

@@ScareFire You don't find Guilty Gear attacks readable?

[@sinteleon]

@@ScareFire IIRC the guilty gear series isn't even animated at 60 FPs to begin with (the game runs at 60, but the animations themselves aren't)

[@HoroJoga]

@@ScareFire I mean, GG always felt like that

[@dorf7219]

@@sinteleonmost animation isnt 60fps even in other 60fps games. its usually animated at 30, 24, or 12fps. Depending on the project. interpolation is usually how animations "become 60fps"

[@rafaelleone678]

I never thought of this! But now that you mention it, a lot of anime protagonists come to my head when charging their attacks and just unleashing them right after.

[@todesziege]

Oldschool Japanese 2D games were very heavily inspired by animation techniques from anime.

[@OctagonalSquare]

Kinda crazy how the answer to fixing a slow animation can be slowing down the first part of it

[@RaiOkami]

I struggled to wrap my head around this concept when I was starting out and using keyframes in video editing. It definitely requires some skill to use effectively. You can never really be lazy with it if you want something to look good.

[@Luluskuy]

Yup, slowing the first, so the middle can be fast and chrisp

[@spindash64]

I see it more as allowing enough space for the final stretch of the animation to suddenly go really fast.

[@Appletank8]

I think of it as like loading up a spring, then letting it go

[@puyopuyogooey7214]

As an animator myself, I appreciate Sakurai teaching things like this. It’s a pretty basic concept, but it’s always great to overview the basics

[@Manimal14]

You never really think about how much thought goes in to each individual attack

[@rafaelcalmon2858]

I cannot overstate how many times I had to send back and review animations with animators due to the overuse of interpolation. They look great frame by frame, but a jab that takes 7-8 frames between the end of the winding up part and the point where the impact occurs feels like it hits like a feather. Adding screenshake and particle effects help to sell the impact, but nothing does it better than a snappy animation and the proper amount of follow-up to sell the weight of the move :D

[@gubbothehuggo2771]

I find that when planning a character movement in animation it's good to remember that the action is resisting gravity. It takes a lot of effort, as in anticipation, before the guy finally gathers enough energy to lift himself off the ground. The part where he's actually moving at top speed is a privelege and is hard fought for. Actions that resist gravity are usually reluctant, and actions that follow gravity are very eager.

[@Brods11]

As always, Smash Ultimate is a perfect example for animations type videos like this one😄

[@MartKart8]

Keyframes I use them in Blender, like some character models, like how some animals move, when in a idle pose and walking pose. Even my thumbnail of a duck, I gave it keyframes to move around, so when it was imported in Unreal Engine, he could move around.

[@Luluskuy]

Cool!

[@Rubberman202]

Sakurai talking about the differences between 2D and 3D animation really makes me miss when traditional hand-drawn animation was the norm. Sure, it wasn't always great, but when it was, it was magical...

[@RaiOkami]

You aren't wrong when you say that 2D stuff was black sorcery. It was so good and required much forethought to execute properly. Goes to show how much art and artists are underappreciated yet we know (and feel) when something is off or the piece don't look good.

[@ASpaceOstrich]

I wish pokemon would go back to sprites.

[@Moegivesmelife]

When I was a kid, nearly all animation on TV was traditional hand-drawn stuff. Now, when I look at what my young siblings watch on Netflix, it’s almost always 2D rigged vector character models with more or less uninspired animation or boring auto-tweening.

[@Poyostar]

This is important to keep in mind when translating a 2D character's animations into 3D. Nice wisdom as always, Mr. Sakurai!

[@mmking9999]

ArcSys has worked magic with their animation tech in their recent fighting games.

[@ildaphonse]

And this is why he's the game director of smash bros. I learned a lot Sakurai thank you. You make learning fun. Which is great for people like me that find work boring.

[@SuperFusionAJ93]

I'm a simple man. I see SNK or Fighting games in general, I click.

[@BluishGreenPro]

As an amateur sprite animator, I thought the key to satisfying animation was LOTS of keyframes! However, the result often lacked the impact I was hoping for. I found I got much better results when I used fewer frames, employed “smearing” to capture motion between frames, and adjusted the timing so some frames lasted more / less time than others.

[@bii_gii]

huge pet peeve i have with game animations im so glad its being highlighted here!

[@Yarott75]

And this is why I disable every form of interpolation setting on modern TVs. Let the work itself shine by itself.

[@AS-lg4yf]

This is why smash clones always feel soulless to me and make it hard for me to get into them, they lack snappy animations and physics. Those other games feel floaty and attacks always feel like they are not connecting properly. I love seeing how subtle design choices can make a character feel like they are physically alive present on the stage.

[@evilded2]

Are you referring to specific titles?

[@Robbie_Haruna]

​@evilded2128 I don't know it he had a specific one in mind, but NASB had that in spades

[@budgetcoinhunter]

@@evilded2 NASB, Slap City, MultiVersus, Nickelodeon, lots of Brawl character mods...

[@Appletank8]

Feels like very few utilize hitlag well either.

[@uponeric36]

Yup, I love that Saukrai is just low key laying it out; go back to fundamentals! And if these weren't fundamentals before, they should be now. Saukrai is an absolute blessing to the games industry; at a time where companies pay "monetization experts" to learn how to scam their player bases he just gives great advice for free.

[@violentkim]

The two best fighting game characters in Smash! Also i love how detailed and expresive is the 2D Ryu sprite, in my opinion looks better than the actual smash model😅

[@FedoraKirb]

“Convenience does mean quality.” Simple, but true, and kind of overlooked actually. Convenience needs to serve the quality of what you produce, and not just in animation.

[@gustinex]

what a gigachad just giving out information for free

[@jbay088]

There's a great bit in the making of Princess Mononoke where Hayao Miyazaki insists that the animators remove the in-between frames from Lady Eboshi's sword strikes, for exactly this reason!

[@je19493]

The "bad" terry kick was super interesting to see, really glad you were able to show that!

[@lastnamefirstname8655]

such amazing advice, thank you sakurai!

[@swagathan5]

This was very helpful, Mr. Sakurai! Thank you very much!

[@trollponch]

sakurai should open his own academy or even university at this point

[@ElTaitronAnim]

Very good advice! Holding the anticipation longer before quickly snapping to the action pose really gives movements much more impact. I think it's the biggest element that's missing from other platform fighters, the animations are too even and don't have that impact. You can also see it in Sonic Adventure 1, where characters move evenly and robotically from pose to pose. Seeing an earlier version of Smash animation was also a treat! It'd be really interesting to see more comparisons between the early and finished animations.

[@JumpmanNX]

Another fantastic video from Sakurai! Quite interesting details regarding the animations in Smash Ultimate. Heck, this seems like great advice for animation in general, not just video games.

[@legacytag]

You'd be surprised how much of a 3d series Smash can be, Z axis hitboxes are a very real thing to consider in it. A KZbinr named AsumSaus broke them down in Melee specifically, as they affect the competitive scene for some specific characters in a big way (especially Yoshi)

[@garjian0]

Very helpful video. Echoes everything I learned in my 2 years self teaching this kind of animation. In particular, I learned from Street Fighter 4 and KOF13, which demonstrated that even in 3D animation where every frame is a fluid motion, they are concentrated at the beginning and end, sometimes skipping through huge movements in a single frame as the attack fires. KOF13 in particular demonstrated how such a 3D animation can be translated fully back into the choppier 2D style. I hope this video inspires somebody who had once given up to try again and succeed, as I had once done.

[@DarkBloodbane]

Thanks for th tips Mr Sakurai! I'm aware of this issue before but after watching this, I can see that the solution is simple.

[@VenneceXylopheria]

The Terry example shows how one principles of animation: Ease-in and Ease-out, is important to feel IMPACT.

[@CiroContinisio]

This was a particularly good video!! Greatly put together, lots of examples.

[@lugbzurg8987]

Definitely wanna hold on that central key pose for a few extra frames for maximum visual impact. Plus, it makes cool-down look a little cooler.

¡Los consejos de Sakurai-Sensei son simplemente extraordinarios! Mejor que un curso en diseño de videojuegos...

[@TheHylianBatman]

It's all about style, really. I love that Smash retains their original styles, but also translates into their own style.

[@masterofdoom5000]

Animation is about movement not smoothness, interpolating can make it smooth but it can't make it look good. as an aside, looking into hitboxes I see a lot of the coo lSNAP to poses hits like Ganon f-tilt have, he goes from curled up leg to FULL extend in one frame and it feels great to hit.

[@maynor22ss]

Nice topic! It's very interesting to see what was the approach with two major characters of 2 major fighting games into a Nintendo one. Vey unique.

[@alec_almartson]

Great video 💯👍🏻 Converting Animations from 2D to 3D is an interesting Subject, that I've been studying too. I actually learned something new today. Honestly Thank You for sharing these Pearls of Wisdom

[@SharifSourour]

このチャンネルの事は知らなかったが、見つけてとても嬉しい！完璧にありがとう！

[@thecunninlynguist]

This was the ps/n64 era when all companies jumping into 3d, from their previously only 2d games...boy that was a rough time...some of those characters didn't make it 😂

[@ChrisCarlos64]

I love the demonstrations and information about various ways they tweaked the original animations. It is so good that you can tell they originate from the original games but were altered correctly for the game they were made in that they do not look out of place or lose their identity. This is something the Nick All Stars game IMO suffered with. It tried a lot to make some of those animations stick to their 2D counterparts that they never looked right IMO. Along with other issues like movement and floatiness but I'm not trying to bash the game, just stating it felt off at times because of it and these of course are my opinions. I also want Sakurai to make a KoF game already or even SF. Man knows his stuff and I'm sure it would be amazing.

[@zarfa-de1266]

The best series

[@TramiNguyen-oi3kp]

I love this channel!

[@HannibalPoptart]

Guess Noodle can add Sakurai to the list of "relatively successful video game people" who agree with him on animations.

[@gubbothehuggo2771]

I'm in school for animation right now and my teacher keeps criticizing the other students because their animations look unplanned with no keyframes, though they always say that they do indeed inbetween it properly between key poses as instructed. The issue appears to be mostly just spacing. The drawings are too evenly spaced so they feel really weightless.

[@Mene0]

What an incredibly informative video

[@SmashGlory64]

Hello Masahiro Sakurai, I am a fan who has been and will be grateful for the creations of Nintendo, Sega and yourself for a long time. I have an idea for one of your projects.

[@QvsTheWorld]

The key issue is that by default interpolation will assume that speed of movement between keyframe is linear as if a car would go instantly from 0 to 60, stay at 60 then stop to 0 instantly.

[@bigboss9150]

Thanks a ton! This was really helpful

[@sparkie1j]

thank u sakurai

[@metadrag0n]

Thank you! 😃

[@SmashGlory64]

And finally, as a unique exception to action movie actors, among them are: Wesley Snipes, Donnie Yen, Jean Claude Van Damme and Steven Seagal. I apologize if I demand too much.

[@dearthofdoohickeys4703]

He really is a master of his craft

[@connordarvall8482]

Now I'm wondering if the feeling of speed in the classic sprites actually comes from the low amount of animation frames. Because the part moving in the animation uses less frames, it looks more like the part is moving faster than the human eye. When you can see the part move incrementally, it feels slower. I actually noticed this when messing around in Gamemaker. Moving across 400 pixels in a second at 30fps feels faster than moving across 400 pixels at 60fps, even if 60fps is supposed to look smoother.

[@Dukfire]

fantastic video!!!

[@SmashGlory64]

And I also apologize for writing a lot for such a complicated project. Thank you for your time, listening and reading, and greetings from me, I come from Chile and my name is David Quintanilla.

[@zerocgc931]

Maybe the Elephant in the room can reflect on itself and release an "animation patch", i'm not saying the flat interpolated animation is bad, Sakurai is saying it :)

[@Stratelier]

Interpolations are a bit like gradient fills. A simple linear progression from A to B is a good starting point, but not always the most effective for the end result, so you need to analyze and adjust the result accordingly.

[@Haymdahl]

All those details 😳

[@ShinkuJessicaNoGigaRadio]

Like a pendulum, it should almost be stopping at the start and the goal, and pass the middle quickly.

[@realchezboi]

adjusting the time between keyframes does a lot

[@MasterChris666]

Great video

[@spindash64]

It’s funny, not a month ago I was struggling with exactly this problem with trying to get a kicking animation: the transition from standing to kick was too smooth and orderly, and it didn’t have the sudden “jolt” needed to sell a powerful kick

[@philipmurphy2]

True and real Sakurai, Thanks for the education

[@christianboustani8284]

RIP whoever did the pre adjustment animation

[@NonisLuck]

😊 awesome

[@ExploDjinn]

Always appreciated all the dumb little animations from the NES that they threw in Smash for Mega Man. I see that he wasn't the only one.

[@neo-giu]

NRS has to watch this video a billion times

[@skylardickson5201]

And then guilty gear strive forgoes interpolation altogether, even though it uses 3D models.

[@SmashGlory64]

It consists of adding to these "POSSIBLE" characters of your most Unique and Respectable creations. They are: Raiden *Metal Gear Rising Revengeance*, Yagami *Judgment* and Vergil *Devil May Cry*.

[@Fluke1x]

So the issue isn't interpolation, but linear interpolation. You still want interpolation, but you want to adjust the key frames too.

[@guilherme5094]

👍Nice!

[@juanrodriguez9971]

Even for those who sre not into gsme development this is imoortsnt knownledge when creating animations regardless of the purpose (cartoon, comic, even text) so if you know someone learning animation i suggest you to show them these videos.

[@NurseLee]

Ryu's Mexican Uppercut. Nice.

[@shawnheatherly]

Again and again, I'm impressed by the dedication to make everything look and feel great.

[@GwaihirScout]

Very interesting. I wonder if this is why the 3D animations in the Ace Attorney trilogy remake felt off to me.

[@BlackViperGX]

Netherrealm studios: what's this LOL.

[@nursultannazarov8379]

I smashed my screen.

[@pfefferkuchenmann]

The real crime of Terry's newer pose is that his butt doesn't pop. He looks like he suffers from nasatal in Smash.

[@ThePuzzleExpert]

surprised you didn't mention arc system works, their fighting games just don't interpolate in order to capture that 2D look

[@giraffecat]

Me, a smooth brain, doing the Pam meme on the Terry animations 😅

[@evilded2]

True and real. Thanks for educating the people.

[@seekertosecrets]

1:20 It does look faster than before.

[@HoroJoga]

This video should be shown to Mortal Kombat developers who can't for their lives make fighting animations correctly.

[@Neoxon619]

It’s becoming glaring at this point, so yeah.

[@evilded2]

​​@@Neoxon619what do you mean this point? They have been pumping out trash since 2011. (Sorry to be a hater but, it's very frustrating to see the ips that Nrs owns be consistently rewarded with praise when they have been unable to meet the standards of the industry. While their cinematic animation is undoubtedly very impressive the animation during gameplay range from passible to actively detrimental to gameplay. When characters have keyframes so undefined it is often difficult to tell what move they are doing it becomes a readability issue.)

[@Garomasta]

While that may be valid criticism that many people (me included) agree with, this is what Sakurai said in his first community post: "I do, however, have one simple request: Please refrain from speaking ill of other games and game developers. I personally owe a lot to a great many games, and I'm working hard to make this channel a positive influence on the gaming community as a whole, so I'd appreciate your help in keeping this a positive space."

[@noampresnete8677]

didn't watch the video yet, but i would say the problem with mortal combat is less overreliance on interpretation and more overreliance on motion capture

[@Potidaon]

None of this is obscure knowledge. Every animator on team likely knows this. That also includes the art director, combat director and Ed Boon. MK's problems are likely a matter of direction and priorities.

[@GamerFunOriginallyAarush]

Ooh!

[@brayenmorrison3199]

Notes Taken...

[@chulini]

Notes Tekken

[@sirbrandalf7813]

I have to admit, I dont really see a difference in the at speed side by side terry animation

[@teero121]

there can never be a smash bros without this guy