What If Star Wars Had Smoother Stop-Motion?

[@jamesharvey805]

It's testament to the skill of the original animators that increasing the frame rate does not make the slightest bit of difference to the quality of animation in the original.

[@MarioTorre]

Yes, exactly, in fact I think it actually makes it worse, since it exposes some faults in the physics that are not evident from the original. I like the original way more!

[@schmergenz]

Yep! It doesn’t improve it at all

[@AndrewCortesi]

Or, probably more accurately, you can’t just “add” frames when the frames don’t exist. Not bashing on the original but interpolation and motion blur doesn’t solve your problems

[@daneoman1000]

One man did all of that PHIL TIPPET.

[@TrueValience]

Frame rate doesn’t improve physics simulations which is why

[@lo_fye]

What’s amazing is how LITTLE this improves on the originals!

[@ehtresih9540]

To be honest some movement wasn't fixable by the ai since it was too sharp like when the walker takes a step

[@fanboysreign]

Right?

[@johnnyc.31]

Because the motion stops/starts are unnaturally timed in the original (ie. ignores inertia). Adding frames doesn’t fix the timing issue. Need to do both.

[@moisestorres9618]

Dare I say the originals feel more realistic.

[@MrSupro]

I agree. It’s nice, but it does not really do much extra for me. It’s really a testament to how good it was for the time.

[@spazoq]

The Rancor was a puppet in the scenes you changed, not stop motion.

[@johnsensebe3153]

I was going to comment the same thing. The camera was overcranked to slow down the puppet's movements and make it feel larger. It was only a couple of feet tall at most.

[@rahko_i]

And that's probably why they were the only scenes that actually looked worse in 60 fps.

[@MontyTheMothman]

I was gonna say. It’s obvious if you look at the drool. The spit sways normally giving away the fact it wasn’t done frame by frame. Also yknow just knowing how that was done helps too. Lol

[@leonardocamposvazquez529]

Fun fact in return of the Jedi the animation of the At-St already have a kind of frame interpolation very basic, Made by a computer and software that ILM developed

[@calebclendenin7073]

@@johnsensebe3153 about 18“ tall

[@Lumibear.]

Honestly, the only scenes I felt were noticeably improved were the TaunTaun scenes (though I’ve always felt it falls just a tad too slow, try speeding it’s death scene up to 1.25x folks, just the fall looks a bit better, no?). The battle chess was also better but as it was a holographic game I kind of feel ok with it being more stylistic in its motion.

[@camf33]

Agree… the Tauntun was the best and worth keeping, although like you said a dead heavy body should be falling .. well like dead weight and the fall does not convey those physics.. it’s like falling in water or very low gravity planet which we know Hoth is not.

[@Lumibear.]

@@camf33 yes, exactly, although there may have been technical limitation reasons for it, as in perhaps if it moved too fast the lack of motion blur would make it look more weird than just slowing it down a little bit, but I do love the ‘bounce’ as it hits the ground, that gives it a very nice weight.

[@Rocco049]

@@camf33 I feel like the AT-AT, although already great in the originals, was the only one put over the top for me. Imo the jank of the other stop motion was part of the charm of the OT, in the same way I like the prequels odd looking CGI

[@zluzhy5108]

@Lumibear You’re right!

[@Icetea-2000]

The dejarik pieces felt most improved to me

[@yaburnt9754]

ROTJ has some of the best stop motion i've ever seen Phil Tippett is the best animator EVER :)

[@Megalon-qc8pf]

A few days ago, I watched a documentary with my dad about him

[@rustyblades2566]

@@Megalon-qc8pf Was that the Vice documentary?.

[@72PSI]

Ray Harryhausen was the godfather though. Peace : )

[@yaburnt9754]

I remember watchi g Harryhausen movies on tv when i was younger,for the times,it was awesome too

[@robotatomico83]

Watch MAD GOD it's amazing

[@donmorton7282]

Seeing this shows how amazing Phil Tippets original stop motion effects were.

[@maisiesummers42]

For many of these, the motion blur was already there. ILM created a system that moved the model slightly while the photograph was being taken. This added motion blur into the original, which is why is looks so good. Obviously they didn't do this for everything, but for much of it they did. And a lot of what you see for the Rancor was a puppet, not stop-motion.

[@pw6002]

Watching this makes me realize how smooth the original sequences already are !

[@phrog849]

120 fps makes it look really weird. Movies aren't supposed to be in 120 fps.

[@pw6002]

@@phrog849 Absolutely. 120 fps are supposed to make movies more immersive, but it has the opposite effect on me: I have the feeling, I am no more watching a movie but some sort of tv-report, and it gets me out of the movie.

[@SepikRoque]

"Original sequences" are very rare to see, this video doesn't show them, rhis video uses the sequences from the special editions wich where edited in the 90's and edited again after "The revenge of the sith" so, this comparison shows how smooth the "special edition" sequences are, that was thanks to the animators who made those remastered editions

[@pw6002]

@@SepikRoque Ok ! Thanks for this important precision.

[@Agent_Frank_Horrigan]

I am getting huge uncanny valley from the AI version of all these scenes. I also think that the AT-AT movement benefits way more from the jank of stop motion than being sped up.

[@trebornedrad5057]

Exactly

[@JimBobJoeB0b]

The feeling probably comes from the movies being 24 frames a second, while the so interpolation is at 120 frames a second, which makes it feel *too* smooth, in an “unnatural” way!

[@scaremoth334]

it seems kinda like a found footage video

[@DJRonnieG]

I'm fine with 24 fps stop-motion since the rest of the film was basically recorded in that manner. However, in the un-special edition there's a really bad framerate for what appears to be a person walking across the deck on Jabba's sand barge. It's one of those details that you'd only remember after a few viewings, but it always stuck out like a sore thumb to me. Not to mention, the scale seems way off. I guess the VFX artist got a bit ambitious but gave up trying to make that silhouette move more smoothly when they were required to work on the rest of the movie.

[@DJRonnieG]

I will add that I think the Rancor looks great in it's enhanced form.

[@umad42]

@@DJRonnieG The Rancor was actually pretty good yeah, I think the AT-ATs were pretty good too on Hoth, but the rest I think is a mostly lateral move

[@somebuddyX]

Special Editions? Never heard of them.

[@DJRonnieG]

@@somebuddyX depending on your age and the year of your first viewing of a Star Wars movie, you may only have ever watched the "Special Edition". Allow me to share a short history lesson to the best of my recollection (never trust anyone without verifying, many people think that their version is accurate). In the late 1990s the original trilogy was shown in theaters as the 'Star Wars Special Edition'. They basically fixed or revised some of the VFX errors and added some extra cut-scenes. In some instances they merely replaced a bad broomstick-operated Muppet withn CGI, but in other scenes they added CGI elements that were never there. On a positive note, they added windows showing an external view to Cloud City. On the other hand, a lot of the extra CGI cut-scenes were unnecessary although some argue thst it did help to make the Ourtider cannon (Dash Rendar's ship). Beyond that, they also re-scanned the original film stock and which required meticulous cleaning and the also used scenes which were filmed by never used in the original. The Jabba scene from the first movie is an example of this; he was originally supoosed to be a human (also a slob). Interestingly, prior to the Special Edition trilogy, they did re-release the trilogy on VHS in thr mid 90s (they offered a wide-screen version and a "regular"). This version didn't contain extra CGI but some of the minor VFX errors which they bragged about fixing in the Speciao Edition were also fixed in the mid-90s VHS release. As a consequence of this, a bunch of cool nerds got together and stitched together an original "Theatrical Cut" and this is the version which accurately reflects what was scenes in theaters during the original run. They did take advantage of some of the enhanced footage, but nothing that wasn't seen originally. For example, I have a copy of 'Empire Strikes Back' that was recorded from a TV station in the late 80s/early 90s in which the cockpit of the snowspeeder is slightly transparent. I'm pretty sure they didn't retain this in the new unofficial "Theatrical Cut". Some elements of the Special Edition trilogy were/are controversial among fans but it did help to invigorate the franchise prior to the release of the prequels.

[@gavinives8760]

That chap on Jabba's barge has always annoyed me.

[@emchamberlain]

The Rancor was a puppet I think? This is very interesting.

[@HankMeyer]

Yeah the rancor wasn't stop motion. It was a puppet shot at a high frame rate and then slowed down to help make it seem gigantic.

[@seanziethen1032]

To me actually the Stop Motion sells it for me when it comes to the AT-ST or AT-AT. I think it helps emphasize the mechanic feel of it. For the creatures I can’t help but also like the Stop Motion more. Because it’s something „outer worldly“ with unusual size and anatomy I can buy it if it moves stuttery. The higher framerate is more unforgiving when it comes to little mistakes in the timing of physics.

[@Agent_Frank_Horrigan]

I 100 percent agree. I think the periods of no movement feel like they have hydrolics de- and re- pressuring actively

[@raelshark]

Yeah the "stutter" sells both the mechanical nature and the weight of those machines. In general the smoothing here makes things feel more like weightless toys. A common feeling with poorly-done CG.

[@jesusisherelookbusy]

Honestly, this is the kind of remastering that Star Wars really needs. Especially for the the Imperial Walkers and the Tauntauns. Great work!

[@ianasmith9494]

FYI, the rancor was not stop motion, but a rod puppet filmed "live" in high speed, and in reverse (I think) to give the movements weight and feel more authentic. What's really interesting and I've never noticed before, is 2:44. The scenery around the rebel soldiers in the foreground has visible matte lines, I guess as a result of them inserting the at-st's into the scene. Not a criticism, just a new observation!

[@TumbleTrashOfficial]

Thats one of those things that you can't unsee once you have seen it.

[@dallaspcc3886]

I was just about to say the same thing.

[@snowcloudshinobi]

stop motion and AI really do seem like the best of both worlds. realistic texture and lighting without jeopardizing realistic movement, which is what always gave stop motion away.

[@LilypondMovie]

Yeah but there's a bit of heart in that low, choppy frame rate. Animators have found a way to embellish their craft within that creative box. I feel like at least when it comes to movies that are promoted as stop motion, they shouldn't adhere to such a standard cause it'll cause an influx of mediocre stop motion that can just be enhanced in post-production, and streamlining any form of art is where creativity dies

[@vincentmarcellino7183]

@@LilypondMovie true. But for movies like this it could really help. It's a lot cheaper than CGI and while you can make it look great with damn good CGI, nothing compares to something actually being there in front of the camera. Certainly not something you'd want in every case. High speed action scenes would definitely be a no go for stop motion of course (unless the entire film is stop motion and you're already taking that kind of time anyway). But big monsters and such could be really awesome with modern stop motion and some AI smoothing

[@LilypondMovie]

@@vincentmarcellino7183 oh yeah in terms of just touching up practical fx / props it 100% opens the door to new possibilities for creative expression. Hollywood just has a tendency to doom older mediums to obsolescence whenever new ones come along cause they tie the quality of a product directly to the quality of the technology being used to make it. Traditional cel animation got wiped out by digital 2D animation, which is now being usurped by digital 3D animation, so I can definitely see some sort of AI-based animation becoming the standard. All of these mediums have different strengths and weaknesses, but for whatever reason they're being objectively valued based on their chronological order. I just don't wanna see such a timeless medium like stop motion--which really has been left unscathed up until this point cause it's such a laborious medium that only people who truly appreciate the art bother with it--fall prey to streamlined mediocrity

[@Gruzuck]

The Rancor was not stop-motion, that's why there is no diffrence between the original and the updated shots!

[@fakumadda1632]

Star Wars is perfect for what it was. No changes were needed by Lucas or amateurs. People need to stop "improving" the greatest childhood movie memory I have. I was 11 when I saw the original at the movies in 1977. What a great day that was.

[@VincentG991]

What I think would make this a more useable idea is smoothing it out at 120fps but then interpulating it to 24fps so you still get the choppiness of normal film frame rates but with smooth animations.

[@excalibur2024guy]

All the walker shots are awesome.

[@DigitalApex]

I forgot how good the original Rancor looked

[@marker20]

Phil Tippet was a genius and generational talent

[@discoplumber]

WOW!! Looks EXACTLY the same, amazing.

[@kennyfordham6208]

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing...there's no difference. 🤨

[@justaghostinthesea]

I like the low frame rate for the AT-ATs. It makes them feel mechanical, like the, well, _mechanics_ of the walker are actually moving and churning.

[@BrettWMcCoy]

The animation in ESB & RotJ actually had some real motion blur already in place, using the technique known as go-motion (where the puppet would move slightly while the shutter was open). I don't think what you added necessarily looks better... in fact, it looks *too* smooth and detracts from the hand-crafted look of the originals (yes, the added CGI in the special editions kind of had the same distracting effect, it just didn't fit)

[@ian2057]

The way it was animated originally lends itself incredibly well to the smoothing, you could do an entire film like this but you would have to animate it specifically to look good after smoothing, could maybe be used to cut corners on some shots but would definitely make others a much bigger challenge to make look good

[@horseweapon]

I don’t think the rancor was animated in stop motion, it was a hand puppet. But it was shot in high speed and then played back at a normal frame rate to look bigger

[@internziko]

This makes the films look modern. Hollywood needs to hire this man to make specia edition l Blue rays.

[@Laufield]

Blu ray is old. Now 4k ultra HD

[@internetstrangerstrangerofweb]

The stop motion clunkiness on the AT-ST was a perfect robotic looking fit

[@jamesroseii]

You know, this is a change to the originals that I could get behind. This looks better than both the original stop motion AND CGI.

[@darkgoth69]

Cool idea, I really liked the way it made some scenes more intense and scary, with the AT-AT's blasting people and the Rancor dying was slightly better somehow.

[@ctbrickanimations]

The choppy movements are part of the charm of stop motion imo. Shows the individual movements the animators had to make to make a cohesive movement or action take place Stop motion is awesome in that way imho. The time and care it takes to move scale objects to tell a story is awesome. It's what got me interested, to begin with Shame you don't see it much anymore now that CGI has taken over

[@SpanishAvenger]

Other stop motion videos look horrible when being smoothed out… however, these look great!

[@OtherWorldExplorers]

During the first portion of the ATAT scene, the one that's closest to the camera, if you watch one leg pass in front of the other the supporting Arch you'll see that motion blur smearing effect... Otherwise you did a nice job.

[@scarecrowsurprise]

What I've noticed about CGI and the re-done stop motion, is that even though everything moves smoothly, they all move at the same speed, meaning that the unique movements of the tauntaun or the rancor are lost as they now move too similarly. In the original stop motion there was clearly thought put into how each creature moved, as well as the speed. Stop motion gives creatures personality and uniqueness where CGI and the sped up stop-motion is only there to make it look smooth/neat.

[@istvan4877]

Great job with improving the stop-motion however in general 60fps and 120fps completely destroys the cinematic effect (for me definitely), so my question is; Is it possible to just match the stop motion improvement to the fps of the original movie? How does that look?

[@leviticus2001]

I just tried it using OBS and it barely makes a difference when you factor in the 24 fps film. It's really only good if you're looking for a cost-effective way of appeasing your cinema OCD.

[@greatjob2023]

They used a hand puppet for the rancor. No stop motion technique was used for this segment of the film.

[@DerFinder]

0:50 dude I swear that looks like a real animal

[@Spellfork]

The Rancor isn't done using stop-motion, it's a puppet like Yoda

[@richarddunn9286]

the stop motion gives it so much more character

[@yochochomil8007]

It's amazing how well the return of the jedi aged, the original animation looks great a more fluid than the other 2 movies

[@SepikRoque]

That's because those escenes are from "the special editions" the real "original animations" are not so easily found

[@yatsu2me]

The taunton were the roughest patch from the originals, and my primary catch is the one that dies, the hanging pouches fall in a very suspended manner, almost all of the other footage was undistinguishable

[@marcosbravo9645]

Caros amigos, bem vindos a mais um episódio de Hoje no Mundo Militar. Neste vídeo iremos ver como ficam as animações de Stop Motion de Star Wars quando interpoladas para cinco vezes a quantidade de frames por segundo.

[@gmgabrielmilan]

Eu sabia que a música era familiar 🤣 sensacional!

[@danielbland1951]

The thing about these videos is that it's not actually increasing the frame rate. Frame interpolation just makes up frames in between existing ones and makes stuff look weird and blurry.

[@williegarmendiar]

I just love the original stop motion. Remind me Ray Harryhausen movies.

[@alanjamesh.zamorano1677]

Exactly. It has a certain charm that adds up to the whole fantasy that is the original trilogy of Star Wars. I like it too.

[@HernanToroA]

Looks better without the motion blur.

[@CanErduman]

Yeah! Phil Tippet is a master of his craft. Back in the 80ies, they actually already had motion blur in stop motion. I am amazed how little the tech ai stuff improves the stopmotion. For me it makes it floaty and makes spacing a bit weird.

[@bc82870]

I like the AT-AT fix. That scene is always my favorite.

[@fubuma534]

Can I just say, that pilot that shot the Snow speeder mid air was probably the ace of the AT-AT corps. Dude literally flexed a rear leg to allow room to track the speeder

[@SpaceFlamingo07]

The little hitch in their steps is iconic tho

[@travisshortsmith]

Wow 😯 I was expecting a sizable difference, but I am impressed here the originals still hold there own after 30+years. In the hoth scenes I barely saw any difference. The return of the Jedi at-st walkers to me they look the same.

[@arennotaaron8674]

As a little kid I had no concept or understanding of how stop motion worked with live action film, I knew it wasn't actually real but I had no understanding of how it was done, it really seemed real

[@KomradeDoge]

I think with a lot of the bigger and more mechanical stuff, especially AT-ATs, the motion should be more jerky and squared off like the stop-motion made. Really gives a feeling of weight to them.

[@Blackout5871]

Awesome. Simply awesome. Well done.

[@wadmodderschalton5763]

Now if StarCrash had smoother stop-motion than Star Wars.

[@silverbackjr3052]

Literally unnoticeable even when you’re looking for the difference

[@Random_n_Stupid]

The rancor wasn't stop motion. It was puppetry filmed at high-speed.

[@alexr6913]

Now I want watch whole OT Star Wars with smoother stop-motion bro

[@Ariel-gd8ir]

After looking at them, I think a bit of speed in the scene wouldn't hurt the film, it would be fluid without giving a sense of speed to the people who are watching this.

[@edjwise]

Augmented models look so true. This is the direction CGI should go in.

[@JedHead77]

I wish you would’ve shown the shot where Han approaches Luke on Hoth after he sees Ben Kenobi’s Force ghost. That shot always bothered me at how clunky the tauntaun moves.

[@murtazarizvi368]

ya. the tauntauns have the worst stop motion.

[@buggerlugz6753]

Marvellous, someone went to a lot of trouble for absolutely nothing!

[@eduardosanchezbarrios5810]

With motion blur and interpolation looks like a cool CGI render

[@TheCaesarion]

“Great Conquerer Rome” Theme I love it

[@korysvoice]

Honestly I wanted there to be a huge difference, but there wasn't. A true testament to the skill of the crew!

[@shhtha]

True perfection has to be imperfect

[@spaced-cadet]

Phil Tippett is a fucking legend and his quality of work stands to the test of time

[@MrDGLeeProd]

As unsatisfying as this was, it was a worthy question to ask and it’s nice to see it answered.

[@WickedScott]

Neat exercise here. There is something to be said to the fact that those old stop motion models were subject to gravity and real world physics.

[@SeanVito]

All this time I didn't even know that the Rancor was stop motion. I thought it was a fancy puppet. Wow. Those animators knew what they were doing.

[@bumblefritz]

I always liked somewhat imperfect stop animation, it just has a certain charm that goes away when it's touched up.

[@dirkm1920]

40+ years and still competetive.

[@KingTutChannel]

I think your technique is amazind and the diference is notably. Great work!!! I would love to se some Simbad and the eye of tthe tiger enhanced FX!!! 💪😁🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩

[@Jared64YT]

This is nice actually. It really improves the quality and smoothness. This is mostly because the movement are slow though and the AI isn't trying to produce frames that are making the character look fast, or trying to make frames between a squash or a stretch. It does a pretty good job. If I grew up on Star Wars as a kid with this kind of production, I would much rather have preferred this over the original. Also, the scene with The Rancor is just a puppet. There were not any frames to interpolate other than interpolating a real motion scenario, which defeats the purpose of the video. You can see where the darkness moves behind it when it takes a step in the third shot.

[@critbucket]

good video!

[@skilletman16]

That is definitely an improvement!

[@teddyobrien4801]

The Rancor still looks fucking amazing 39 years later.

[@marie-franceluca9673]

I like to think that the scale have its importance... I mean that the AT-ATs in ESB are bigger machines than AT-STs in TROTJ, and that as a consequence we shouldn't be able to perceive the stuttery quality of former's movement as much as the latter : AT-STs are smaller sonwe can perceive more details as they are "closer" to us (less tall) so to have them being stuttery can do the trick more efficiently. AT-ATs, in the same way, are much bigger (taller) so if we stand at their feet we wouldn't see as much the small details of their mechanic and chassis. And so we would perceive them as more blurry, I think... The remastering effect we are offered here would more suitable for some sequences than others, if you know what I mean - That's my personal theory.

[@raskzak3313]

I want to call Mad God on this one Phil Tippett is the man who did most of those stop-motion, he also worked in jurassic park and some other. and recently he mad a movie which is an absolute BEAST called Mad God, only with stop motion. It is very well made, beautiful and intriging and it took 30 years to make I loved it, if you have the opportunity to see this, go on !

[@newbienoobframebyframe4108]

Idk... Some of this looks so much better, but the fine edges of the walkers for example, They just look funny and i don't know how to describe it properly.

[@armageddon7432]

i respect animation. i’m an animator myself, and can understand that this kinda spits in the face of the animators. but frick it, man. i just think it looks good

[@kalen7126]

Our imaginations filled the gaps.

[@TheCaesarion]

I am subscribing only because of that “Great Conquerer: Rome” theme. Absolutely love that game when flying or without Data. I am almost 100% conquered on Caesar Conquest

[@MatttAt]

As with most frame interpolation, we start to feel like we're watching a live action play instead of a movie. 24fps retains that cinematic feeling. The ATST already had motion blur applied during filming with go-motion by exposing a frame while the model was moving.

[@ianbrown4242]

The ROTJ Rancor is NOT stop-motion. It's a straight-up rod puppet, shot over-cranked.

[@SorenNido]

I keep saying, I would pay good money to see a modern "Special Edition" remake of the OT with many of the scenes edited and/or swapped out with modern CGI

[@alphatrion100]

The original animation has its charm... These movies have been tampered with enough!

[@rodrigoaguilera1270]

Que increíble como los efectos actuales para tratar de mejorarlo demuestran lo bien hecho que estaban ya que el cambio es mínimo

[@ulforcemegamon3094]

Exacto , la diferencia que hay entre el AT-ST de la version original y el de la version "mejorada" es casi nula

[@colgate9056]

The rancor still looks amazing for a long time I didn’t even know it was stop motion

[@vrboomer9290]

It's not. The Rancor was a puppet in Jedi.

[@colgate9056]

@@vrboomer9290 ah well that explains everything

[@justinisaacs9617]

Disney needs to apply these.

[@andrewparker318]

Pretty good, but the rancor wasn't stop motion, it was a puppet filmed in slow motion

[@captureinsidethesound]

The issue with stop motion is that the speed of each limb can only be realistically simulated using a real-life reference and going every 2-3 frames until moving the character or simply using tracking like they do with character models in games. The only way to do this properly is mask the character using object masking in Resolve, remove the background, use the software Ebsynth to reference another similar character movement and then composite it back into the background using Blender or Resolve Fusion. You can also just simply use a 3D model and re-animate the character entirely after masking out the original.

[@spiritualhammer392]

Didn't Adywan correct all of this in his Revisited series?

[@Mandalorian_Man]

Great job!

[@cane6074]

Not much of a change and barely noticeable at time, goes to show those who worked on the original were very good at what they do. Nice work you did ether way!

[@olearris]

Really awesome

[@SimonCamilleri]

The Rancor wasn't stop motion. It was a puppet.

[@TheGeekRex]

I think the stop motion's only flaw is the imperfect motion. The little jerks and jumps make it feel off, regardless of fps.

[@fish_R_stinky69]

Same.

[@paprikamutse]

the "enhanced" versions make the movies look like it was directed by Wes Anderson

[@chrisreilly1290]

I have to say that this looks better!

[@beyondcomicstv]

NOOOOO, The Rankor in Return of the Jedi is a Puppet, Not Stop Motion BUT Smoother looks great while keeping the charm of the original, so great work👍