Why skeletons are so important to video game animation

How big a height difference is there between Resident Evil's Lady Dimitrescu and Marvel's Spider-Man, and why does that matter? Game animation relies on a secret skeleton for all its movements, and it has a much bigger effect on character design than we might think.
0:00 Lady Dimitrescu and the Secret Skeleton
0:46 Introducing... the rig
1:29 How rigs are used in games
2:29 How size difference changes game development
4:45 Rigs and clipping
6:09 Animation in Overwatch, online games, and Cyberpunk
8:23 Why characters become "standardized"
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[@polygon]

Between Lady D and petting dogs, Jenna is really knocking it out of the park making videos about things we all Care Deeply About: kzbin.info/www/bejne/p4GpZoavqL6ggNU

[@GweenPenguin]

Agreed!

[@fuduzan5562]

Well yeah, Jenna is the best thing since sliced Polygon.

[@sapphic_sophie]

Also thank y’all for bringing more visibility to non binary game devs ❤️

[@Gaareth_]

Also a lot of stroking themed videos, you know, dogs love a good stroke and so do i when i see Lady Dimitrescu

[@anactualpigeon6844]

Big fan of how Jenna uses fun content to break into the behind the scenes of how games work. The one about the reticle also felt so informative but I'm a fun way!

[@anactualpigeon6844]

Jenna, almost too honestly, clearly thinking about Big Women: thank you

[@GweenPenguin]

+

[@vivianetirone762]

she's extremely earnest, and by golly she's right

[@henriquebezzon6146]

this makes me feel validated

[@ribbonfly]

"All I want to do is see you turn into..."

[@Saturn-gs6wl]

aren’t we all?

[@charliecrossing]

even as a nonbinary person, I'm very comfortable in Jenna's new gender binary of Thanatoses and Megaras

[@jmassagetherapist6773]

Dude, who wouldn't want to be one of those powerful lookers? Agender myself, so thank you for also being comfy with Hades two genders.

[@RRM_Personal]

Does that make us enbies Dusas?

[@aimelle3]

@@RRM_Personal Or Chaos? They are canonically non-binary.

[@screamsformemes]

I'm so happy to see all these nonbinary comments!!! Love yall

[@jmassagetherapist6773]

@@RRM_Personal honestly would be totally chill just being a shade.

[@trueaidooo]

When I say I want the big woman to step on me I obviously mean so we can show off the amazing interaction physics

[@yamaguchishoe6015]

Indeed

[@bingoblackdynomite]

We stan a triple whammy video that 1) gives us an excuse to look at more Lady Demitrescu, 2) uses clips from Monster Factory, and 3) gives us great information about the wonderful world of gaming animations

[@T.E.A.TimeMusic]

And spotlights an enby video game programmer!

[@i_am_Emmet]

Fantastic video all around

[@rowdycatte7895]

plus brings back our good boy Christopher Christopher Christopher Christopher!

[@scarpusgaming]

@@T.E.A.TimeMusic no

[@lilrawk]

@@scarpusgaming nice gender, did your mommy pick it out for you?

[@karap1208]

Mom says it’s my turn on the skeleton

damn as a bi / nonbinary gamer who so often feels alienated by a majority of gaming content, i always feel like polygon videos were like made specially for me with how casually they embrace and celebrate stuff like being gay for tall women n interviewing nonbinary people in the industry, then i remember their staff is just super chill n lgbt themselves. super refreshing. thank u Jenna for being unapologetically into big rigs.

[@noahmorris1015]

saaaaaaame!!

[@detectivewiggles]

yep, came here to say the same thing

[@screamsformemes]

Me too!! I'm glad yall are here with us

[@kraziiXIII]

Agreed! Like it's so nice to see people like us in fields that bring us so much joy! Like it makes me really consider getting into rigging and effects for games, since I already thibk about how skeletons affect movement all the time when looking at creature designs.

[@drskelebone]

This is why I always push Polygon videos up to the top of my watch later. These are people I feel I could be comfortable having a milkshake with.

[@madelynsmith3711]

I saw the thumbnail and was like "I feel like this is a Jenna video"

[@alexaurorus9767]

Guessing who made the video is one of my favorite games. Never been wrong. 😂

[@magicjuand]

my guess was Simone

[@burnpixieburn]

Polygon is far too ~conscious~ n leftist to have a male doing the voice over for a video like this :’( (I say this as a leftist woman lol)

[@madelynsmith3711]

@@burnpixieburn Hey! Let's not minimize the work Jenna put into this video by implying she only did the 'voiceover'. That's not how it works at all

[@burnpixieburn]

@@madelynsmith3711 uhh, I never said anything of the sort? In fact, the implication was that if a man wrote and voiced this script, I’m sure illiterate nit pickers like you would call it objectifying or something

[@parasaur9061]

‘we’re all rigging fans!’ did you mean: *we’re all hella gay*

[@superrinusblick4222]

I still don't know why, but polygon is just so gay. I love it

[@KingOfDoma]

Hey, she appeals to all but weak men too, y'know!

[@cractor6307]

Wrong, we are all bottoms

[@parasaur9061]

@@cractor6307 trU

[@That_Lady_Charlie]

@@cractor6307 Jokes on you, I'm both

[@caligulacorday]

seriously though, as a trans woman, seeing a bunch of people falling very publicly in love with a deep-voiced tall woman has done wonders for my dysphoria 💕

[@froggyranger]

Heccin' same, girl

[@screamsformemes]

We love a trans queen

[@blackmarya]

That awesome! So happy for you girls 😊💖

[@glowmilk7948]

I love this!!! My heart got so happy reading this

[@heatherheath3834]

we all love some giant women xx

[@hella_cool1312]

I love the way she says “mmmBones” at 0:52

[@superrinusblick4222]

I love when she says.

[@storageheater]

i had to replay "spiderm'n" a few times i was so delighted by it

[@sourwitch2340]

Did someone say bone salt? Buy my bone salt!

[@calliecilone9899]

Is this the first time a polygon video has featured direct monster factory footage?😂

[@howdyitsren]

Monster factory has never been more educational

[@eebiestdeeber]

I'd been thinking about monster factory during the entirety of this video so when i saw that i DIED 😂😂

[@RubidiumOxide]

I think Monster Factory is the first time a Polygon video has featured direct Monster Factory footage

[@andrenaveed]

THE PEBBLE!!! The way Jenna says “a really *big* lady…” and I’m just like. yeah.

[@ChuckD99]

"This pleases me" -Christopher Christopher "The Pebble" Christopher Christopher

[@joanaecho]

Hey, jenna’s sweater’s polka dots kinda look like joint points! She’s rigged herself huh

[@morgansearle3912]

truth is, the Jenna was rigged from the start...

[@ArtificiallyIdiotic]

im glad im not the only one thinking that lol

[@khan-bm3zz]

I love the use of Monster Factory in this because it's such a perfect example of character creation going wild.

[@krell.1415]

Best game is "guess who's video it is" and I called this one.

[@elh7149]

@Katherine Lopez a valiant effort

[@itimk0]

CMON VISIBLE NON-BINARY GAME DEVELOPERS!!!!

[@GweenPenguin]

+

[@bread5795]

+

[@senseisleepyhead]

🖤💜💛

[@birduwu]

+

[@polishedpebble4111]

Very insensitive. Nothing in video said that. Delete.

[@ash-xc2fj]

Don't y'all just love when women?

[@zealotoftheorchard9853]

As a straight man. Yes i do love it when women

[@ithinkflutterawesome6511]

*sighs in gay* women...

[@sourwitch2340]

indeed..

[@wuraolaolagunju]

Yep!

[@pennyw2226]

I’m lesbian and can confirm I love it when women... women

[@r2-dj420]

Secret backbone: bones :)

[@mmori673]

I think we all felt the "thank you" at the end of the video

[@mobius273]

Therapist: 3d t-posing nyx can't hurt you, she isn't real: 3d t-posing nyx: 0:26

[@word69420]

Forget that. What about 3d t-posing Thanatos at 2:37. Scary af

[@shreddedyeet]

@@word69420 I feel like that would be somewhat appropriate for the god of death.

[@gemstonegynoid7475]

That's more officially an A-pose

[@forrestrichard8133]

I cant believe you didn't mention that the children in Cyberpunk are obviously the same rig and animation as the adults. It's so disturbing.

[@maggiecolton4776]

me: *frantically closing all my tabs with pictures of Lady Dimitrescu* No, mom I just think the rigging is cool, I swear!!

[@Spo8]

LOVE the surprise cameo from The Pebble in here.

[@minoltaboi7402]

Secret skeleton? I don't know what you are talking about. My skeleton is proudly on display for the world to see Be proud of your bones, don't hide them

[@seanathanbeanathan]

**unzips skin**

[@stardoogalaxie9314]

@@seanathanbeanathan *Tom Hooper would like to know your location*

the only bones i will display are my teeth, and only in shows of happiness or aggression

[@minoltaboi7402]

@ teeth are not the only way to show aggression. you would be surprised at how threatening a clavicle can be when wielded correctly.

[@aimelle3]

When I show people my bones they just freak out and ask if I need medical help, tsk.

[@ChocoKayke]

Lady Dimitrescu is a big win for sapphics everywhere.

[@jerzysielicki-baryka9652]

to be honest, i'm gay (into men) and even *I* am attracted to her. thats how powerful she is

[@The_Jovian]

@@jerzysielicki-baryka9652 dimitrescu is beyond the limitations of sexual orientation

[@BEEEELEEEE]

Heh heh. Big.

[@aristoddle8932]

Okay I’m sorry I just don’t get it - how is this video so gay? Like, the tall lady’s hot, but I don’t have the context to understand the specifically lesbian pull here (I’m really being sincere)

[@Abigail-hu5wf]

@@aristoddle8932 "the tall lady's hot", plus a whole thing about how sapphic women have a huge (mostly justified) stereotype for being super-into "dangerous villainess lady"-types.

[@kylekyle4169]

I would definitely say that a major reason I'm into Lady Dimitrescu is my love of rigging 😉

[@emerz3530]

I-

[@Abigail-hu5wf]

lmao ok but which side are you on Kyle

[@kylekyle4169]

@@Abigail-hu5wf yes

[@revsdoeschem]

Can we all just say thank u Jenna for giving the ppl what they want w that intro

[@squarepotatoes]

As someone who has rigged slippery tentacles It is a nightmare

[@felixc543]

We thank you for your service regardless

[@fpedrosa2076]

Animating them is not much fun either. Or ropes... *shudder*

[@josephdailey2610]

For all of Spore's issues, I'm still impressed by the procedural rigging and animation. It's *far* from seamless, but that game really did its best to produce reasonably believable movement for some truly horrific body plans. Some former devs have published write-ups on the process that you can still find online.

[@hummingmostbird]

"We're all rigging fans"* Translator's note: STEP ON ME BIG LADY

[@froginatub]

Polygon truly best at making "joke videos" that are actually interesting & informative. (They also always seem to manage to find great ppl to interview as well)

[@screamsformemes]

Yea it's one of my favorite things about the Polygon Writers and Video Producers!!!

[@landencarr5443]

they have a rather large reach, theyre about as legit as it gets in terms of game journalism on a real way because they stray away from giving blatant scores polygon is like the vice of video games

[@guytorie]

I laughed so hard at the gigantic nipple bones on the example rigs.

[@theveryloosegoose]

"And her very massive..." Me: *anticipation* "... Hat." Me: "YES, FINALLY. SOMEONE AGREES!"

[@igorsterribleideas6305]

I think Lady Dimitrescu's animation is a great example of how far animation has come. Capcom is clearly committed in investing time and money to create more interesting looking characters, even if it means creating multiple rigs. She's also thicc af and I needed that in my life.

[@aimelle3]

"brb making Lady Dimitrescu in WWE 2K14" Jenna I think Pat added something in your video while you weren't looking.

[@roboreck]

As a game dev, honestly never thought about gamers not really knowing about rigging. This is an awesome video!

[@kraziiXIII]

It's absolutely fascinating information! Like I am an art person, but a traditional 2D pen and paper artist, so while I am aware of how the skeleton works and how musculature changes in different moments, building that on a 3D level and making that process streamlined never occured to me. I never thought about how it would be done in a game or how certain movements are coded to emmulate real movement using the rig. Like call me stupid but I thought it was built from the outside in, if that makes sense. Like starting with the silhouette and then adding animations based on musculoskeletal movements. Working on a 3D level just never occurred to me despite being obsessed with characters creation. I am so used to having to start from a completely blank page, I got used to reinventing the wheel each time. I am absolutely delighted by this new information. Like game devs are so impressive. Y'all are smart and innovative.

[@FrigidBirostrixRay]

My experience with rigging are mostly "oh gods why is my weight painting fucking up" and "... Maya crashed. *Again."* lol No idea how Blender will handle it though.

[@parasaur9061]

4:34 : THE PEBBLE HATH RETURNEDDD !!

[@P1EX]

My friends little sister would play oddjob in goldeneye and would say “oddjob smell”, “oddjob smells your fear!” when she was bout to shoot us and it would cause us to panic. Even though we knew oddjob was around we couldn’t never get the jump on him

[@Saturn-gs6wl]

This video had quality jokes and interesting information all while being socially aware! 15/10

[@cinnamon_shakes]

As a person who is a fan both of rigging and *wink wink* rigging, this was a great video

[@sarahsant6248]

I wondered if anyone else was gonna bring that up, lmao

[@drumblebee]

"all i wanna do is see you turn into a Giant Woman🎵🎶"

[@annebeach6630]

My streak of guessing the polygon employee continues. The "she big". Screamed jennargy

[@screamsformemes]

How many right guesses do you have so far?

[@filippodardi2180]

"Smaller or Daddier"? ...I could get behind it.

[@juxhex]

[in the tone of that one Beyoncé?? gif] CHRISTOPHER CHRISTOPHER CHRISTOPHER 'THE PEBBLE' CHRISTOPHER?????

[@MrSpock..]

you missed a christopher in there :( don't disrespect god's favorite mistake like this king

[@issiemerry]

god I'm glad someone said it. I'm not a huge fan of furries irl but when the cyberpunk rulebooks mentioned animal-like body modification I kinda expected it to show up in 2077

[@mikaylablackwing9091]

I mean, I'm not a furry but by God of I had the opportunity for a long, prehensile bionic tail that I could do practically whatever with? I'd take it.

[@The_Jovian]

We all know CDPR are cowards

[@ThexDynastxQueen]

Yeah among all the other issues with the game it lacks a level of design creativity and freedom that the genre hinges on. It's a shame but I hope in the future another dev has the guts (and accepts the time needed) to make a more fleshed out cyberpunk game.

[@basilmemories]

I come from shadowrun and I was like "pfft cowards, not even some corporate dragons cyber zombies"

[@Stratelier]

The reference to furries was a highlight of the video, for sure.

[@Morgan-ug2rt]

I know she's a monster, but I am here for the tall lady representation.

[@beretperson]

When the video is so good you don't even know what to say but you comment anyway to appease the algorithmic gods

[@GweenPenguin]

+ yes, I'm down here scrolling for something to say to appease The Algorithm, because this video should be Seen!

[@Niriixa]

Gotta love when the time and effort are spent on making characters that have more diverse sizes! imo it definitely is worth the investment, because it makes room for more unique and memorable character design!

[@crimsoninsight97]

I have to say that I really enjoy this filming setup. Feeling less like we're being lectured through a video call from an office desk and more like we're having a wonderful conversation as a guest. Really appreciate all the hard work.

[@DanielGalimidi]

Jenna's got us gamers all figured out. We like big rigs, we cannot lie.

[@Thalzp]

I see Big Lady, I click play I see Jenna is talking, I click like

[@RedPandaLesbian]

::in a puddle on the floor in my room:: MOM SAID IT WAS MY TURN TO USE THE SKELETON

[@sounreal]

saw the thumbnail and made some tea cause i knew it was gonna be a jenna video and i needed to be max cozy to learn about big rigs

[@senseisleepyhead]

Thank you for the insightful and on-point commentary about different body types, and how rare it currently/still is to see representation for bigger types. ❤️

[@howdyitsren]

Jenna knows how to get me to click on a video.

[@redcenteno7150]

Honestly the fist time I saw Lady D. I was amazed by how good she looked and how well she moved! It makes me excited to see how well graphics are improving it's amazing how much things have improved in such a short amount of time! And yes I want her to step on me like the rest of the world

[@dumbass9049]

i knew there was gonna be a fair amount of innuendo but i didnt expect all the rigging IMMEDIATELY but thanks jenna i love it

[@kateeastland3328]

Doing some grueling work for my college rigging class this weekend and this gave me an emotional boost

[@MarmaladePlan3t]

To be honest, I thought 9 ft vampire lady was rather overhyped by everyone, until I learned of the wonders and complexities of such a beautiful model rig 😍

[@crazyNartistic]

Me learning how to rig in my animation class: bone time bone time!!

[@rachelrachel9152]

I now have heard both Jenna and Pat refer to a character as a "short king" in their videos, waiting for every other producer to complete the set

[@DonBeardy]

We love her big hat

[@Inogat]

As a professional tech artist and rigger I just wanna say this video is so incredibly useful in explaining to my family and friends what it is I do. Also it's incredibly on point!

[@Salotl]

I love these videos that dive into the mechanics of game design - they’re so informative and have plenty of bonus humor to spice it up!

[@jakelevinson7802]

The amount of character expressed in the phrase a really big lady just warmed my heart

[@articerile]

Me, an animation graduate: Ha ha, yeah, let people know how astounding it is to have all of these different body types and sizes in a game... Me, a degenerate: ...so that when I talk about how much I like inhuman monsters in video games people don't automatically assume it's because they're hot, even though that's why.

[@Ancusohm]

Huh, okay. Now I kind of understand why Bethesda never let's me play a fat character. I still wish they'd put in the time to make it work.

[@rachelrachel9152]

Yeah they or any other game could break the mold and still use only a few rigs but just make them all large

[@alostkitnip3599]

If anything, now I'm even madder about how little effort they put in to represent heavier folks.

[@dyl1601]

I like polygon's journalism because it always feels just a little hornier than any other site

[@gido9467]

I was having a similar thought after watching this. It feels more honest and open.

[@everentropy]

But in a weirdly wholesome way?

[@aquamarineschutter9550]

"Bespoke human labor," is another galaxy brain Jenna line predicting a dark, very probable future :O

[@skysmith71]

Okay, but the rigging dev has the dopest accent!

[@sassyalbatross2933]

As a tall lady type person, Lady Demitrescu makes me feel seen.

[@elizzzzzabitch]

jennas lipstick is always on point

[@screamsformemes]

Underrated comment!!

[@Rsfarmerbob]

Thank you for posting

[@0Gumpy0]

I love the way you said Spiderman. Saul Spiderman, attorney at law

[@alessiacornacchione7847]

'The Pebble' cameo

[@BucklingSwashes]

Oh look it's Christopher Christopher "The Pebble" Christopher Christopher here to teach us about rigging.

[@nsiepmann]

Congratulations, Jenna - against the odds, you have managed to make Monster Factory educational.

[@ThePhillyBard]

"Wrestlers in WWE wk14 have little a telekinesis" in fairness, so do wrestlers in real life

[@gido9467]

Excellent point. 👍🏾

[@KlooKloo]

Thank you for pronouncing "Spider-Man" correctly

[@xtutotv4675]

I am a simple man, I see Tall Lady, I click it... I dion't know why since I'm gay... but I'll still do it

[@northstarjakobs]

You do it for the solidarity.

[@midknight1339]

The best part of being a Polygon KZbin fan is being able to see a new video in your notifs and immediately know who made it based on the title/thumbnail alone. Thanks for the great video, Jenna!

[@ambermiller3751]

extremely delightful and informative 1000/10 as always

[@warmice7242]

Definitely the rigging I'm a big fan of the process personally

[@g.u.959]

“We love a big rig” Alright, so does that confirm we’re getting a video about Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing? Aka the BEST video game

[@kitkatliz1495]

I learned so much, and also I love the memes you casually sprinkle in. I had to pause and cackle at a few of them

[@Akshay-Gupta]

She wants full medusa head, RETURNAL trailer: hello there

[@baalrog]

Good breakdown of realtime rigging! Nice job Jenna! Proportion changes can be fixed somewhat by using realtime IK (inverse kinematics), which eats CPU time. Fortnite's werewolf skin needed extra IK to get the digitigrade feet to play nice with the human animations.

[@simonharford4834]

jenna heard "lady dimitrescu fans love rigging" and really wanted to make a video without getting flagged

[@dantechristensen273]

It's interesting to me to come back to this video months after the release of RE:8 and realizing it wasn't just Lady D who got a lot of unique rigging. I suspect a lot of the Lycans, Sturms, and Uriases (Uraia? Uriasai?) probably share the same skeleton as Heisenberg (Possibly Varcolac as well...I'd have to go back and look) but the other 3 lords all seem to have unique and diverse rigs to them which I really appreciate.

[@eldraetta]

absolutely hilarious and interesting video, great work as always!

[@mmm.mmm.mmm.]

this feels really good to watch. thanks for all your effort, this was a hella interesting thing to learn about

[@nya.nyandrew]

I really, truly appreciate the way Jenna said "a really... BIG lady." truly reflecting thousands of sapphics (including me).

[@robertplays8065]

So you're telling me, that the game was rigged from the start?

[@FrostCHNOS]

THE INVINCIBLE CZARS! I miss seeing them so much, its the only way to watch Nosferatu

[@debbiebishop86]

This is my new favorite Polygon video. I just love big rigs

[@DHREAVER]

Nice, I really enjoyed the blend of humour, information, expert insight, stupid comparisons, 10/10 content.

[@jsloanhpi]

What a thoughtful, consistently interesting presentation. How you managed that is very impressive writing/editing!

[@LukeExists]

This is awesome! Truly insightful. Great work!

[@caroodraws]

Thanks for doing such in-depth videos on the ins and outs of game creation! Super duper interesting