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Animation Question

Posted: Wed May 24, 2023 9:32 am
by aggimajera
I need to ask - I love, love what got showcased yesterday. The floodgates for hype were opened, and you guys are bound for more attention. I know you guys got the guts to persevere through the bullshit that will inevitably come your way now that you've shown you're not canned.

I need to ask though - the animation department. How current was the build showcased by the Youtubers? Your sound design is through the roof, you guys fuckin nailed it on that department. But the same could not be said for the animation. Though the animations both for the weapons and characters were not necessarily "bad", they were lacking in many areas. The characters felt artificial in their actions, the camera and weapons movement felt tight and constricted, and the reloads were a bit "straight-ahead".

I know you guys are in pre-alpha and animation will undoubtedly improve, but it was an area of weakness in the video showcases. Is there any sort of consensus in the team about that aspect?

Re: Animation Question

Posted: Wed May 24, 2023 12:54 pm
by optimise
Agreed, the videos that went up are absolutely amazing but animations definitely stood out and looked very artificial, really hoping they get improved down the line, especially the reload ones.

- optimise

Re: Animation Question

Posted: Fri May 26, 2023 7:34 am
by AmperCamper
optimise wrote: Wed May 24, 2023 12:54 pm Agreed, the videos that went up are absolutely amazing but animations definitely stood out and looked very artificial, really hoping they get improved down the line, especially the reload ones.

- optimise
Thanks for the feedback on our animations, guys. Can you share some references for animations that have the characteristics you're looking for? We want to better understand the issue here: are all animations "artificial" or is this limited to characters? What about weapons - is this a reload animation issue? What weapons?

Re: Animation Question

Posted: Fri May 26, 2023 12:19 pm
by optimise
AmperCamper wrote: Fri May 26, 2023 7:34 am
optimise wrote: Wed May 24, 2023 12:54 pm Agreed, the videos that went up are absolutely amazing but animations definitely stood out and looked very artificial, really hoping they get improved down the line, especially the reload ones.

- optimise
Thanks for the feedback on our animations, guys. Can you share some references for animations that have the characteristics you're looking for? We want to better understand the issue here: are all animations "artificial" or is this limited to characters? What about weapons - is this a reload animation issue? What weapons?
The reload animations is what particularly stood out to me, especially that of the M16 which looks really stiff & unnatural. Another thing I just noticed while watching Controlled Pair Gaming's latest video is the hipfire; where the weapon looks to stay overly static, here's a timestamp:
Sort of difficult to describe the latter, but I'd suggest looking at how a game like Insurgency Sandstorm makes weapons look and feel while being hipfired in comparacent, where it's still controllable but feels natural in terms of recoil control and target acquisition, this is also in large part thanks to their system which makes the weapon move around independently from the camera a little bit - this factor is huge when it comes to making handling seem organic, they had it since the Mod days in 00's and it really contributed quite a lot to how good it felt to play those games, here's a timestamp of a rough explanation of this system, would love to see something similar in SDIF;

- optimise

Re: Animation Question

Posted: Fri May 26, 2023 12:32 pm
by Khe sanh
Still not doing watching and analyzing all these videos, but after watching the latest one by controlled pairs, I think the SAW reload definitely needs some work, hipfire looks odd too, but besides that I'm really liking what I've seen so far.

Re: Animation Question

Posted: Fri May 26, 2023 4:27 pm
by oceansixteen
for me, the weirdest looking thing was the m16 reload. like optimise said, it just looks too stiff. I'll link three videos, one being a timestamp of SDIF, a short of the M4 animation in MW2, and one of Tarkov for comparison. Notice how in the MW2 and Tarkov ones, the camera shakes slightly as the magazine is taken out and put back in and the little clunky sounds of the gun being manipulated. i think something that would help is maybe raising the gun and tilting it to the side more like the MW2 clip



https://youtube.com/shorts/D4rcBv9EOa8?feature=share


Re: Animation Question

Posted: Fri May 26, 2023 5:22 pm
by aggimajera
AmperCamper wrote: Fri May 26, 2023 7:34 am
optimise wrote: Wed May 24, 2023 12:54 pm Agreed, the videos that went up are absolutely amazing but animations definitely stood out and looked very artificial, really hoping they get improved down the line, especially the reload ones.

- optimise
Thanks for the feedback on our animations, guys. Can you share some references for animations that have the characteristics you're looking for? We want to better understand the issue here: are all animations "artificial" or is this limited to characters? What about weapons - is this a reload animation issue? What weapons?
The guys already explained it quite nicely. Most of the problems lie in the reload animations.

When the character reloads weapons it just seems a bit robotic. You can see it in Controlled Pairs' gameplay when he loads his 40MM, and when he is loading his M1014. The animations are not bad, but they just aren't organic. Each action leads into the next smoothly with little deviation, little personality or humanity is in the hands, and the timing of the physics of everything just seem to match too closely. There isn't too much "cause and effect" going on here.

The best reload animations of all time, in my opinion, are right here.


They're a bit sluggish, but they're accurate and smooth and small traces of imperfection are planted - missing the mag well by a bit, the camera sway while he reaches for a new mag on his kit, having the shuffle the rifle while he one hands it. Since we are in a warzone, having a sense of urgency or even fear in the hands of the Marine during his reloads is an excellent opportunity to express fear or stress.

Re: Animation Question

Posted: Tue May 30, 2023 8:44 am
by AmperCamper
Thanks for all the references on this, gang. I'm compiling a list for our team, and these are extremely helpful for us.