This question is from Kevin: In my 3D animation classes that I have taken so far, I have had different instructors require different frame rates to use when working on shorts or even when doing exercises. Some have said 24 fps, while others have told me 30 fps, citing the fact that since we are not animating for film, there is no reason to use the frame rate native to film (24).As an aspiring 3D animator looking to do work for film, telvision, or games, what frame rate should I use from now on? Does animation done for television have a different frame rate than animation done for film?
Hi Kevin!
Your instructors are correct that those are the two most common frame rates that animators would work with, and honestly it's up to each studio to decide which frame rate best fits their workflow and is most appropriate to the medium they are working in. I would say that the majority of animators I know work at 24fps, even if they are animating for television, but I'm sure there are plenty of animators out there working at 30fps. Truthfully, there's really no right or wrong, though 24fps seems to be a bit more common in my limited experience, and would probably be the better rate to get used to. Most modern DVD players and TV's play recorded films back at their native 24fps, and for film and TV, 24fps is a bonus for animation/fx work because it's less rendering time.
The most important thing, though, is that it doesn't matter one bit which framerate you are working in! Your poses will be the same, and your timing/spacing will be the same, only with slightly different frame numbers. The end result of a scene done at 24fps vs 30fps should pretty much look exactly the same to the naked eye. The 30fps scene might look slightly smoother, but it'll be a small difference.
As for your demo reel - you can just convert your 24fps clips to 30fps through quicktime pro (I'm pretty sure?) or any major video-editing package such as Premiere, Final Cut, or even iMovie.
Hope that helps! Thanks for reading the blog!
Shawn :)
5 comments:
This was super-helpful for me...till now i was using 3DS Max for animation works...and if i am not saying wrong it has default value of 30 fps...and i never bothered to change it...in Maya it was different story...also in some assignments i was told to use a particular frame rate...from that day i was confused with this framerate thingy...i got the answer now...thanks a lot and also to the guy who asked it...have a greatest day !
good details about 24 fps, thank you Kevin and thank you Shawn!!!
I just got back from vacation and was surprised to see my question on the blog! Thanks to Shawn for taking the time to answer, and I'm glad it helped you guys out, too.
I could be wrong with this, but I thought that most 3D animation programs will let you change the frame rate on the fly. This should not affect anything but the smoothness by which your animation will appear. If you render a 3 minute animation, it should still come out to 3 minutes no matter what frame rate you choose.
That being said, I have used a few programs where changing the frame rate changes the speed of the animation (such as Flash).
Animating by hand is a whole different story...no fun changing that on the fly, I am afraid.
Hi,
thank you for posting this question and answer. This has been an issue that also have created some confusion on my head...
During my education it has always been said to me that in 3D animation is used 24fps, but always got confused about it because the standard for PAL is 25 fps and 30fps is NTSF.
So my question is, if I am animating for one of these formats, which frame rate should I use? For example, if I'm animating for PAL, should I animate at 24fps and import the renders to, for example premiere or final cut, and then convert to 25fps when I'm exporting the final video?
How about the sound, this should be done at the same frame rate that the animation, right?
Thanks a lot in advanced,
Helena
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