How Do Inkling Transformations Work?
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- Опубліковано 22 лис 2024
- A professional animator breaks down Splatoon 2's inkling transformations to figure out why these quick, unsettling animations work so well.
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Written and produced by Daniel Floyd
Special thanks to:
-Carrie Floyd
-Soraya Een Hajji
-Eric Luhta
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Follow me on Twitter (@DanFloydPlus): / danfloydplus
For more games (and animation geekery), check out our other channel, PlayFrame! bit.ly/2lmGte8
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♪ "Girl From Inkopolis" by CG5
• Splatoon 2 ▸ Girl from...
♪ ...and selections from the Splatoon series official soundtracks.
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#Splatoon #Nintendo #animation #NewFramePlus
"Cephalopod" means "head-foot", so it is rather fitting that the feet are hidden in the head!
This is a really fun fact. I'm very pleased.
Wooooow lol
dam... you're right... it is fitting in the head
then what are the shoes for if there feet are in there head??
in our language its named like this
My thoughts regarding the arms when transforming back into a kid. It looks as though the intent is that the arms are still in a "squid" state, with suckers still stuck to the floor, it would have been a nice detail if the arms snapped up over maybe 2 frames, as though they were being forcibly pulled off the ground with some force, due to the suckers being stuck. I imagine this would have been hard to do though, because they would still need to get the arms back into a position with the character holding their weapon, and overshooting the arms after forcibly pulling them back up, might not have lent itself well to getting back into the idle efficiently.
To me they kinda look like they're trying to pull out the weapon from under the ink
The squid to kid arms seem like they tried to make them sticky, not squishy. It's like a snap I guess
Edit: snap from the floor
The hands are stuck to the floor, yeah. It's also evocative of... like... a pillar of slime, I think. It could use a little more 'snap' on release, though
Yep. I think it's intended to read more like suction, like the character is "shlooping" up into a stance.
I was thinking of those weird sticky hand toys, which seems appropriate for Splatoon's aesthetic
That's what it looks to me, too.
Imo hes still right when he says the model looks a bit too solid to seem like its stretching the arms properly.
I remember in S1 the "squick" model was much more obvious, and had massive terrifying eyes that you saw in every match intro
100th like and OMG THAT ANIMATION FREAKS ME OUT SO MUCH
It's also cool how the first steps of post-"squick" kid have ink footsteps trailing behind. It gives more of a presence and reality to the ink cover of the Inkling.
now im just picturing splatoon 3 allowing your inky footprints to stay on the ground afterward and counting towards inked turf. itd be very stupid but Very funny
Im pretty sure the hands stay glued to the ground when transforming back because the weppon only spawns with the final model swap. They didnt want to show the empty hands so the streching of the arms is there to cover the fact the gun hasnt yet been spawned.
I don't think I would have thought of that, super clever on the devs' part!
One detail I hoped you'd mention is that the "squick" model is different between 1 and 2. In 1 you saw Captain Cuddle fish esque eyes that bleed out ink when going from squid to kid.
Yeah. What's interesting here is that in Splatoon 2 the bleed out ink is still there in those two spots on the face where the eyes were, but the eyeballs themselves are gone. Looks like they just removed the eyeballs but not the ink effect (can understand why, those eyeballs were nightmare-inducing lol).
Simple:
1. You're a kid.
2. You're a squid.
1. You're a kid.
1.5. You're a squick.
2. You're a squid.
Repeat 69 times to make the splatoon 1 advert
@cactus & more cactus Hold ZL
@@flapjack0708 and press ZL for a quick kid-to-squid-to-kid
@@Plo1154 repeat it 100⁰00 times
I'm sooo glad to see you talk about Splatoon, this game is such a treat to the eyes in so many ways (especially for artists themselves)!!
Treat to the ears, too.
@@Stephen-Fox without a doubt!! I would listen to Calamari Inkantion on loop while drawing lmao (still do that sometimes)
It's weird that weird squid alien noises can create good catchy music but they nailed it!
the art and design direction is so strong (in addition to awesome gameplay and everything). just looking at the boatload of official art shows how passionate the team is.
I don't know any smart words to use to agree with you like the other users here, so I'm just gonna have to agree with your statement via the noises an Inkling makes
* ahem *
*_W O O M Y_*
LIKE SOMEONE I KNOW......
The biggest “ick” factor is that your eyes pass through your head from one side to the other. Eew.
meee, if you're liquid what does it matter :p
I didn't notice that, but wow it's super cool! Really sells the "gelatinous blob" feel.
Thought the same lmao
I've never played the game, but seen lots of gameplay footage - and for some reason this is the first time I even noticed the eyes on the squids? Fucking weird.
Glad to know I was not the only one that noticed it xD
No matter how much we analyze this, it will never be as weird and as terrifying as post-release S1 squiks
Hello again
THAT’S REAL
7:30 the awkwardness is what gives squidparties life!
Wow, I love that even the kid form has that bit of squish before returning to normal. Definitely helps it feel like they're still not quite human.
i NEVER wouldve guessed that this was a model swap, its so seemless :0 the animators really pulled through in selling it, its even cooler now that you've broken it down for us
In Splatoon 1’s animation, Satan shows up for a moment.
I L L U M I N A T I C O N F I R M E D
:0
It was so icky they had to update that
Not to mention the E3 transformations
I love how you can say “gross” like it’s a compliment xD
"Clever _and_ gross" should be Splatoon's tagline.
You should cover the Splatoon 1 version of this as well, it's quite nightmare-inducing. Basically the "squick" model also has it's own eyeballs on it's face that stick out and look extremely creepy and look like they're in pain. They're located on those two spots on the face when turning back into a kid where in the Splatoon 2 version there's just ink dripping from, but Splatoon 2 removed the eyeballs there so it looks like nothing special; however, in Splatoon 1, not only are the eyeballs there but the dripping ink in those two spots are there too, which makes the eyeballs look like they're bleeding out, which makes them look even creepier.
The better question is where do they keep their weapons when they turn into squids
I think it's explained in a Sunken Scroll, basically, all the Gear is capable of Liquifying with the Inkling
Because it’d be a pain to run back to where you dropped it
Hammerspace? I thought that came standard with most video game characters
On their gross squick head, too.
I mean, it wouldn't be crazy if they hide it inside their bodies while squid.
"Octoling squid models"
Well what else do you call them, Octoling Octopus Model just doesn’t sound right for some reason.
One thing I noticed while watching this video is how they managed to further sell the transformation feel by making sure the kid ears (which are pointy) at around the same position where the squid's head points are. I had never noticed that before, but it adds to the illusion of these two being the same creature.
My guess about the stretched-out squick arms is that it has something to do with the reappearance of the weapon:
If the inkling's arms followed through in a more natural way, reaching the end pose more quickly, the sudden reappearance of the weapon in their hands would feel very abrupt. But with the arms and hands still pretty close to the ground, the weapon can clip through the ground and gradually be raised up to the neutral pose, almost as if it was coming from the same splat of ink as the rest of the inkling.
it's also cool how you can already start moving and shooting even though the animation isn't entirely done yet (you can already start walking when the model is still a "squick") it helps the smooth and fast gameplay of the game and it would be annoying if you had to wait everytime
Something else that really sells this animation is the move of the camera.
"Clever /and/ Gross" 😆 agreed. Love it, another great video Dan!
Whoa, did not know his name was Dan and my other video game animation channel is also Dan. Cool
This video was really helpful. Now I know the animation of how the inklings and octolings transformation, I will finally make 2d sprites out of it. Thank you New Frame Plus!!!
I really love how when you transform back and are still covered in ink, you'll leave inky footprints behind. Wonderful detail. Shown around the 7:00 mark
Imagine the amount of animations and model swapping the system does within a squid party
So, this video just proves that Squick is the name of Cthulhu’s form for “conversing on a singular entity basis” and now I know who avoid in the apocalypse.
4:37 Well, inkling's don't have bones so it could just be them stretching because they're sticking to the floor/ink
"Let's call it squick" - ...Well that tells me how long you've been on the internet for.
Seriously, though, squick is a good word and needs to come back into general usage. Grosses me out, but I'm not opposed to it as long as it's away from me. Useful. Allows nuance in very few characters and syllables.
+
Now I have to Google a word that I previously thought did not exist and is also fairly questionable... Yay!
I know that word from TvTropes. Thank you TvTropes for preserving that sort of knowledge.
@@rickvanleeuwen9589 Dare I google the word as well?
@@FunZies. I honestly can't find anything questionable... All the results seem pretty tame to me. Either I'm missing something or there's some overexaggeration going on
I think the rigid arms in the squid-to-kid transition make for a nice "snap" into the final kid form
"How do inkling transformations work?"
Until I saw the channel I was very confused as to how this video was gonna go 😅
Their hair turns into the squid, I've seen enough cursed screenshots mid transform to know that much.
7:30 "especially if you’re rapid-swapping between forms like a goof-" *squidbags aggressively*
I think another reason the arms are stuck iin the ground on the return to kid animation is to keep the weapon hidden for as long as possible so the "squick" doesn't need a model for it and the weapon can pop in pretty convincingly as the normal model replaces it with its hands close to the ground.
Had the arms raised earlier the pop-in of the weapon would me more noticeable.
what a perfect topic for a video! ive always been curious about quick transformations, and seeing that they used an inbetween model is fascinating
Thanks for covering my favorite game! I love how complicated these animations are, despite being that quick.
The squick model is super clever! Notice how the squid eyes bulge out over time: that's not skeletal animation, that's a blendshape. Blendshapes let you do pretty much any deformation, but it would have been SUPER messy if the whole transformation was just one big blendshape deformation applied to the kid model (especially since the model is p complex and customisable). Having a "clean" model to deform saves a lot of headache!
Huh, I didn't think the animation looked all that worthwhile (I haven't played Splatoon) but watching the video changed my mind. I think the forms between morphing from one creature to another e.g. "squink" are very interesting to look at.
Super appropriate using the green and pink inks, Dan!
I think the speed of transformation is also part of game play balance. The devs wanted a quick kid to squid transform to make it easier to get away and made the squid to kid longer so that enemies have a bit of time to react to them popping up making it a riskier move.
The Splatoon 1 Squick has ink gushing out the eyes, complimenting the already lovecraftian looking Squick model.
Yes! I suggested this prior to being a Patron a while ago, excited to see it done! Splatoon is probably my favorite series, so seeing Dan break this down is great. I’ve definitely looked at the transformation and noticed there was some depth there to sell this illusion, so I’m not surprised at this.
I interpreted the arm thing as suction cups being stuck
Kid to Chaos 0 to Squid. Never played Splatoon but this is selling me on finally giving it a shot. You've done an impeccable breakdown, Dan. Demonstrating all the contexts for the transformations was a good idea.
1:35 wow this feels...
very similar of watching frog anatomy class.
But with squid and a kid.
I feel that the arm stretch while standing up is not to highlight the gooyness of the inky body, but rather it's full effect is to support the bounce you get when the transition is nearly done. The arms kinda snap up and lead into the squishy scaling effect you talk about at 6:00
oh my god, the idle animations.
it's just so funny, but weirdly fits?
Jesus I love this game so much
Can we also take a moment to admire the dynamic reflections in the ink? Notice at 0:40 how moving through the ink creates visible trails that persist. I only caught it because I was examining that super satisfying ink splash emitter at 2:43 and noticed there was a small "crater" in the reflection map when it finished.
I love the editing on the intro to this video. Nice use of Off the Hook's show.
You should've seen the transformation sequence in the first Splatoon, it was a lot less polished to say the least. Some earlier footage also had a transformation that didn't ink the eyes for some reason, so they'd look like creepy slime blobs with huge eyes.
I'm wondering if they didn't hide the characters weapon under the floor, so the arms stretching is them keeping the weapon under the floor until it's needed later in the animation.
I'm sure that's not the case, they totally could just shrink the weapon to 0, or hide it somewhere without having to connect it to the hands. As you see right before the inksplash, the squick model doesn't have a gun in its hands. The weapon just puffs into existence after the inksplash.
The clothes and weapon are shrunk to 0 and this wouldn't explain the jumping. Looks more like the hands are sticky
I love the squick arms, it feels like they're pulling their form out of the ink
I've always wondered how their transformations work, but never been able to slow down the animation for myself. this is super neat! thanks!
I discovered that in the “squick” form if your inkling or octoling is damaged the eyes will be black, and the tips of the hands and feet will be shaded black as well.
I love this channel! Keep up the great work. You make me appreciate the games I love so much more. I especially like the focus on character models in this one, which is my favorite part of game design
I was thinking of how their transformations work in-universe, but this is still good.
Hey new frame,
You should analyze the animations of the my singing monster series. All monsters have unique playing, sleeping, and idle animations, and they switch between them rather smoothly and have plenty of personality, and in some way convey the monsters singing/playing. If you do see this (You probably won’t) I recommend the second game, “My Singing Monsters: Dawn of Fire” as I personally like the animations more.
This was really cool to see. I don't do animation, but I always love seeing the tricks that were used.
This reminds me of blinking animations. The blink is supposed to be quick, but the opening of the eyes after the blink is supposed to be double the frames because it's a slower process. (At least, that's how I do it, lol)
Great video! I think with the stand up sectio for the transformation from squid to kid, the arms are supposed to read as sticking to the ground rather than being used to push the kid up
Thank you for continuing to cover very technical animation problems.
You should do one on Reload Animations! How they work, what makes them feel good/bad, which ones you like versus which ones you don't, anything! If you make it I'm sure it'll be fascinating.
It's cool how the "squick" runs before it fully transforms back into the kid!
In terms of the competitive aspects. It's quick to turn squid if you want to dodge or need to swim quickly.
the de-trasform animation being 30ish frames makes it a slow option when reacting to enemies. turning squid form into a less agressive option when aproaching the enemy, also it makes a fun option the most viable one. eg: you're swimming, enemy stops you from repositioning taking possession of the surrounding area with their ink(is always the secondary match objective).
I give up on attempting to write this rn. hopefully you get the point somehow
Personally I hope human survivors appears in Splatoon 3's story mode not as playable characters, but as supporters like Marnia and Pearl did in octo expension. And once you finish story mode new human npc reveals in Main plaza as shop owners. That would be cool.
One game I'd love to covered, both here and on Play Frame, would be Horizon: Zero Dawn. Amazing game, and the animations of the machines are incredible.
EDIT: NVM, I'm dumb and completely forgot you played Horizon already. Still would be cool to analyze the machine animations. As for Play Frame, what about Dad of BOY?
He already has played through all of it on PlayFrame ;)
He's actually already played Horizon on PlayFrame! Finished it up about two months ago I think??
How does one animate something lifeless to give it life, only to make it lifeless again. It's animation ception.
@@hammieli1875 By studying real animals... a lot.
I hope we get a video on the whole thing where game characters just place their weapons on their backs and them just floating there. Thankfully we've been seeing slightly less of that recently, but still.
The best part of this video is how much fun you can tell Dan is having saying "kid to squid" and "squid to kid".
Way to go Dan, you've done it again, made an incredible video, great job.
All I ask is for you to do a video on Just Cause 4, Titanfall 2 or Sea of thieves. You can do any of them, I don't mind. Thanks for all the information and entertainment you've provided us for years. Keep up the great work, and I hope the best for you in the future. Have a good one!
My guess why the hands are glued to the floor during much of the squick to kid transformation is because the animators didn't want to reveal the hands too soon. They might not have been able to hide them easily unless they simply shoved them under the floor until the kid was already taking form.
i would be traumatised if my arms got stretched like that, i won't lie
Oh man I love Splatoon so much. Thanks for the video!
I could listen to you talking about animation all day :)
Happy you covered splatoon also this is basicly a squidback indepth look
Always excited to see new videos from you this is easily my favorite channel
I've played Splatoon for years, and I could've sworn the Inkling did a brief motion of shaking off the ink when transforming from squid to kid (like a wet dog shaking off water), but no. The model doesn't shake at all. It's just the splash effect and the size change that create the feeling of shaking off ink.
I (watching this halfway through) thought that the animator's point was to make the uhh outline appear squiddish. Like the arms/torso are, for a blink, appearing as the squid "tentacles" underneath the head. Like there's 4 different squid types:
1. squid model
2. 4:54 or 5:08... Like I feel like if you look at them directly head-on, you might get a squid silhouette?
3. mini cthulu 4:59
4. full kid
OK I'm on ambien and overthingking this.
I thought you was going to talk about the transformation from squid to kid when the battle start.
But is a good video.
YESSS. One of my favorite games, and a topic I've actually wondered about a lot.
Squidbagging is wrong: It hurts both your enemies’ feelings and your inkling itself when you think about it
7:30 - "Like a goof"
-- Clearly Dan meant to say "goose" here.
:HONK:
:HONK:
:HONK:
It’s crazy how this guy can turn a transformation that’s only a few seconds long into a 8& a half minute video
in splatoon 1 theres inklings mid-squid form its like squid to kid but with eyes and its TERRIFYING
It doesn’t matter so much if the animations look a bit weird because the player will probably not be looking at their guy, more like the guys theyre shooting at, who are moving very fast a lot farther away
The squick looks like small Cthulhu. Did the ancient ones destroyed humanity and left inklings beheind.
I was actually really wanting an episode about this! :D I'm excited!
I think the arm stretching for the Squid-to-Kid animation might have been trying to imply they were pulling their Weapon out of the ink. those weapons can get massive, so it'd make sense that they'd need to put a bit more effort in to take them back out
I'm guessing the other reason why the transformation isn't instant is gameplay balance? The transforming back from a squid into a human especially, I'm guessing it's an equivalent to landing frames lag but for switching back to firing mode.
Since the animation is mostly seen from the back, it really helps hide the weird arm stretching as well
Could you take a look at the Dead Cells animations? It is one of my favorite animated games, and I'd love to see you breaking it down
The squid to kid arms are probably animated to look like they are being build from the ink still on the ground, kinda like 3d printing
aw i cant believe you didnt talk about the old animations that got changed which looked even more horrifying
I'd love to see you talk about Monster Hunter animations, specifically GU and World. Using the great sword is just one of the greatest feelings in the world
Nice look at a complicated mechanical animation that goes right by most of us! Love these deep-dives.
It would've been nice to see a little comparison between how this is handled in Splatoon proper and in Smash Bros. (does the latter omit things for responsiveness or to read better from the side?), but that may come up in a more Smash-focused video
You should talk about the awesome procedural animation in Rain World - it's one of two games (the other being The Last Guardian) that animates fictional animals to such a realistic degree that they feel like they could really exist.
Damn thats crazy I was just watching New Frame Plus again for fun and this got uploaded.
I never knew they used such simple geometric shapes to make the particles look 3d!