I've been rendering animations all week, and the total output is more than 2,500 frames.
Since I'm in animation mode, I think it's about time to address one of the things that's been a focal point of VNs for the last few years. 30FPS, or 60FPS animations?
30FPS or 60FPS
U4iA animations are rendered at 30FPS. Leap of Faith, on the other hand, was one of the first VNs to be rendered at 60FPS (from chapter 3 and onwards, and using frame doubling on some segments where needed). So why did I go back to 30 for my second game?
First of all, you can't compare a movie cutscene with actual gameplay FPS. While playing a game, 120FPS is good because you're in control of what happens on screen. A 120 fps high-motion cutscene will probably cause nausea. So, high frame numbers in themselves are not a target for anyone making a VN. It's not a formula where the higher the number, the better the quality.
Film Look
Movies are separated into two categories. The first is Film Look, which is any blockbuster movie shot with expensive cameras. The industry standard for movies is 24FPS. That includes movies such as The Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. No one in their right mind will say they are visually lacking. In the last few years, some movies have used 48FPS, such as The Hobbit movies and Avatar: The Way of the Water (which has 48FPS segments).
Soap Opera Effect
The other category is the Soap Opera Effect. As its name suggests, it's used in soap operas/daytime dramas, which are shot with much cheaper equipment, and recorded at 30 (now 60) FPS, and are often criticized for being too 'perfect-looking' (lacking effects such as motion blur) - thus being perfect for things like livestreaming sports events.
In Daz, there is no motion blur either. I can turn the camera as fast as I want, or spin a car wheel in an animation, and there will never be any kind of motion blur. Every frame will be pixel-perfect and match the quality of a story render.
So, with that said, it makes sense that we're using the 30/60 Soap Opera FPS format for VNs, but I mentioned both for comparison.
As I said earlier, U4iA's animations run at 30FPS, and I still think the animations look better than Leap of Faith's 60FPS. (Again, for comparison, Pixar uses 24FPS for their animations.) Daz animations are largely (not just mine, almost everyone's) slowmo-ish and cinematic. It's something I've been working hard to improve and speed up throughout making U4iA, to increase realism.
And for the scene I've been working on this week, they're going at it at a decent pace. In fact, the whole 'in-out loop' was only 15 frames. It meant a lot of detail was lost when using 30FPS, and I eventually decided to render that segment at 60FPS.
So, tl;dr, I will start using 60FPS for the more 'speedy' sequences where it is needed, but 30FPS is more than good enough for most animations. Caressing, teasing, kissing, and long-distance cinematic shots of the sunsets do absolutely not need 60FPS, and hopefully, this wall of text post proves it. Besides, it would have added months to the development time.
I mean, I could have bought four more render rigs, but then I'd probably have done 4K animations in 30FPS instead.
Stay safe out there, and enjoy your unlimited FPS weekend! :)
// Drifty