Interview with SimGuruMarion
Posted by AlexanderAhlsen, Friday, June 20, 2014
- Norwegian
- English
We finally have the answers back from the questions you sent in about The Sims 4 and animations a few weeks ago! I want to thank Joyce and Marion for the opportunity, and especially Marion for taking the time to answer all of the questions!
SimGoodie: Will babies and children have more animations based on emotions?
Marion: Our babies are either happy or they cry, much like babies in real life :). Sims who are in the same environment as a baby will be emotionally affected by the baby's mood and will react accordingly. We also have some fun new interactions with babies – I think it's great that mothers can now breastfeed or use a bottle, and there is also a fun interaction that lets your Sim make silly faces to cheer the baby up, which I really love.
SimGoodie: What cool new animations can we look forward to when it comes to the Grim Reaper and death in The Sims 4?
Marion: I love the Grim Reaper's new look and his new accessories. We have updated his entire reaping sequence to match the more modern style we use throughout the game, and there is also a brand-new emotional dimension to the reaping that wasn't present in any of our previous titles.
I am also very excited about the new emotion-based ways to die – death by laughter is very funny, and who couldn't relate to death by embarrassment!
SimGoodie: Will there be idle animations for when a Sim is just by themselves relaxing or watching TV?
Marion: When your Sims are relaxing or not doing anything in particular, they will show animations that match how they are feeling in that moment. Male and female Sims also have different poses and sitting styles generally and based on their emotions. There are also small things your Sims can do from time to time that aren't always available. Older Sims, for example, will occasionally complain about a backache.
Watching TV has a very large suite of animations based on what your Sim is watching and what emotional state your Sim is currently in. I am quite confident you will be impressed by the variety we have included!
SimGoodie: Will clothing move more naturally with the Sim? Will hair move in the wind like we saw in the first trailer?
Marion: Those are two great questions. I will answer both together, as they have very similar answers.
When you start a new The Sims base game, there are always tough decisions to make about what features to include.
Hair and cloth are large and complex features that take a lot of time to implement and support. Our goal with animation in The Sims 4 was to create Sims with rich emotions and interesting inner lives. We wanted to express this both visually and through gameplay. As a secondary goal for animation, we focused on building a robust, fluid, and responsive animation system that does not get in the way of you playing the game exactly how you want. Reaching that goal was already a major undertaking, and we felt that trying to also simulate clothing and hair would have introduced an unacceptable risk to our primary goals.
The other major reason we did not pursue this in The Sims 4 was performance. Simulating hair and cloth consumes a significant amount of processing power. Uniquely for The Sims 4, we run a sophisticated simulation for every single Sim in the active game world. This is very demanding on your computer, as you have likely noticed with other generations of The Sims! On top of that, we also have fans with less powerful computers, and we want to make sure they too have the opportunity to play the game and enjoy it without needing a high-end PC.
That said, I have spent a lot of time thinking about how we might be able to bring this into The Sims, and hair and cloth are at the top of my wish list!
SimGoodie: How do you go about creating new animations for the game? What is the workflow for new animations? What programs do you use?
Marion: I will combine the answers to these questions as well.
All of the animations in The Sims 4 were crafted by hand. We did not bring any animations forward from previous games into The Sims 4, so everything is brand new.
To begin with, the designers send over a document with information about what animations they would like to see for a specific object – for example, an exercise machine. They might want animations for leg lifts, fly presses, and pulldowns, with each one advancing a skill. We usually hold a meeting to discuss the design so that everyone is clear on the requirements and there are no issues with it.
After that, the animation director and the animator get together to brainstorm what the animations should look like and put together a document listing all the animations that need to be created. The animator then shoots video reference. We typically shoot several takes for each animation. The animator and the animation director then review the footage and select the parts they like best. The animator may also make sketches and any other notes they find helpful. After that, the actual animation work begins.
We use Autodesk® Maya® to animate, with a custom toolset developed by our team.
We have a standard Sim in Maya® (a female in a skin-tight suit) with over 100 animatable controls. The animator loads the Sims and objects needed (in this case, the exercise machine). He or she then creates poses that are loosely based on the reference. We never copy the video directly; instead, we use it as reference and inspiration. The animator starts with a very rough sketch of the motion – just a few poses and very rough timing. The animation is refined gradually over several days with regular feedback from the animation director. An animation can take anywhere from 3 days to 100 days to complete, depending entirely on how complex it is.
Here you can see an image of the Sim we use for all of our animations:
Once the animation is finished and approved, we create the technical markup. This involves marking up prop visibility, attaching objects to the Sim's hands, and adding markup that allows us to play the animation on Sims of different body shapes. Next we bring the animation into a custom in-house sequencing tool we built specifically for The Sims 4 called Swing. Here we define which parts and sequences of the animation should play (we call them "state machines"), and add further technical markup. This is also where we test the animation to make sure it works correctly in our game engine.
The animation and all its associated parts are then handed off to the gameplay, sound, and effects teams, and the animator moves on to the next animation.
SimGoodie: Do you enjoy working on The Sims? How long have you been working on it?
Marion: I was hired in 2003 to work on The Sims 2 base game. I have worked on The Sims games for over 11 years, and in that time I have worked on three base games (The Sims 2, The Sims 3, and The Sims 4) as well as many expansion packs.
Working at The Sims studio is both challenging and a lot of fun! Humans are very complex creatures, and animating and simulating our behavior in a game gives us an endless stream of enjoyable problems to solve. A great example is when we really looked closely at how people behave when they communicate with each other and tried to simulate that. It was genuinely fascinating to notice all the small things we do without ever realizing it in a social situation – like making room for each other in a group conversation, where we choose to stand, who we look at, and so on. While we were working on that, none of us could hold a normal conversation anymore because we were all constantly aware of how we were shifting our weight and taking little steps.
Finally we have all the answers to the questions you guys sent in about animations in The Sims 4 a while ago! I want to thank Joyce and Marion for this opportunity and Marion for taking the time to write me back!
** SimGoodie : Will babies have more animations depending on emotions?
** Marion: Our babies are either happy or they cry, much like babies in real life :). However, the Sims in the baby's environment are affected emotionally by the baby's mood, and will react accordingly. We also have some fun interactions with the baby – I am excited that mothers can breastfeed as well as use a bottle, and there is a really funny 'Make Face' interaction that I like a lot.
** SimGoodie : ** **What cool animations can we see with grim the reaper and death in this generation of The Sims?
** Marion: The Reaper himself has a new look (including fun new accessories) which I really love. His reaping sequence has been updated to fit our more modern style, and of course there is now an emotional dimension to the reaping that wasn't there in previous titles.
I am also very excited about the new emotion-related deaths we have – death by laughter is very funny, and who couldn't relate to death by embarrassment!
** SimGoodie** : Is there gonna be idle animations for when Sims are just by themselves relaxing or watching tv, etc?
Marion: When our Sims idle, they express their emotions through small emotion animations and facial animations. We also have different idle poses for male and female Sims, and some variety in the sitting idles. There are also small actions Sims can do occasionally. Older Sims for example will sometimes complain about a backache.
Watching TV has a very large suite of animations with many different actions that are both based on what the Sim is watching and what the Sim's current emotion state is. I am certain that you will be impressed with the variety there!
** SimGoodie** : **Will the animation of clothing be more natural and will they move with the Sims? Will hair move in the wind like we saw in the arrival trailer?
** Marion: Those are great questions. I will answer both at the same time, as the answer is very similar for both.
When you start a big project like a new Sims base game, there is always a moment where you have to make hard decisions about what features you want to support.
Hair and cloth are large and complicated features that are time consuming to implement and support. Our goal in animation for The Sims 4 was to create Sims with rich emotions and an interesting inner life. We wanted this to be expressed visually as well as in game play. As a secondary goal for animation, we also focused on creating a robust, fluid, and responsive animation system that does not get in the way of you playing the game the way you want to. Getting there was a big task and we felt that trying to also do simulated clothes and hair would have meant taking on an unacceptable risk for our primary goals.
The other big reason for why we did not do clothes and hair for The Sims 4 was performance. Simulating clothing and hair eats up a lot of processing power. Unlike most other games, the Sims runs a sophisticated simulation for every character in the world. This simulation is very taxing on your computer, as I am sure all of you are aware! In addition to that, we also have many fans who have older, less powerful computers, and we wanted to make sure that all of our fans can play the game and have an enjoyable experience.
That said, I have certainly spent lots of time thinking about how we might be able do this for the Sims, and both hair and cloth are at the top of my wish list for the future.
** SimGoodie :** **How did you go about to make the animations for the game? How is the workflow for new animations? What programs do you use?
** Marion: I'll combine the answers to these two also.
The animations for The Sims 4 were all crafted by hand. We did not bring any animations forward from previous games, so everything in The Sims 4 is brand new.
The actual animation process is very much like the process for traditional 3D film animation:
First, our designers will give us a document that specifies what interactions they would like to see for the object – for example, for the exercise machine they might say that Sims should be able to do leg lifts, fly presses, and pulldowns, and that there should be a skill progression. We usually have a meeting to talk about the design, to make sure that everyone understands the requirements and that there are no technical problems with the design.
The animation director and the animator will then do some brainstorming on what that should look like, and create a document that lists all of the animations that we will need to create. Then the animator will shoot video reference. Usually we shoot several takes for each animation. The animator and the animation director will then look over the videos and pick the parts they like. The animator might also make sketches, and do additional planning as necessary for the shot. After that the actual animation starts.
We use Autodesk® Maya® to animate, with a custom toolset created by our very talented technical artist.
We have a standard Sim in Maya® (a female in a skin tight suit) with 100+ animatable controls. The animator will load the Sims and objects needed (in this case one Sim and the exercise machine). Then he or she creates poses for the Sim that are loosely based on the reference. We don't usually copy the video, instead we use it as inspiration and general reference. The animator will start with a rough sketch of the motion, just a few poses and very rough timing. The animation is refined gradually over several days with regular feedback from the animation director. Depending on how complicated the interaction is and how many variations we need to create, an interaction can take anywhere from three days to over 100 days to complete.
Here is a screen shot of the Sim we use to animate:
When the animation is approved, we create the technical markup. This includes marking up visibility for props, attaching objects to the Sim's hands, and creating markup that allows our animations to play on differently shaped Sims.
Next we take the animations into a custom in-house sequencing tool, called Swing. Here we define allowable sequences of animations (we call them state machines), and create more technical markup. This is also our preview tool, where we can test that the animations work well in the game engine.
The animations and state machines are then handed off to the gameplay, sound, and effects teams, and the animator moves on to the next interaction.
** SimGoodie : How long have you been working on The Sims and do you enjoy it?
** Marion: I was hired in 2003 for The Sims 2 base game. I have worked on The Sims franchise for more than eleven years, and I was involved in three base games (The Sims 2, The Sims 3, and The Sims 4) and many expansion packs in that time.
Working on The Sims is a fun and challenging experience! Humans are very complex creatures, and simulating our behavior in a game presents us with a never ending stream of fun and interesting problems to solve. For example, for this game, we took a closer look at how people really behave when they are talking to each other, and we tried to simulate that. It was fascinating to see how many small things we do that we don't even notice – how we make space for each other, where we choose to stand, who we look at, and so on. While we were working on that feature none of us could have a normal conversation anymore because we were constantly aware of how we were taking little steps and turning our bodies!