Should I animate or Tween on the client?

[Danster375 (DapperDev)]

Hey all,

I create Theme Park Ride Systems and I am wondering for flat rides (Like a swing rides etc) should I switch to animating them (with moon animator etc) or stick with Tweening on the client?

Could someone explain the positives and negatives for both of these different ways?

Thanks

[text_overflow (Thomas)]

You could use animations - Roblox has ClientAnimatorThrottling which should help with lag in that case. It also has more events tied to them, which would help for easy stop and start callouts.

As for Tweens, I think you would have to write your own to have the coaster follow a set path. It could work, and would help for easy changes along the way.

I think animations will give you a smoother and more performant result between both possible options.

[Clxzed]

I’ll do it !

1. Tweening -
   Positives:

• Plenty of customization

• Locks in place (with animations, once that animation is complete the character will be tweened automatically back to its original position)

• Doesn’t require an AnimationController and the use of welds etc.

Negatives:

• The more tweens, the more memory will be used and lag will increase.

• Can be a bit hard to learn, especially if you want that customization I mentioned earlier.

• Animating on the client and potentially replicating is… just trash… seriously.

1. Animating -
   Positives:

• A LOT more movement potential.

• On non-custom characters (Roblox officially R15 and RTHRO characters have I.K and F.K which is a physics lifesaver

• Uses less memory as Roblox more likely classifies it as one large tween than a bunch of individual tweens.

Negatives:

• You need to understand naming, welding, and AnimationControllers.

• VERY TEDIOUS! Every detail matters with this.

• Doesn’t lock in place… Small but annoying.

(In the end both are the same, I believe Roblox uses TweenService on these animations, though a less intensive version.)

[Danster375 (DapperDev)]

Thanks for all the info!

For the ride I am going to be working on I think it is best to mix both as it is a robotic arm that will follow a track. For that bit I will use Tweening on the client to you know allow it to follow the track but for the arm movement and animations I will animate it as this will be A LOT easier.

I have attached a some images so you get a better understanding on what I am wanting to create. Do you think mixing them together will be okay?

[Clxzed]

I believe mixing them together would be good. That would most likely take rotation tweens for individual pieces and animating for the main arm.

[Danster375 (DapperDev)]

Thanks for the help! Much appreciated.