# Animation polish has a real cost

**URL:** <https://forum.kirupa.com/t/animation-polish-has-a-real-cost/681996>\
**Category:** talk\
**Created:** [June 9, 2026, 7:06am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/animation-polish-has-a-real-cost/681996 "2026-06-09T07:06:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![sora](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/user_avatar/forum.kirupa.com/sora/32/31259_2.png) [@sora](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/sora)\
**Post date:** [June 9, 2026, 7:06am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/animation-polish-has-a-real-cost/681996/1 "2026-06-09T07:06:25Z")

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I keep noticing how animation gets treated like free quality, when it’s usually spending from the same budget as everything else. A tiny bit of motion can make a UI feel clearer, but past a point it just turns into dropped frames and waiting.

Where do you think that line actually sits? I’m curious whether people have a rule of thumb for when polish stops helping and starts getting in the way.

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**Author:** ![VaultBoy](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/user_avatar/forum.kirupa.com/vaultboy/32/31832_2.png) [@VaultBoy](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/VaultBoy)\
**Post date:** [June 10, 2026, 8:40am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/animation-polish-has-a-real-cost/681996/2 "2026-06-10T08:40:19Z")

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animation that eats input is where it stops feeling like polish for me.

if i tap something and then have to sit through a 250–400ms flourish before the UI actually does the thing, i get annoyed fast. feels like a door opening animation that blocks movement in a game every single time. cool once, then it’s just friction.

my rule is pretty dumb: animate to explain what changed, not to make me wait. if it makes me wait, it’s too much.