In-place animation vs including root motion

Unity Engine
1

Which is better, in general, and which is better for 3rd person humanoid? What are the pros/cons of using one vs the other?

If not clear by the title, the way I am using the terms:

In-place Run animation = character runs in-place, doesn’t move forward

Including root motion = character moves forward as part of the animation

It seems the “simple” game controllers (standard assets, 1st person and 3rd person) are designed for in-place animations?

It seems like if you want really smooth animation, you would need to include the movement in the animation, right? Otherwise it is like your character is just floating around while animated, but the foot-falls and forward speed vs leg movement speed might not match up well?

2

I always prefer in-place animation. the animator should be able to give you the correct speed to move at, or its pretty quick to just tweak it until the feet don’t slide. Smoothness isn’t affected either way.
It easier to blend between different animations without getting strange offset issues when using in-place animations. As the transform->position is always where the object is.
Its also easier to manage scenes with arbitrary geometry where the character maybe jumping or falling.
just my 2c/opinion

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