Question about recommendations in the HB guide

[Filmriss]

Hello,

here https://handbrake.fr/docs/en/latest/wor ... ality.html it says

Recommended settings for x264 and x265 encoders:

RF 18-22 for 480p/576p Standard Definition1
RF 19-23 for 720p High Definition2
RF 20-24 for 1080p Full High Definition3
RF 22-28 for 2160p 4K Ultra High Definition4

Raising quality minus 1-2 RF may produce better results when encoding animated Sources (anime, cartoons). Lower quality settings may be used to produce smaller files. Drastically lower settings may show significant loss of detail.

I thought animation had less detail, so one can use less quality. For example for a 576p movie RF20 and for a 576p animation movie RF22. Is that not the case? I mean a human in a real movie usually has lots of dfferent shades in his skin in the face, while most animation-faces usually consist of one or two larger "skin" areas (despite hair, eyes etc.).

[JohnAStebbins]

Animation has less detail, so will result in smaller files than live action (assuming all settings are the same). But the very fact that animation is less "busy" makes imperfections more visible. Bumping the RF down by 1 or 2 will probably still result in smaller files than live action at higher RF while making those small encoding artefacts less visible.

[Filmriss]

Ah, ok now I understand the context. Thank you!