- This topic has 33 replies, 10 voices, and was last updated 15 years, 5 months ago by
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Time to rip the bandage off I guess…here’s my reel guys. Be as brutal as you need to be :)
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50 views and nothing?? C’mon it can’t be that bad! At least critique what you think doesn’t work.
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Animated a sack of flour, How very Disney of you. :wink:
Think you need more finished pieces. Flash and Head on a platter were very nice. 3d walk and run cycle were expected minimum, add something like a fight scene. Dog motion is off. -
From my non artist point of view it seems your 2D animation is fab, just need to work more on the 3D stuff.
1. Bag of Flour – Cool, beautiful
[Keep in showreel]
2. Walk cycle with gun – seems a bit off, too rigid?, Not enough shoulder sway or head bob?
[remove from showreel until improved]
3.Dog animation – very unnatural. Right front paw goes a bit limp. Should movement very stiff
[remove from showreel until improved]
4. 2D characters – lovely !
[Keep in showreel]
5.2D block walkcycle – nice
[Keep in showreel]
6. Bag of Flour – again nice
[Keep in showreel, maybe have this all in one piece with ‘1’]
7. 3D head – ok, bit basic
[Keep in showreel]
8. Run Cycle – again something seems off, head remains in one position doesn’t sway, shoulders bit rigid?
[remove from showreel until improved]
9. 2D whip – cool, want to see more!
[Keep in showreel]
10. 2D head with eyeball – very short but fine – any more of this sequence?
[Keep in showreel]
11. bag of floor – grand, I like.
[Keep in showreel, maybe have this all in one piece with ‘1’]
So maybe work on the 3D stuff a bit more (again this is just a lay person talking, I am not an artist)
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Again I’m not an artist and I’m not used to looking at show reels. But heres my 2 cents.
1: 3D character animations IMO looks like they are unfinished. Sure it animates, but perhaps them being skinned and animated might look better. It woudl looks more like its game ready.
2: Dog animation looks totally unnatural. It looks like its twitching\jittering too much.
3: Perhaps footage of your animations in a game scene might be a good idea. Unreal (lots more engines) allow you to do this in a relatively easy and straight forward manner. Showing your characters interacting in a scene will defo be worth it. Employers would really take notice. It would say; not only can this guy animate but he can get the characters exported and into the game, and working!
On that point I recently spoke to an industry artist about what should go into a show reel (purely out of my own interest). He reckoned that the majority of show reels he’s seen don’t demonstrate to an employer that this guy\girl knows how to take an art asset from concept through to it being in game.
He said it’s not just the art bit thats important, its the exporting, tools pipeline and tweaking to get the piece of work looking great in a scene. He also recommended work be posted to cgsociety for review from people you dont know and wont be afraid o tell you exactly what they think of it, as constructive criticism will help you produce higher quality work.After all in a real world game studio, artist dont just do the asset and expect a programmer to export it and get it working in game. I would imagine this sort of artist wouldnt last long in a studio ;)
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Thanks for the template Kyotokid :)
Again another non artist, although I do have to look at how animations support communication (i.e does a character look like they were trying to block or strike, is it clear), and I ask about what makes a godd show reel as well for other people. So from my limited point of view:
1. Bag of Flour –
Loved it, but felt it was unclear, could that be because you had to drop quality to fit it on youtube? The hand drawn animation demonstrates that you know more than just 3D animation, which is very important/ Flicker annoyed me, but that might be forgivable by an actual animator (or it might be a hienous crime for not polishing enough)
2. Walk cycle with gun
The left leg’s return is too straight, or something. I’m not an expert, but its movement looks out of place with the rest of the animation.
3.Dog animation
Didn’t look right to me. The skin deformation looked good, did you rig it? The movement is unnnatural to my eyes. What is your speciality in animation? Bipeds, quadrpaeds, unusual shapes? If you’re going to show quadraped stuff make sure its dead on. You’re coming across as a generalist, which is a good base, but I think specialists have a better chance of getting in the door.
4. 2D characters
Another great bit of 2D animation, but these are taking up a lot of your showreel. If you’re after a cg animation job its better to show stuff that can be used in a game.
5.2D block walkcycle
Seems cool, but is indistinct. I’m guessing the white circles are hands, but then there’s those low hanging red bits above the ‘legs’. Its not a good thing to confuse someone reviewing your showreel. I’d give some advice on clearing up that piece but I’m too confused as to what your goal is there.
6. Bag of Flour
More hand drawn 2D? Make it clear in your showreel what you’re aiming for. At this point a viewer could be thinking videogames is your second preference.
7. 3D head
Every piece of the showreel should be there for a reason. What does this head do for you?
8. Run Cycle
Popping when left arm is behind.
9. 2D whip
Again hand drawn 2D? You know what I would say here. Also right leg is very straight in contrast to the fluid motion elsewhere.
10. 2D head with eyeball
Too short. Want more. I’m assuming this is CG and not cell drawn.
11. bag of floor – grand, I like.
Your last piece should be the impression you want to leave the viewer with. And you know what I think about emphasising the hand drawn work.
Ok summary time. To my eyes you are a good animator, quite possibly excellent. There is too much emphasis on hand drawn stuff, its too much because it can’t be used in games. You should certainly include some of it to demonstrate your understanding of animation principles.
Every frame of your showreel should be telling a potential employer that you are skilled, focused and relevant to their area. THe reel is too broad in scope at the moment. If you are also going for film/tv work then have a sperate reel for that.
As suggested above do some in game stuff. If I saw a side by side view of a rendered animation, and a game character doing the same animation I would be impressed i.e. lefthand side of the screen is max/maya/xsi right hand side is unreal/farcry/second life.
Excellent stuff mate, decide what you want and edit the show reel to make it clear
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I’ll definitely take those suggestions on board, thanks all :) Yeah the dog may not really work, I rigged it myself and the rig is a bit rubbish so it didn’t let me animate that well :S The 3D Walk and run are rigid at the mo…I was trying to get the reel out in a hurry and both were done in about two hours. I’ll be working on them both more for sure. 3d Animation studios and the like are always saying that they are looking for folk with traditional skills so that’s why there is so much 2D…I’m hoping it will look better when there is more game-related 3D stuff (and Ivy from Soul Calibur is actually on model ;) ). Back to the grinding block I guess :D
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Your 2d stuff is the stand-out success of your reel, also the biped run is quite good. The other posters have made some valid editing suggestions – its always tough when putting a reel together, you want to include everything you possibly can to flesh out a good body of work. You do have to be brutal though, rip out the stuff that is unfinished or doesn’t work. I’ve seen a lot of reels (have been an art lead for over 4 years) and I also suggest you leave out the head on a plate, it seems to be an unfinished character model dressed up a bit with a scene for inclusion in the reel.
Good luck with the reel, if I can be of any help to you (maybe offer advice on rigging, or help dicky up some of those models) then feel free to PM/email me.
Pete
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I’ve seen a lot of reels (have been an art lead for over 4 years) and I also suggest you leave out the head on a plate, it seems to be an unfinished character model dressed up a bit with a scene for inclusion in the reel.
Pete[/quote:77dc48a0e1]
I agree totally. I only put him in to show I can model a bit. That was a college assignment to make a head according to the tutors design and add morph targets so that’s why it’s just a head :D I’ve no prob in cutting it.
Art lead? Did you move to programming or can they be related?
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While Pete is probably a better programmer than I am, I’m fairly certain he hasn’t dabbled any time recently. Are you sure you’re not confusing Pete with Peter_b?
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Ha! I bet thats the case!
Usually college work, even if it earns a merit or distinction, requires substantial work for presentation purposes. As I said if I can help, just ask!
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While Pete is probably a better programmer than I am, I’m fairly certain he hasn’t dabbled any time recently. Are you sure you’re not confusing Pete with Peter_b?[/quote:5ce663f3dd]
:lol: Sorry. Yeah, I got them mixed up!
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While Pete is probably a better programmer than I am, I’m fairly certain he hasn’t dabbled any time recently. Are you sure you’re not confusing Pete with Peter_b?[/quote:f24994984d]
:lol: Sorry. Yeah, I got them mixed up![/quote:f24994984d]
I really hope Pete is’nt a better programmer than me otherwise I’m going have to learn max :)
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Or I could just save everyone the hassle and learn to read.
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Looks good man, very tidy, like the style, I think it looks good in that simplistic character style, no need to paint it unless your looking to enhance that effect rather than make it realistic. Well thats what I think anyway.
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That character absolutely rocks – it has a great stylized look!
If you get that rigged and animated in a cool way, that would be a major addition to your portfolio.
Mal
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Looks good man, very tidy, like the style, I think it looks good in that simplistic character style, no need to paint it unless your looking to enhance that effect rather than make it realistic. Well thats what I think anyway.[/quote:651a676bcc]
I am definitely thinking that myself, I was gonna paint in a real leathery look to the clothes and stuff but I think it would ruin it to have something heavily textured like that. I might just do some colour painting and leave out things like heavy normal maps.
Thanks guys, he’ll be rigged and animated in no time I hope :D
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Finally got around to Z-Brushing this guy.
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Finally got around to Z-Brushing this guy.[/quote:934189e042]
This the pirate?
I see its still a wip so one or two pointers. Apologies if this is irksome but its better said I think. I can also see that this is a stylised piece in some ways so you may disregard what I say, anyways:
1. The Upper Arm is too small. In fact the arm in general. Ideally, the elbow should be accross from the belly button, the lower arm should end or the wrist should be around the crotch. The fingers also look a bit squarish. There also seems to be an odd bump/tear on the palm of the hand.
2. The Chest region on the side looks too squared off as well. the abdominal muscles or 6/8 pack should go ontop of the ribs in the centre. Looks like the flaps in the latissimus dorsi muscle that create the borrow of the armpit at the back seem to be missing from this angle.
3. Also the neck muscle, sternocleidomastoid starts at the top of either side of the u shape of both clavicles, and ends around the back of the ear. Also looks a bit thick. I wont comment on the face as I presume any anatomical issues are about style.
One more thing tho, I would change the material in zbrush to something more natural for working on natural things. Anyway, sorry if I annoyed you by this long critique, just thought id take a good stare and point things out.
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This the pirate?
[/quote:a5127e513a]Can’t you tell? :lol:
I don’t think the pirate will be going near Z-Brush, this is a high-poly project. You are right about the proportions, easily remedied. I’ll just squish up his torso. And try to remove some of that squareness too.
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Can’t you tell? :lol:
[/quote:11d91aaf75]
Thought it wasnt but everybody looks like a pirate to me ;).
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Can’t you tell? :lol:
[/quote:7a08995b52]
Thought it wasnt but everybody looks like a pirate to me ;).[/quote:7a08995b52]
Yar pirates are definitely better than ninja’s :)
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Some cool animations man, i tried to do some of this stuff when I was younger.. Was very difficult :)
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Thanks man, yeah, it can be challenging sometimes.
Here’s a walk I’m doing for a test for another company (have to do a weight-lift as well) I think the arms are a bit straight looking but if you guys have any other crits I’d like to hear em.
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Im not animator, but just after watching it a few times cant see anything really wrong with it, the body has a natural flow as far as this untrained eye can see. There is a jerk tho when the circle restarts/ or when the right leg swings forward, but that might be on purpose to give it pop, as its a kind of cool funky walk from what I am reading. anyway, good work man.
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You’re right subedei, I fixed it now. :)
I also did a run the other day.
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Looks great. The only thing I would suggest is maybe more movement in the hips? As the shoulders seem to move quite rapidly. Though that might make the run seem too much, I dont know. Pretty cool though
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Redid the husky walk from scratch, looking for feedback now.
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Really like the way the tail wags, but there is something robotic about the movement, especially how the hind quarters stamp, also maybe more movement in the front paws and the shoulder area (dont know what u call that in dog terms), finally maybe more sway or dip in the head or maybe none at all. I have two big dogs myself, one waddles with his body, the others walk is almost like a slow run, which is a German shepherd so probably closer to the husky.
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Yeah that timing in the hind quarters was intentional, although I was going for ‘snappy’ more than ‘robotic’ :P Hmmm….
Having a whack at another reel. I think this one is better than the last at least. Short, because I just cut out all the fluff; it’s just all animation.
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Yeah that timing in the hind quarters was intentional, although I was going for ‘snappy’ more than ‘robotic’ :P Hmmm….
[/quote:3ffb5f7dfd]Well it is snappy, robotic was just what occured to me when watching it, didnt mean any offence.
Love what you did with the hand in the 3D running cycle, looks really lifelike the movement.
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Nah I didn’t feel offended ; critique is what we put our work up here for after all :D
Started animating with Maya now…gonna do a jump (currently in progress) a heavy lift and a piece of dialogue too.
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