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thatAnimation Reel wip

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thatanimator polycounter lvl 6

LATEST
RESURRECTION!!

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JexdLCdFYHM"]reel wip - YouTube[/ame]


got an update on my reel if you guys wanna give it a go!

the idea is to send this out on cd in a cardboard case with the katassassins creed navigation demo I posted before in a folder on the cd (.exe) as well as a .html link to the webplayer version.. and I'm thinking of having the three longer animations in my reel (centaur, annie and scout) in a real time environment so that whoever is in charge of giving my reel a look through can rotate around the animations in real time as they loop..


I've been staring at the animations for a bit now so I dunno if they're done or not.. might have some issues with something here and there, but I dunno..
annie is about 98% done though, forgot her fingers in some spots :)


OLD
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZH0dav-YvyI"]reel wiiippp - YouTube[/ame]


----
Ok it's time for me to get my shit together:susp:
So I've started this thread to get feedback from all you fine folks on the animations that I want to include in my upcoming reel - as thisanimator is in need of a job, bad :poly136:

Instead of wasting time modeling my own crap I dug around in my SDK folder and found some goodies that were easy enough to wrap a skin around and get to animating!

Let's just get to it shall we!:poly142:

td;dr: click youtube links, skim through animations - who cares about key-stepping anyways, see anything that is horrible? let thatanimator know.:shifty:


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This kick ass character is made by Bitgem here on polycount.
He saw that I was looking for stuff to animate for my reel, so we worked together for a couple of days and I did a couple of street fighter inspired animations.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_PoJ2UtQDw"]reel wip aleysha - YouTube[/ame]

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Blood Elf Engineer or Artificer depending on who you ask I guess :D
Character by JadeEyePanda here on polycount!
I remember a company in Japan asking me during an interview, how long it takes me to animate a walkcykle. I went waaay out of hand and started talking about feedback loops and shit, told them it would take about 3 days. Of course that is madness and I'm sure they wrote down "this whiteboy done goofed" somewhere on the interview sheet because they didn't want me to come over after that :poly136:
So I went ahead and did this walk in about 3 hours or so (cloth and bags!!).
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQa1LtqqCeI"]reel wip bloodelf - YouTube[/ame]

I have a bit of a problem with the spin attack animation, where he slams down into the ground. feels like he's going a bit too fast eh? maybe I should give him...3-4 more frames on that fall?
Other than that, I want to go back to the left hand on the walk, it's rotating a bit too much before going back behind him..
The standard attack I'm happy with.......no?:\

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This is the current wip I've got.. It's not as finished as the previous characters. hence the wip thread!
Character by poopinmymouth.
I've got a runcykle with this one as well, it's not as realistic as one would maybe expect. I worked with refs first, but didn't like the result at all. So I redid it without any ref and just went with what I felt looked good, I think it got very world of warcraft-ish, but I'm way fine with that. I'll post it up in a day or so when I'm ready to present this whole character.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUzz1UohqnM"]pounce wip3 - YouTube[/ame]

The file got corrupted a day or so ago. but I managed to open it up in the education version of MB2013 and I've had to continue working on it there.
I HATE MB2013 so it's messing with the feel of it a bit.. but I think it's getting there?
Obviously the tail is not animated yet! And the character will not be given toooo much attention, but a little bit more than he's got now.





---
After the poop-animal-thing is animated, I'm thinking of animating poop's naruto as well. Just to get a cartoony ninja runcykle in there and maybe some jumps and spins..

I might put some stuff from my two iOS games in there as well. Probably as intros and outros to the reel..



Question time!
I have two videos that are under NDA. One of them is the only proof I guess that I have any work experience. Should I send these videos as password protected vimeo links to companies since I can't very well put them in my reel but I still want to show that I've done at least something other than leveling my characters in WoW!
Would that come of as unethical? I mean, I would never break NDA if I actually had something proper to show (company didn't produce anything that the public could see while I was employed) but I'm fairly pleased with the animation and it is professional work..
Whatdoyathink?:poly122:
The other video is a test I did for a company. I'm not sure if I even want to show it or not, but still it's relative to the question I guess :)


Also have a test for another company, but that uses the Malcom characters and audio samples from Twilight, so I'm sure I can use that however I want.




I'll fill this thread up with the rest of the animations for the poop-animal and other wips!
Hope to hear from you!:poly124::thumbup:

Replies

  • thatanimator
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    thatanimator polycounter lvl 6
    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZruGa2ZmFs"]twilight animation - YouTube[/ame]

    Here's the Malcom animation. Don't know if I even want this shit in my reel?..
  • Chris Kuhner
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    Chris Kuhner polycounter lvl 6
    Really solid work, man! Your elf's attack animation, I think he needs to reach the pinnacle of his jump a bit sooner and come down a tad quicker/harder. Right now the entire movement feels a bit even and the arc isn't as smooth as it could be. If you fix those things, I think it will also add some needed weight to the final hit on the ground. Other than that, I really enjoy the spin he uses to launch himself. Keep it up dude. :)
  • DWalker
    Violating an NDA is a really bad idea, especially to a company in the same or a related field. You can try contacting the company for permission, but that's about all you can do.

    The blood elf really needs to actually move - at the moment he's merely sliding along the same spot, and it looks unnatural.

    In the pounce animation, the tail is almost motionless except when the cat(?) is rolling. The tail should be providing a counter to the creature's movement, helping it to maintain balance. Watch some videos of long-tailed animals such as cats or lemurs, and study the tail's movement as the animal runs & leaps.
  • thatanimator
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    thatanimator polycounter lvl 6
    I think he needs to reach the pinnacle of his jump a bit sooner and come down a tad quicker/harder. Right now the entire movement feels a bit even and the arc isn't as smooth as it could be.
    Right?! that's what I'm thinking as well!
    after reading that comment I went back and made him jump up a bit faster and did some other tweeks, but it all still felt kinda weird.
    I'm gonna see if I can fix it, if not.. fuck it x) ship it!

    DWalker wrote: »
    The blood elf really needs to actually move - at the moment he's merely sliding along the same spot, and it looks unnatural.
    I assume you're refering to the inplace walkcykle and I don't know how to answer this:poly122:
    DWalker wrote: »
    the tail is almost motionless
    well yes, that is why it was a work in progress. I wanted to get feedback on the body and how it animates before moving onto the secondary motion.


    since nobody really hated the pounce animation, I poked at it a bit myself and today I added the tail bit.
    also showing of the run now.. its a bit jerky at the loop, think MB2013 flattened my keys there :P
    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x811L9PbZ9M"]pounce & run - YouTube[/ame]

    these animations will be presented looping 2-4 times and with some sort of camera setup. not gonna have any moving cameras or stuff like that, might have to translate the camera with the cat in the pounce animation, but thats about it.


    blaaargh! took me a few days too many to get to this point.. stuff got in the way
  • thatanimator
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    thatanimator polycounter lvl 6
    ok I'll try again...

    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrYVLcfLMYs"]wip wop - YouTube[/ame]
    heres a wip of the reel.. this is the way I was thinking of presenting the animations, swiping by like that.


    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Q_O9Si4NHg"]reeelll wippppppp - YouTube[/ame]
    here's a version I did last night



    the problem I had with the last-night version is that it kinda started to feel like a model reel, and we don't want that now do we! :)
    but I did like the polaroids as they show of poses and maybe facials that you might overlook during the animation..
    (also, way too many polaroids at the start, I know!)



    I wanna know if you guys also feel like the polaroids take away too much attention from the animations and makes it feel more like a model reel.. I credit the artits at the bottom, was thinking of moving that text up to under the character name thouhg..

    if I go with the no-polaroid version I guess I'll leave the credit stuff for last. and have polaroids there instead.. like a list or something scrolling/swiping by with character names, artist names and url and the polaroids

    whadayathink?
  • jfeez
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    jfeez polycounter lvl 8
    Really enjoy the animations, though i dislike the background/polaroids, i find them really distracting and the background makes it hard to read some of characters poses. I would maybes have a brighter background so the characters stand out more.

    The bloody elf animations are great imo but i think on the jumps the floaty thing should have a jolt kind of movement when he leaps, they follow through when he lands but theres nothing when he jumps. Also with the dragons run cycle the from clavicle should guards move back really fast, i feel like the curve could probably be tweaked to make it flow better, overall i feel that animation could be smoother, its really obvious in the tail and like a said front clavicles. The takedown animation is awesome, though it would be cool if it roared before biting into him? Not really crit there just personal preference. (Also add some shadows/lighting the opening scene)
  • thatanimator
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    thatanimator polycounter lvl 6
    hey thanks!
    yeah you're the second guy to not like the polaroids... god damn it! :D thought I was on to something there! I'll put them in the credits then
    I'll brighten the background up a bit.. my screens are kinda bright so I guess that was what fucked it up for me on that part.


    I totally agree with the dragon run.. it bothers me a bit.. I guess people have been pointing to that animation enough for me to actually go back and try to fix it! :)
    thanks a ton!

    away with the polaroids, brighter background, fix the run!
    got something to do today then! :)

    edit: opened up the runcykle.. all the keys had flat tagents.. that's what you get when your MB2011 file gets corrupted and you open it up in MB2013 I guess :)
    not too sure about how I could fix the shoulder plates moving too fast back.. they are kind of dependant on the front feet and how fast they move back.. but the tail is fairly fixed now that I've smoothed the curves again, thank you motion builder!
  • thatanimator
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    thatanimator polycounter lvl 6
    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6x1JMtqGW8"]wip wop - YouTube[/ame]


    not totally done with the skater yet, not too sure if I'm on the right track with the loop there...
    but I think everything is in place now?

    it's a couple of seconds shy of 2 minutes, which I understand is somewhat a breaking point for people..
    so I'm wondering if I should remove an animation or two, since I loop everything 2-3 times..? like the blood elf attack, maybe it's enough having him swing twice..


    gonna add the credits after this, shouldn't count to the overall reel lenght? :)
    just have the polaroids from before together with names and url's..
  • jfeez
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    jfeez polycounter lvl 8
    Reel length shouldn't be too important as long as all the work is awesome. Cool idea with the iphone for the mobile stuff, but the animations are tiny! They look good but it could also look like you are trying to hide stuff so make it bigger!! =D

    The skater is cool, but i think he needs some more weight/timing adjustments to ollie onto the rail and when he drops off, feels quite floaty. Cool idea for the end, but i think its your weakest piece and you want to leave a good impression at the end, i would either do another pass on it or end differently.

    I like the colour change you did for the background. Also you could easily cut down on time if you are worried about time by reducing the number of loops or taking out animations your not happy with =) I think 2 mins 30 is probs the max you should go to as well
  • thatanimator
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    thatanimator polycounter lvl 6
    hey thanks again for the wonderful feedback!

    I could scale the iphones up a tad, but there's just that much screenspace you know :D
    and I'd rather show the animations on the iphones to show that it's all game rather than just having renders like usual..


    I'll adjust the weight on the ollie onto the rail! you are very much right sir!
    I haven't even touched any curves on that one yet! :D
    but yeah, I'll work his hip around a bit and I'm gonna rotate the skateboard down a couple of frames earlier as well..
    the drop off being floaty..I don't know.. maybe a frame or two.. a friend gave me ref footage of real skaters dropping of rails, and they litteraly just drop of.. mine is jumping of, game-like.. so I dunno.. :)


    you don't like my stormcloak?! :(
    I can agree that it's the weakest piece.. but I feel that it fills a purpose as an intro and outro for the whole reel... not something you see in reels, that they begin and end in that manner.. usually a reel just fades in, shows some animations, then fades out..
    I don't have toooo many problems with that animation, care to point something out?


    if you say 2:30 is max, then 2:30 it is!! ;D then I have time to do that alien boss SDK as well! ;P



    haven't gotten around to fixing the animations based on feedback too much yet. mainly fixed the dragon thingy. gonna add the credits to the reel and then I'll go back for animation tweeks.. thank god for "Replace Footage" in AfterFX :)

    and maybe one more char......... if time allows ;)
  • thatanimator
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    thatanimator polycounter lvl 6
    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZH0dav-YvyI"]reel wiiippp - YouTube[/ame]

    removed the silly knight intro/outro stuff due to popular demand :)

    fairly happy with the animations, gonna go back to the skate grind a bit and give the blood elf jump-attack that eye it's been waiting for..I think.


    desaturated the background based on feedback from the WAYWO thread..

    I'm kinda pleased with the reel overall..
    missing anything? any kind of animation that has to be in a reel? (run? meh, it's in the robot ios game..)

    the skater "run"-loop, would that be a way to do that? I mean, it kinda feels like he's swimming a bit?
    I used Skate3 as reference for those anims..
  • thatanimator
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    thatanimator polycounter lvl 6
    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JexdLCdFYHM"]reel wip - YouTube[/ame]


    Bumping the thread with the newest version of the reel - AT THE TOP! (or this post..)
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