Animation Forum - How To Post Your Work
mod
Welcome to the Animation sub-forum here on Polycount! This thread is going to be dedicated to tips and tricks for posting your work so that you can get the best possible critiques you can.
To embed your video:
A quicktime video (.mov) you share through dropbox or SyncSketch. Also, add a frame counter to your playblasts so that the viewers can accurately tell you what they believe needs fixing. In newer maya versions, you can do that by going to display > Heads Up Display > Current Frame (pic here) and making sure when you playblast, that you show ornaments.
Quicktime/Dropbox - While you won't be able to embed these videos into your thread, you`ll get better feedback from it. The latest versions of Maya let you playblast as a .mov file. If you upload that to your public folder in dropbox, then share the public link (your link will have a /u/ in it instead of a /s/), people will be able to scrub through, frame by frame, in the browser without having to download the file.
SyncSketch - a fantastic tool for animators. Upload your video to the site and share the link in your thread. This will allow people to watch your video, frame by frame it, and draw over your animations as well to help you with posing and timing. It's still beta, and there are some downfalls. Each person doesn't have their own layer to draw on, so if multiple people do draw overs, it can get pretty messy. However, each person can write their critiques in your thread, and will have the exact frame number to go off of, if you forgot to add your frame counter. Also, the creator has joined polycount and is listening to our feedback, so if you have any suggestions, post them here
The folks at Sketchfab have updated their tools to now support animations, which a few of you have discovered already. Let's use this thread to share animations posted to Sketchfab!
http://www.polycount.com/2015/08/16/sketchfab-now-will-move-yah/
From there, when you're posting, click the attach image button and paste your link into the URL field. The link must end with a .gif to work properly. If the link is correct, it will automatically embed into your post when you paste it. No need to even hit enter.
Happy animating and we`ll see you around the forum!
Posting Your Demo Reels
Vimeo and Youtube are the obvious choices here. They are where most people will host their reels, and will make your work searchable by others.To embed your video:
- click the </> button
- paste the video link
- click </> again
- Youtube embed format = http: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=_veq6Q51Zlg
- Vimeo embed format = http: //vimeo.com/100147486
Animation Video Formats
While youtube and vimeo are great for hosting a demo reel, they are actually pretty bad choices for when it comes to getting feedback from others on how to improve your animations. The biggest problem is that you cannot frame by frame through the videos, making it difficult for viewers to really dig in and analyse your shots. This is a necessity if you want a proper critique. For this, you have a few options.A quicktime video (.mov) you share through dropbox or SyncSketch. Also, add a frame counter to your playblasts so that the viewers can accurately tell you what they believe needs fixing. In newer maya versions, you can do that by going to display > Heads Up Display > Current Frame (pic here) and making sure when you playblast, that you show ornaments.
Quicktime/Dropbox - While you won't be able to embed these videos into your thread, you`ll get better feedback from it. The latest versions of Maya let you playblast as a .mov file. If you upload that to your public folder in dropbox, then share the public link (your link will have a /u/ in it instead of a /s/), people will be able to scrub through, frame by frame, in the browser without having to download the file.
SyncSketch - a fantastic tool for animators. Upload your video to the site and share the link in your thread. This will allow people to watch your video, frame by frame it, and draw over your animations as well to help you with posing and timing. It's still beta, and there are some downfalls. Each person doesn't have their own layer to draw on, so if multiple people do draw overs, it can get pretty messy. However, each person can write their critiques in your thread, and will have the exact frame number to go off of, if you forgot to add your frame counter. Also, the creator has joined polycount and is listening to our feedback, so if you have any suggestions, post them here
The folks at Sketchfab have updated their tools to now support animations, which a few of you have discovered already. Let's use this thread to share animations posted to Sketchfab!
http://www.polycount.com/2015/08/16/sketchfab-now-will-move-yah/
GIFs
Some people choose to use embedded Gifs to post their work. While in some cases, it's a decent option, too many gifs in one thread will really slow down the thread. Please keep this in mind while posting. Gifs are best used to show off final animations, rather than iterations and improvements. While it is possible to just drag and drop your gifs from your computer into the post, it's better to upload it elsewhere and attach the image link. If attached the proper way, the moderators are able to front page your gifs, and have them animate on the front page. If you drag and drop, they'll show up as a still image. It's a known bug. To attach them properly, upload your gif to imgur or giphy. Those sites have a movie to gif converter built in, so you can upload your playblasts/renders with ease. Grab the image link by right clicking and selecting copy image address/link.From there, when you're posting, click the attach image button and paste your link into the URL field. The link must end with a .gif to work properly. If the link is correct, it will automatically embed into your post when you paste it. No need to even hit enter.
Happy animating and we`ll see you around the forum!
Replies
One thing you can do with a gif is download it and open it using quicktime; which you can then frame by frame that animation using the right and left arrow keys. This may still not be ideal as gifs can sometimes be made with less than optimal frame rates.
That being said, you want to make it as easy as possible for people to critique your work. As soon as you ask or expect someone to download a file, you're going to lose about half your audience, if not more. So, there are definitely better options.