Short animation test need feedback

devilcloud

Hi,everyone, I am new here, I will introduce myself first, I am a game animator, I am living in China.
Recently I have accepted an animation test from Ubisoft Chengdu for Senior Animator.They gave me a scene which has A and B point, no limited for the character what I am using. Just animate the character jump from A to B, act what I want.The animation should be realistic.
I took about ten hours in total using my spare time to finish it.The model was downloaded from the website for free.I rigged it.
After about two weeks the HR guy told me that I was failed on that test. No much details on how I failed, only said that I have some basic error on that animation.So I put it below , hope you guys can point out what the problems and give me some advice, please.
Thank you!
http://syncsketch.com/sketch/170113#210747 

AGoodFella

Mind uploading it to syncsketch?

HeXiFy

So whenever you want feed back on a forum, instead of making a title and adding the link, it'd be nice to hear what you had to say about the animation, what it was for, be vocal in the community... You rub people the wrong way when you post like this, it almost seems demanding... Maybe it's just me.... But like AGoodFella said, upload it to syncsketch so we can dissect it and see it frame by frame. And I wouldn't limit yourself to just only receiving animators feed back... People who have no experience at all can see when something is off or looks bad. And again, comments like that turn people off because you seem close minded. Did they mention why it was a failed test? What was the parameters they gave you for the test. Who's model and rig is it... who's scene..

RKirtlink

It would definitely be good to hear what they asked you to do for the test. I'm assuming it was something along the lines of make him go from point A to point B in a way that fits the assassin character, but if it was focusing on the transitions or another aspect of the animation we could look at that part more closely. Once it's uploaded to syncsketch I'll leave some notes for you.

devilcloud

AGoodFella said:

Mind uploading it to syncsketch?

OK, I will do it now. I am a fresh man here.

devilcloud

HeXiFy said:

So whenever you want feed back on a forum, instead of making a title and adding the link, it'd be nice to hear what you had to say about the animation, what it was for, be vocal in the community... You rub people the wrong way when you post like this, it almost seems demanding... Maybe it's just me.... But like AGoodFella said, upload it to syncsketch so we can dissect it and see it frame by frame. And I wouldn't limit yourself to just only receiving animators feed back... People who have no experience at all can see when something is off or looks bad. And again, comments like that turn people off because you seem close minded. Did they mention why it was a failed test? What was the parameters they gave you for the test. Who's model and rig is it... who's scene..

thank you very much! It is very nice of you to give me this advice. I will add more detail information for this animation test later.

devilcloud

Hi, everyone, I am new here, maybe I should introduce myself first, I am a game animator, I am living in China.
Recent days, I accepted a test from Ubisoft Chengdu for Senior Animator, the scene was the only thing they gave to me, the model was downloaded from the website for free.I rigged it. The test said to make the character I chose to jump from A point to B point, the animation should be realistic, should be finished in 4 days.After I sent this animation to them, the HR guy told me that I had failed because of some basic errors, no more details.
I put syncsketch link below, could you guys help me to point out the problems in this animation? Thanks!

Main Camera:
https://syncsketch.com/sketch/170113#210747
perspective view:
https://syncsketch.com/sketch/170113#210771

AGoodFella

Some basic errors? Hmm.... Did you ask for clarification?

I agree with he above, you don't need the walk up, then walk back at the start. 4 days isn't a ton of time so i would begin by running into the scene and getting to the actual jump quicker.

Your walk in at the start feels off. His feet feel like they float in the air for too long before they plant.

Could loosen up the arms as well.

Walk back feels awkward. He is leaning too far back. Maybe you could have fewer foot steps. I would shoot some ref for this.

Little jump at f333 is a nice idea.

Tone down camera, get rid of the blurs.

At f421, I think he could jump off. Don't need to swing back.

Double check the spacing for the jump. Make sure he's not speeding up up/slowing down in the wrong places.

f546 - gimbal for the arm.

f549 - Get some tiny overlap for the head.

f614 - Delay screen left foot swivel until the other foot has planted.

Overall, I think it's in decent shape. I imagine for a senior animator position they're expecting something almost perfect. If you cut out the walk/walk back, you would've had a lot more time to work on the rest of the shot which is the meat of it.

devilcloud

AGoodFella said:

Some basic errors? Hmm.... Did you ask for clarification?

I agree with he above, you don't need the walk up, then walk back at the start. 4 days isn't a ton of time so i would begin by running into the scene and getting to the actual jump quicker.
....
Thank you AGoodFella! Your words makes me feel much better.
Yes,I spent too much time on walking back part ,and I did'n find good references for that, acting by myself also not good.Maybe delete that part is a really good idea.If you can give me some ref for that, I can polish this animation after.
And rest of your advice are also very useful,I will submit another version after.

devilcloud

AGoodFella said:

Some basic errors? Hmm.... Did you ask for clarification?

I agree with he above, you don't need the walk up, then walk back at the start. 4 days isn't a ton of time so i would begin by running into the scene and getting to the actual jump quicker.

Your walk in at the start feels off. His feet feel like they float in the air for too long before they plant.

...................

Thank you AGoodFella! Your words make me feel much better.
Yes, I spent too much time on walking back part, and I didn't find good references for that, acting by myself also not good.Maybe delete that part is a really good idea.If you can give me some ref for that, I can polish this animation after.
And rest of your advice is also very useful, I will submit another version after.

AGoodFella

devilcloud said:

AGoodFella said:

Some basic errors? Hmm.... Did you ask for clarification?

I agree with he above, you don't need the walk up, then walk back at the start. 4 days isn't a ton of time so i would begin by running into the scene and getting to the actual jump quicker.

Your walk in at the start feels off. His feet feel like they float in the air for too long before they plant.

...................

Thank you AGoodFella! Your words make me feel much better.
Yes, I spent too much time on walking back part, and I didn't find good references for that, acting by myself also not good.Maybe delete that part is a really good idea.If you can give me some ref for that, I can polish this animation after.
And rest of your advice is also very useful, I will submit another version after.

I would strongly recommend shooting your own ref. Just grab a cam/phone and record yourself walking backwards. You don't need to anything fancy, just a simple action. You just need to see what is happening tot he body and what forces are at play. 

devilcloud

Hi~I made some revise on my animation.Link down below. 
https://syncsketch.com/sketch/170113#211042

HeXiFy

Okay, I left a buttload of critique on the animation.. I'm assuming most of what I caught is what basic stuff the recruiter was talking about.. I would try messaging the recruiter  and ask him to atleast point out the big ones he saw. Like AGoodFella said, this is a good animation, but you almost perfect or atleast close to it.

My biggest question is, why did you white out the character? It looked like you tried to hide a lot of the movements in that...

Also, a very big thing would be silhouettes.... If there was no light, and he was black, you wouldn't see a thing... You can see a little bit more when he's white though.

Overall, i think it's pretty good and you did some good movements on it, but you need to shoot reference and not just work from your mind. Having a critical eye is especially important for a Sr. animator because you need to be able to catch little things to help make it pop. You are going to be looking at others and giving them that feedback yourself, so if you can't have those very tiny details like his toes or hands going through the surface, then it's not an ideal thing. You also missed his right leg completely penetrating the ground on the hill. 

I don't mean to sound like an asshole nor was I trying to be in any of this feedback, but for someone of your experience, the small details are going to make the difference.

devilcloud

HeXiFy said:

Okay, I left a buttload of critique on the animation.. I'm assuming most of what I caught is what basic stuff the recruiter was talking about.. I would try messaging the recruiter  and ask him to atleast point out the big ones he saw. Like AGoodFella said, this is a good animation, but you almost perfect or atleast close to it.

My biggest question is, why did you white out the character? It looked like you tried to hide a lot of the movements in that...

Also, a very big thing would be silhouettes.... If there was no light, and he was black, you wouldn't see a thing... You can see a little bit more when he's white though....

thanks, HeXiFy, the reason I white out my character is just want to let guys see clearly on this animation, and don't want the textures to bother you to watch the motions.But I will accept your advice, I will submit a textured version of this animation when I get time.
Thanks again!

devilcloud

Hi, I have rendered a textured version below:
https://syncsketch.com/sketch/170113#215800
pls see is there any difference?

HeXiFy

The render looks nice, but there's so much motion blur going on I can't see anything. And you didn't apply any of the critique provided. You still have feet clipping, ankles snapping.. List goes on. 

devilcloud

HeXiFy said:

The render looks nice, but there's so much motion blur going on I can't see anything. And you didn't apply any of the critique provided. You still have feet clipping, ankles snapping.. List goes on. 

Hi,thanks, bro.I am moving to maya.3ds max CS rig is not good at detail draw. Maybe next time you can critique my animation when I am using maya.