Hello...
polycounter lvl 18
...long time no pimp. Been away and bloodybuggeryhell, it looks like I might have carpal tunnel ( it's probably not in my best interests to advertise that! ). More tests later this week 
Meantime, this is about version3 of my reel. So as you might be able to tell, I could use some critique on what to leave out and what to put in. I think perhaps Im trying to cram too much in here. It's at 2:26 mins which I think is bordering on long. Heck I might even throw half of this away and finish that King Henry model I started a while ago. But I'm allready concerned that there's little commercial work in here. I got a couple of timing issues that I need to fix here and there.
Im not aiming the reel at games companies, hence the lack of realtime models. I've got a little bit of time to tweak. Not tons, but a bit:
high res. 30 meg version
8 meg version
Meantime, this is about version3 of my reel. So as you might be able to tell, I could use some critique on what to leave out and what to put in. I think perhaps Im trying to cram too much in here. It's at 2:26 mins which I think is bordering on long. Heck I might even throw half of this away and finish that King Henry model I started a while ago. But I'm allready concerned that there's little commercial work in here. I got a couple of timing issues that I need to fix here and there.
Im not aiming the reel at games companies, hence the lack of realtime models. I've got a little bit of time to tweak. Not tons, but a bit:
high res. 30 meg version
8 meg version
Replies
I honestly can't fault it. Fantastic meshes, great presentation, lovely renders... gah, this is how it's supposed to be done.
Maybe now that you've had that advice on how to land an interview (or even two!!) you can actually get a job
Edit: Wait, no, I can fault it!
You also seem to be rushing things a bit at the end. Your 2D work is nice, and i would like to spend more time loking at your paintings, but they fly by so quickly. So maybe that's something you should put on an image portfolio online. It's always a big debate on whether you should add 2D to your reel, but I think your 3D is strong enough and clearly shows you have traditional skills. People will be interested and come looking for more on your website, most likely.
............very angry.......................
............did I mention that you are amazing?........
............and you make me angry..........................
If you havn't landed a job yet, I don't know what to say. Perhaps you aren't trying... at all. Only a little effort for you would get you a job at the top companies of the world.
Also, that has to be the single most impressive portfolio that I have ever seen. Let's hope that CTS doesn't get to you before you retire, it would be a f***ing waste.
Daz, I've always looked up to you, and I knew you were an amazing artist, but seeing your models all together in that short a space of time just really re-emphasized just how skilled you are in my mind. All fluff blowing aside (besides, with your msn and cell I can do that in private, and will too *wink) I really aspire to have the type of control and anatomy mastery you exhibit in your work.
I wish you the best of luck in your career, and you better believe I'll keep pestering you wherever you end up. Any company you apply to would be foolhardy to pass you up.
-The big burly ogre's skin texture doesn't look as real as the EA stuff. Looks very much like a wax model or something.
-the Nazi soldier's camera time is a bit much, but it does show off your attention to detail with gear, so that's a toss up.
-That star wars villain (papatine? I have no idea) seemed like a weaker piece to me. Is it an older model of yours?
-Sean Connery's hair in the high rez model looked more like a giant chunk of geometry, not like some of the other hair you displayed.
-Lastly, that red vamp 2d stuff is shown quite a bit, but if you're using it as a kind of icon for your reel, than it works. It was particularly noticeable when the splash for 2d work had it, and then the first image in the series is another shot of the guy.
Hope some of that helps a bit.
Good luck.
bravo, good luck wherever you go and dont forget the little people.
Dude, your work is by far some of the best. I can't wait to see more from you in the non-game sector.
Awesome work, as ever Daz (the orge closeup is my favourite thing ever - such amazing eyes!). The music really fits it, especially when Bond shows his gun.
One thing I might maybe take a look at is some of the wire shots? Not sure how important this actually is, as the viewer can see you know what you're doing from many of the other characters but the first and last seem to have off timing in terms of wire - the red monster fades in as the wire fades out and fades back in as the reel fades out. Still, thats why they invented pause, eh. ;p I'm surprised you didn't show a full body shot of the textured Soldier though.
Without sounding too much like the teachers pet, this reel really blew me away, totally something to aspire to. Best of luck, though I doubt you'll need much of it.
Once again Tremendous work with a capital T!
- BoBo
That's amazing, I just wish there had been some turnaround/3D footage of that bond girl.
Looks outstanding, Daz. I have to agree with MoP about Sean's hair in his turnaround. I know it's kind of greased hair, but it still looks overly shiny.
I'm hard pressed to find any other issues.
Damn impressive reel, Daz. I hope you land whatever gig you're looking for.
Incredible. Just super inspiring and delightful to view.
Top Class, AAA work.
Good luck - but you don't even need it.
-B
Im curious to see where you will end up, Are you going to go for a BIg studio still (like ea, but in film or else?) or try a smaller film studio and such?
Enjoy the hunt. U got the goods.
b1ll
and I'm with SkullboX on that bond girl ^^
i hope ur hands will be fine
take care of your body..
only james bond lives forever
(lame ^^)
Good show man, good show.
The one thing I don't like is that fade in and out in the beginning and end. After seeing your work, I wanted to catch the text at the end. Name/contact info, Tools, extra credits. All that stuff went by faster than I could read it all. It would be a good idea to have that be the last frame so it stays viewable when the reel ends.
That's all I've got to say, very cool stuff!
i wasn't a fan of the directional blur effect and i thought the 2d stuff was thrown at me a little quick at the end.
Plus there is the fact that all of his work is available in high res for your viewing pleasure at his website. This is meant purely to garner initial interest in a short as possible time frame.
One thing for people complaining about the speed. The best part about Quicktime, is that you can pause it, and advance frame by frame easily with your arrow keys. Trust me when I say that anyone looking at reels for a living knows this, and can/will do this if they see something they want a closer look at. It's why there is almost no such thing as a reel that's too short/fast.
Plus there is the fact that all of his work is available in high res for your viewing pleasure at his website. This is meant purely to garner initial interest in a short as possible time frame.
[/ QUOTE ]
Yeah, I was going to post this but thought better of it at the last second
edit: oh and the work is fucking A
Im not aiming the reel at games companies, hence the lack of realtime models.
[/ QUOTE ]
Well, as long as you don't ditch Polycount for cgtalk.
Friggin' awesome stuff as always, Daz!
As for reels in general, I've always thought about business card mini CD-R. Having a few in your pocket could be a nice way to distribute your reel at events like GDC or E3. Not only would it give all of your content directly to the person (rather than them typing a URL on a standard business card), it will definitely stand out among the crowd of paper business cards.
If you have no idea what I'm talking about, here's an example http://www.cdroutlet.com/business-card-cdr.htm
I had a lengthy post with crits typed out, but IE crashed, etc etc.
So, Im going to be quick(er):
The reel & its construction are nearly perfect. Good rez, good length. Good music choice. Good pace.
I, however have a number of crits for the work itself...
The compositing is a tiny bit dirty. You seem to have a dark halo/stroke around your chars...like they were rendered against a dark background, then using an alpha were composited against your textured background plate.
Re-rendering the assets against your final background plate would resolve this
I agree about the 2d bits feeling tacked on & losing the pencil sketches. Remove those, slow down the 2d. Your more polished 2d work is plenty.
Also, I think you could do without that last flash to the untextured Nazi bits.
Ogre Horns have some error on the tip of the texture, black spots?
Ogre Skin looks the worst in terms of reading "plasticy".
Also the stretched face necklace is so similar in color & intensity to the ogre skin, it doesnt pop as well as it could.
Nazi Helmet is wayyy too reflective IMO.
Most of the skin could do with some (or some more?) SSS. The ears especially appear unnatural on all chars, as they are all 100% opaque. No transmissive properties on the thin bits looks strange when the rest of the rendering is so realistic.
Hope I'm not being too nit-picky, but I figured another "wow your great" post wouldn't be as helpful. I tried to make some honest & worthwhile crits.
After reading through all the feedback here's what I think I'll address:
Connery is getting a major update. Lots of minor improvements but mainly he now has real hair:
Im losing the pencil stuff.
I dont think I'll add more time for stills, since as said pause can come in handy here and I wont be increasing the file size this way. But maybe I'll linger more on the last couple of frames.
Tweak the way the wireframe comes on and off randomly on the demon.
I might skim a bit of time off Ze German, although I agree that its a shame there isn't a textured full bodied shot shown, so might add that. I think I'll lose the 2 static closeup frames.
I think I'll give ol' Moff less than the 180 degrees he has right now.
Scooby no that's great man not at all thanks. Some well spotted stuff in there that I thought I'd gotten away with
Again many thanks guys. Will post an updated final version at some point.
A GI pass with no texture, a texture pass, A SSS pass, spots & directs with raytraced shadows pass, etc and composite in PS.
Btw: The update to Connery looks great! What an improvement!
Excellent work!
I didn't react to the matte-edges at all; but if you want to perfect it (and skip the re-rendering), you're looking for something called "holdback matte".
I don't know what compositing software you're using, but this is a description of the steps that needs to be taken if you're doing it in photoshop:
http://www.digitalartform.com/archives/2005/10/compositing_pre.html
Once again, awesome reel!
Spark
Oh and one point of improvement on the bond would be the ears, as they lack a lot of depth.
Otherwise stellar work, just those wireframes kind of seem to fade out just when it becomes interesting. So maybe a still shot where you can see the face detail for example and than fade in the wire would resolve that (absolutly unjustified) feeling that you are cleverly hiding errors
as for the bond the only thing that is not so good besides the ears are the lips , and iw ould love to see ur edgeloops on this model
keep at it !! if u cant get a job then we are all doomed
Didn't care for was the uncolored sketches, but all the 3d is top notch. Thanks for posting this.
Daz is the best. The end.
Congrats, Daz. It doesn't really get much better than this.
you're damn brilliant. give up. you've done it.
heh awesome stuff man.
JK no, I gave a credit to the animator at the end. Improving Bonds ears now thanks!
Johny there are um wireframes for pretty much every model there mate
Thanks all. Still rendering away here!
Your abilty in terms of anatomy and meshflow is simply stunning.
all the problems have been addressed already I think which I noticed,would like to have seen that 2d stuff abit longer. and of course as your oviously aware the connery hair prob.
part from that simply stunning mate,your an inspiration to us all.
john
DW
http://www.mycarpaltunnel.com/
I use these, they aid the recovery of tendonitis and arthritis also. I've also had 2 carpal tunnel release operations if you ever want to mail and ask questions.
I'd recommend the Carpal Solution, therapy, changing your lifestyle , working out more, eating more healthy and switching from mouse to wacom for everything.. ie 2d and 3d.
r.
Really nice work man, nice to see it textured. So what kinda work you looking for now? I'm sure you'll have no trouble finding whatever kinda job you want.
-Kolby.
Ror, thats fantastic cheers!
Thanks Kolby. None right now!
OK, final version rendering out of AE now. Will compress and post a bit later. Way too many tweaks and fixes to list. Totally re-vamped Connery too. Thanks to Pior for the suggestion of giving him more of an expression, and thanks all for the critique. Ive ended up with something much better and more polished than I had before.
As a final note, anyone know why the contrast seems to be the first thing to go with any type of quicktime compression? Seems a shame, but Im losing the black the second I do any kind of compression. Uncompressed is at right. Is this just the way of things?