[Portfolio] James Benson, Animator
Hi, I'm looking for feedback on my current animation reel specifically for gaming. Advice on both the animation and the general presentation would be appreciated, as well as things like if I'm missing an important catagory (such as a 4 legged creature, although I do have a 4 legged creature). I am looking to use the reel to get a job, although I'm also interested in internships, pretty much anythig to get me closer to the industry. I would love if somebody working in the business could tell me a ballpark estimation of how my skill level is doing in regards to being a professional proposition. Thanks for your time, [ame]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFwyyTWcGuo[/ame] P.S. follow the embed to the youtube site to see the 720p version
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFwyyTWcGuo[/ame] P.S. follow the embed to the youtube site to see the 720p version
Replies
The in game half life ones are more impressive.
slow climbs like up an ice cliff in modern warfare 2? ha well i actaully agreed with that was a bit slow, liked how it started out all prince of persia like but then got to slow at the end.
im not animation expert but i like a lot of your portfolio, but there were some things i didnt like and didnt feel lit.
what I liked: all your realistic animations. Rock paper sizors HL2 thing was so awesome
what I didnt like: your super exaggerated animations. they seemed so fake when the creatures/people were doing these exagerated motions that you would never really seem them do.
you seem to clover all the bases and have a lot of variety in things, i dont see why you would have a problem finding a job let alone and internship. but then again i am not an amiantion expert. but if i saw most of these as a player in a video game i would have thought they were pretty cool.
First bit that caught my attention is where the knight pinned the smaller guy to the wall, just //edit: correction, after// he dealt his death blows he was stationary and it looked old skool, keep em moving all the time.
Second part where the big guy picked up the boulder, at first it seemed heavy then he moved it like it was nothing. Make him crouch down after pickup (like you see in strong man competition) then jerk upwards a few times like he is struggling with the weight.
Third and last part is the Futurama scene, Lela should frown or at least facepalm at the end of Zacks statement to show some disgust.
The major thing that stands out to me right now is your timing. Everything is too slow with very little anticipation on any of your action. I'll focus on the fight scene at the beginning to hopefully show you why.
The gut punch is a very good example of the problem. The punch is way to slow and thus has very little weight and impact when it connects. Good animation is all about exaggeration. Make that punch look like it hurts. Right now, the other guy barely reacts to it. Lift him off the ground with it. Don't be afraid of 'pushing' the poses a lot more and exaggerating the movements. The throw afterwards suffers from the same problem. The action happens way to slowly. The guy just sort of rolls off his shoulder and falls to the ground. You can probably keep the length of the animation the same, but make the punch and throw fast, which then will give you more time for some anticipation for both.
As for the rest of the reel, stop using IK arms unless you need to plant the hand. It makes your arcs very linear and thus very unnatural. Switch to FK whenever possible and turn on trajectories or trails to check your arcs. Also, when you plant your hands, keep in mind the flexibility of your wrists. In your climbing animation, the hand stays completely planted most of the time giving the arm a very unnatural pose when the arm bends. People hold on to ledges and such with their fingers, so that should be where it pivots. Same thing with ankles. Your toes can't touch your shins for instance.
You need to think about overlap as well. The Lich King walk could use a lot more for example. Right now he looks like he only has two poses, left foot right arm forward then right foot left arm forward. Arms and feet don't sync up like that. The horse walk also suffers from this. Horses walk with four beats per stride, not two.
Overall, I'd say you have some cool ideas, but there are several things holding you back. Your reel reminds me a lot of my first go with animation. I too had problems with timing and pacing at first, but keep working at it and soon it will just click for you. One thing to think about that always helps me when I'm animating is to think of the force behind the motion. Whenever I move a character, I think about where he came from, and where he's going in each pose. And then I work inside to out. Start with the hips and feet because that's where the weight usually is, then work up the spine and head, then do the arms, working in the overlap as I go.
Hope this helps. Keep with it cause you're close.
i would throw it away due to the fact the song is so tacky
no offense
stop moving the camera around so frikkin much, do you want to show me your animation skillz or your crappy camera movement?!
I'll get back to you about my views on the content later...
Im....Im....very upset right now.....that camera......my.....eyes.......
Ok, so I'd like to do a little background. I started learning to animate 7 months ago and putting together a reel about 7 weeks ago, I think all the points made REALLY show up my lack of experience. I was just reading comments on the reel from another forum where they mentioned the camera, I think that's spot on, its moving way too much. Im no cinematographer and it really shows.
Im currently in the process of putting all the 3dmax render animations in game, and as I do this I will make the cameras MUCH more straitforward, pretty much 100% static.
With the IK hands stuff, you're so right. That wall climbing animation was done about 4 months ago and I really feel I can do better than that now, so I will go back through the animation and polish that up a lot, it definately sticks out. The same with the punch+throw animation, it was the 1st animation I did of two characters interacting, and while I was very happy with it at the time, it's showing it's age and I feel I can do a much better job. I'm 100% going to do a whole new pass on that, especially the punch, which really feels horrible at the moment. Should I even keep it in the reel?
I honestly didn't know the music was bad, I'm a huge David bowie fan and I thought the music gave the reel some punch. If that's not the case then I will fix it.
Could you talk a little bit more about the overlap for the lich king? I totally get you about the 2 poses thing, but I'm self taught and I don't really know much of the language yet, so I'm not 100% sure what you mean. Do you mean like, having things less in sync? so that they're not all happening at the same time in perfect rythm?
I want to be at an employable level of skill within 1 year of starting so i have another 5 months. I am DEAD serious about getting into the games industry, I know how hard it is and I'm willing to work my ASS off. I would LOVE to get some more responses, and I will of course update the post with significant new builds of the reel.
I really really appreciate the input from skilled animators, especially regarding the games industry.
Thanks you,
James
For an (IMO) great example to emulate for your fight sequence, check out the mirror's edge load screen shown here:
[ame]
You are so right, I'm going to maybe replace the combine throw with some new stuff referenced off that clip, thanks man,
Crits: (I haven't read the other crits so sorry if this was covered)
- Not really sure what app(s) you're using or the rigs constraints? Squash Stretch ok? IK/FK blending?
- The Lich King doesn't really pull back to stab, just kind of slides the sword through the dwarfs side as its going from one pose to another. Some pull back and anticipation would be great. If his arms aren't long enough and you're not allowed to stretch, maybe toss the dwarf up in the air and hit him as comes back down?
- There is a lot of up and down head movement in the walk cycles. Richard Williams covers this in his book The Animators Survival Kit. People and animals naturally stabilize their heads when they move, gives them a clearer picture of what they're looking at.
Of course there are times you want destabilize the head, when a little girl skips along caught up in pure joy of being made fully of sugar and spice, totally ignoring the world around her. He goes so far as to say side to side motion is more or less ok but up and down should be highly restrained. Its a fast read and probably full of useful tips and trick.
You could place a camera in the head and see what the character is seeing if it would make Blair Witch fans sick, it's probably too much.
- I'm not sure the Alyx clips hold up, there have been some pretty big advancements in facial animation since HL2, and it seems pretty wooden even for HL2...
Overall some really awesome stuff. I think most of the minor issues you run into would be caught with more time and more practice and possibly a little more peer review. You have some great instincts and they played out well in your reel. I think you're ready for employment, just be humble and prepared to fix things if they have minor issues.
Like Vig said, go get yourself a copy of [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Animators-Survival-Kit-Revised-Principles-Classical/dp/0571238343/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1255149952&sr=8-1"]The Animator's Survival Kit[/ame]. It explains the basic principles and terms with really great examples.
You're bang on about the stab, and it's because his arms aren't long enough. I didn't find a satisfying resolution as you can see, I will definitely find a solution (maybe that throwing in the air thing you mentioned in fact).
I've never actually gotten any feedback about head movement before and by george you've got it. This is a very good indication that I need the animators guide.
About the facial stuff, to be perfectly honest those 2 sequences are there b/c I felt I needed to cover that 'base' you know, but those are literally the only 2 facial animations I've done. Am I right in thinking that I definitely need some facial animation in the reel? If so, should I get rid of those 2 and do some stuff with a generic facial rig in max? Where could I get a decent one of those do you think?
This is all great stuff, if you guys have anything more then keep it coming.
About a rig: try something from the 11 second club guys: http://www.11secondclub.com/resources/
I aimed to make the gut punch and throw itself a lot faster and to have a greater reaction from the guy being beaten up. Am I going in the right direction with this?
[ame]
When he tosses the guy he kind of pulls him over his back, but when you do that toss you get your legs into it and try to launch the guy up and over you using your back and your legs.
[ame]
Also the punch doesn't seem to carry much body motion its mostly arm. He gets into position, waits and then swings. When you toss a punch you want your body behind it there's a lot more momentum that way. You want to hit like your target is behind the guy and follow through. So long story short, you want the body and the arm swing to almost be one fluid motion.
It's looking good though, the landing is great.
After scrubbing through it, there are a few pose issue. Like Vig is saying, the punch is all arms at the moment. When you throw a punch, you use your hips and shoulders more then anything else, snapping your hand out at the end. You have him stepping before throwing the punch, which is correct, but his pose needs some improvement. Right now, his hips and shoulders are aligned and he's facing forward with only his arm cocked back. Twist his torso back towards the arm and then lead with the shoulder as he throws the punch. This is overlap. Different parts of the body moving together at different times.
Also, the puncher moves forward, then stops as he puts his foot down, then lowers himself to punch. The stop makes it look very unnatural and should all be one motion. Think about where the weight is at all times. Right now he looks pretty centered but he's standing on one foot, which would cause him to fall over. Shift him over to the left when he steps, then quickly shift him to the right to get his weight behind the start of the punch. Also watch that left ankle. His shins are touching his toes so either make a bigger step, or roll his foot up onto his toes.
The throw part is looking pretty good.
I assume you're not using any reference for this (other then what Vig just posted) right? One thing I constantly do if I don't have video reference is stand up and act it out. Always always act it out, even if you do have video reference. Taking the poses and feel where your weight is.
And don't be afraid of just starting all over. That way you don't feel locked into your poses and timing.
Tbh it IS very tempting to start again, but I think what I'll do is this. I'm going to go through everything you guys have posted in another pass on the animation, then I'm going to make a whole new animation based on that mirrors edge loading screen.
Once both are done, I'll see which is better (because I likely wont have space for both in the reel). In the meantime I've done a little work improving the sequence where the cyclops lifts up the rock, but I'll go back to the throw now.
[ame]
Sorry if this sounds harsh, but honestly that is what you need to do. Good luck, post your updates
Firstly, I'm not sure if some of the walk cycles are a little 'too' exaggerated. I know 99% of the training kits I've watched on walk cycles make a point of suggesting you create these flamboyant over the top cycles to create more excitement, but in all honesty, it just doesn't look right in some situations.
Secondly, the combat seems to lack some follow through and impression of force, like when the guy gets smacked in the abdomen, he just seems to almost casually bend over.
As I said I'm no animator so I could be missing the point, but just my two cents.
As for the walk cycles, I've gone back and taken out the head bobbing, but I'm still not sure about the ogre run cycle, I kind of liked the way he's just manically bouncing along and his head goes all over the place, is this such a no no in an exaggerated sprint?
[ame]
This version is slightly changed from the reel, tell me what you think I can do to make it better please
Also, take a look at the rendering style on the ogre, is this sort of clay with bump map effect better than the flat shading? Should I go full out and have a diffuse map as well?
[ame]
Should I
1) get rid of the toss
c) start from scratch using that youtube video as a ref
btw the pickup and walk looks great!
I also think he could move side to side a lot more too. He probably also needs a little bit of head overlap. Right now it looks pretty static. I'm not a big fan of floppy hands either, but that's more of a style choice.
As for the heavy stone, I agree the toss into the air isn't needed. It's also a tad boring, for a lack of a better word. There isn't much character in it. He just picks it up and puts it down. Maybe add more at the end of him catching himself since he seems to toss it onto the ledge and that would drive him into it. The rock seems pretty static in his hands as well, especially with a toss. Maybe put a little movement in it, like its slipping or something. Think about "how a big dumb ogre would pick up a heavy rock" more then "how would I pick up a heavy rock."
Your stuff is looking better though, keep going!
[ame]
Its hot out the 3D oven and my computer isn't very good so max viewports lag quite a bit, b/c of this the timing is a little off, BUT you get the gist. So how does that look? I will begin making significant changes to the rock lift now, although that may be tomorrow since its 3am over here.
The roll disarm. He leaves the guy on the ground with the gun. Shouldn't he disarm him and deal with the gun first? Punching the gunman in the gut seems like a good way to get shot in the process? Leaving him with the gun seems kind of foolish too?
The gunman lands on the ground and eases into his pose pretty gently. Maybe have him bounce a little?
Some disarming techniques (most are breaking the grip by rotating the gun counter clockwise).
[ame]
Some ideas for future combat take downs "Hapkido".
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However, just because I referenced it doesn't mean I have to stick to it, so I might change it around a little. I'll definitely be generally tweaking things like the bounce. Wont update that for a little while though, im working on a new cyclops rock lift from scratch today.
Those disarm youtubes videos are very cool, I will almost certainly reference some of that if I do another one of these sort of pieces.
Maybe have the gun drop or tumble away from the gunman at some point? Just so he's not holding it when he hits the ground? You "could" have the roller throw a book case on top of the guy as he runs away? It would further disable/disarm the gunman and give him time to escape?
You have to be careful when using instructional videos like what I posed, as reference. There is an element that they hold back for demonstration and not to hurt the stand-in. Its easy to forget to compensate for the ferocity someone would use those moves in full on combat. That ferocity changes the way people plant their feet, the momentum, the timing and balance points. It's great for ideas, but its not so great for step by step true combat examples.
The new throw is much better, and I agree that the hip needs to lean into it more, but just some small tweaks and you're all good!
by far my favorite is the dwarf vs. arthas. that is a great animation man, very very creative and fun to watch. i wouldn't be surprised if you could land a job at blizzard just showing them that. i think it's great!
Here's the footage:
[ame]
Again, like the rolling punch this is a first draft so there should be plenty of room to tweak. One thing I definitely want feedback on is whether this is a better animation (bearing in mind this is a first draft) then then one in my reel currently.
P.S. I would saw my legs off to work at Blizzard. (I actually did those WoW model animation specifically to appeal to Blizzard when I apply to them
Only thing I would add is more little detail things. Right now his feet are pretty static as he lifts the rock. People tend to shift their feet and fingers very slightly when doing things, so it something to keep in mind. Those little things will add a lot too.
And where's the finish? He gets it up there and it stops. I need more!
I'm glad I put in the bounce at the end, because that wasn't in any of the references and it just sort of happened while I was 'sketching' the frames out. I thought to myself 'hmm, is this a bit like him tossing the rock in the air' (as in, not necessary, detracts) but it looked interesting so I stuck with it.
I'll work mainly on this same animation tomorrow, then I'll switch back to the rolling mirrors edge animation while I get more feedback.
The really great animations come from blocking out your work with keyframes only, no interpolation. It keeps you in time and helps you plan out your whole animation quickly rather than working endlessly on 5 frames at a time to get it perfect and move on. After you block out your whole scene you then move in with the interp and overlap and adjusting everything to make it flow just right..but you've got your main poses and timing already down.
I tried my hand at animating for quite a while as a hobby...almost made a career of it but changed my mind. I'm really digging your work man keep it up! For 7 months of practice you're doing fantastic. In another year you'll be at any studio you want I'm sure
I find that I start a piece trying to work up from blocking but I quickly end up switching to all out madness, throwing frames around wildy.
Is there a way in Max to like turn off tweening? Or if for example I want to have 3 poses that switch at 5 and 10 frames. Do I have to put a copy of keyframe 1 at frame 4, so that it switches strait into the second pose rather than interpolating?
There is probably some very basic thing I'm not doing in this regard, and it's partly b/c that process is kind of obtuse that I don't block animation in properly.
I won't be starting a NEW animation until the rolling punch and lifting rock are 100%, which may end up being at least another day, but when I do start something new I'm going to tackle it differently and try to block it in.
I found that with the mirrors edge, the reference was so easy to follow that I just mashed it out in about 1 hour, but the ref didn't show all of the body for the cyclops, and it wasn't great angles, and the camera moved a lot, and the body shapes were different, so mashing that out took about 3 hours. I think if Id been blocking things out properly I would have done it quicker.
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*edit* That's for max....