Animator Thread, My reel needs a boost!

James9475

Hey I'm James 9475, I used to have a thread on here a few months ago when I was trying to get a job in games.

I now work at a really great dev on a high profile game, so thanks guys, it all paid off!


However, my contract will eventually come to an end in a few months, and I need to be prepared for the possibility that I will be thrown to the curb with no contract renewal in sight.

Soooooooo, it's time for me to be proactive and make sure I have a great reel! I'm going to post here the reel that got me my job, and I would LOVE if you guys would give me some feedback.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuBTcc0c4F0[/ame]


Here's what I already know I want to change:

The cyclops run sucks, I want to replace the material referenced from mirrors edge and Uncharted 2, I think I should bin the sneak cycle, there's some random cycles and stuff that prob aren't necessary.

Anyway, thanks for any feedback, and I'll post new animation as soon as I've got it to show!

madmuffin

I'm no animator but I would have put the Combine doing the roll, disarming the other Combine, and then moonwalking out of the frame closer to the start because it looked really nice and makes me chuckle and increases my interest in the reel, except its almost at the end so there is nothing else to see past that.

Basically its the one clip that makes me want to see more as walk-cycles are pretty dry to non-animators.

Lord Fryingpan

The combine flipping back in forth in the first sequence seems a bit off in the last two flings.

First horse clip : maybe work a bit more on the tail.

Not very important, but the two combine on the following sequence settle a bit fast. The attacking one shouldn't get to his oldest position, it feels artificial. Also the weight of the stunned combine should slide a bit to his left side, making him almost face against the ground, very slowly, instead or suddenly stopping.

The ogre (is it an ogre ?) seems like he's punching himself. Also his walk seems a bit too limp.

Even if rather well done, the knight clash seems a bit robotic at times, after the first stab. You should slow down the pace a bit, make it more dramatic.

The combine's collar clips through his head.

The chain clips through the climbing frog's (or Ogre ?) belly.

Also, I second Madmuffin comment.

But overall, very good job. I'm really nit picking here.

almighty_gir

i feel as a non animator (just a viewer) that when the one dude throws the other into the wall, before he falls, you should extend the "hangtime" to give more emphesis to the impact.

just a creative choice mind you.

DrunkShaman

This is actually great Mr. James. Espacially the part of the lich king. and a horse run cycle.

Thanks for sharing. If you can SS them and throw in some characters with wireframe (including the lichking one) that would be really appreciated.)

bbob

Its not his models, says so in the beginning of the video.. He is showcasing his animation.

Anyway! Great work, I'm not really good enough at animating to really spot the minute things we might be out in at this point.

Although, when the cyclops lifts the big rock, the rock kinda stutters unusually.

Josh_Singh

when the guy takes the guy down and spins and moonwalks off the frame was pure win.

Hazardous

Josh_Singh wrote: »

when the guy takes the guy down and spins and moonwalks off the frame was pure win.

+1, both me and Anux were cracking up when we saw this!

Lord Fryingpan

I didn't watched it with the sound the first time and hadn't noticed it was "burn the rope" XD.

Anyway, after seeing it again it feels like the dwarf isn't hitting the litch king hard enough the second time (in my humble opinion, of course)

James9475

Great feedback, thanks. It's really good even just getting a general sense of things so specific crits are even better.

I've got a piece in my head now I'm ready to block out, and I know which pieces now that I need to re-work or replace, so thanks I might not post a piece for a few days b/c this weekend isnt good for animating, but I'll post something as fast as possible.

Thanks everyone.

jacob07777

This is really great. I enjoyed how much character all of your animations had. It was actually interesting to watch instead of sitting there looking at generic walk/run cycles. I was going to comment on your combine run, but you already mentioned you needed to fix it. I think it just needs to feel a bit heavier, he looks much too light and quick on his feet for a soldier. Looks more like a Samurai Jack type of run or Ninja Gaiden lol

Tom Ellis

Awesome, awesome stuff.

I also loved the moonwalk bit, so unexpected and I did laugh out loud.

My only tiny crit on the whole thing, which is so minor it's probably not even worth it, is that the model in the first clip is looking pretty heavily armored to be moving around like that. Normally you'd expect to see someone as agile as that wearing some kind of lycra stealth suit or something.

Not a huge issue but something that might add just the extra edge of realism to your work.

Really fantastic stuff!

jakelear

Hey man,
Just wanted to say I've always loved this reel, since your first w.i.p thread about it. I think your consideration of criticism is fantastic and any studio would be lucky to have you.

I don't have anything to nitpick that hasn't been said already, but I wanted to note that I think, even though the audio isn't a huge component of a demo reel, that the timing you lined up on the end of the song with the drop of the pistol is brilliant. It shows that you're attentive to small details, which is obviously an extremely valuable trait for an animator.

Great work and good luck with the (hopefully short) job search after your contract expires.

Mark Dygert

Awesome work buddy, loving it. The moonwalk was hilarious.

The chain that the ogre climbs up, its very static. Even if it was being stretched tight it would still sway a little bit.
The up and down head motion on the ogre running is still way too much but I think we talked about it before and you had a reason for it, I don't remember what it was tho...

garriola83

love the body flip to moonwalk...lol

vcortis

This is great! I'm no animator and have great admiration for those who can. The one thing that stood out for me that others haven't touched on is when the Lich King pulls his sword out of the Dwarf. The dwarf falls rather awkwardly to the ground. It seemed a little too rigid and like parts of him were falling at different speeds.

Overall it looked good though (but again, I'm no animator).

Xoliul

Maybe you could try animating something with Cryptic AR ?
I'd personally think it'd be interesting to see you use different rigs like this one.

EMC3D

Hey man, i'd definetly consider putting the combine near the start, it's a real ice-breaker with the comedy elements and all. Good work otherwise

slipsius

Glad to hear you god a job with this dude! so glad to hear!

few crits.

first... you have professional experience now, and none of it appears in your real. Now, im guessing thats because of the NDA you signed, but IF you do get booted to the curb after your contract, try your hardest to get a couple pieces approved for your reel. it will help alot.

second. When your ogre is climbing the rope, his belly is going through the rope. bad bad bad

third. Ogre walk. too slow i think. at the very least, i would make his arms swing down faster.

fourth. the swing at the very start. the motion is there, but i think he's jumping too far off the pole for the amount of speed he has. thats a quick fix though.

besides that, its nice to see you fixed some of the crits people had from last time you posted.

Gallows

You went an extra mile. It's been said before but the disarm and moon walk away seriously made this just a good reel to something memorable and great. I think that'll look great to a potential employer. Nice work.

Electro

ahaha the spin+moonwalk
definitely memorable and had me laughing

James9475

OK finally had some time to work on this today.

I'm trying to get rid of animation that's referenced from other games and stuff, here's what I've been working on.

It's rough because I only just finished like, laying it down, no polish work done, but how do you feel about the GIST. Is it still funny that he moonwalks off at the end?

Essentially, if the idea doesn't flow as nicely as the old version, I can turn the new parts of this one into a completely separate animation and keep the old one the same,

what do you think?


[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2gHiskbCN8[/ame]


Regarding new material from my job, I definitely will try and get some of that stuff, but at the moment it's not really an option, plus with personal projects I can spend more time on each individual piece not thinking about deadlines etc.

aesir

I think for something like that you need to push the faster bits faster, and hold some of the slower bits longer. For example one of the slowest parts (of the attack) is the leg kick swinging around, and that's not right. I get what you're going for with the rhythm of the down and up movement, but I think it could be better with some snappier attacks.

James9475

that's interesting, yeah I'll take a look at changing the timing.

James9475

Fuck, I jsut realised i was working with a crappy old version of the moonwalk file, I thought I didnt look very good lol, bollocks, ignore the fact that the moonwalk is a lot worse in that video!

raul

animators...sighs..you guys are just too crazy!! This is really cool man! i really like the moon walk-ass-kicking-disarming bit. The last video you posted of the dude uppercutting is also badass. You should have made it to where the gun falls after him and hits him on the face or something.

I am really not an animator either, but i had a good time watching the video!

James9475

hehe I like the idea of playing with the gun, thanks

James9475

The spin there is actually an old one I have been using as the base by mistake, the next video i post will have a very very different much better spin, ty for the crit though

(unless you were talking about the original spin seen in the reel video, in which case fair enough ill take a look)

James9475

Ok here's a rough new render with the PROPER spin and some tweaks, I'd like to get specific feedback on whether or not this version has the same comical effect as the original rolling punch version?

Cheers,

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tirK_O2l3TM[/ame]

Ryan Smith

Where'd u snatch those files from the WoW characters? I'd love to play around with them.

Edit: By the way. Fantastic work, especially the first Disarm. That made laugh out loud when he danced away.

James9475

the wow files were extracted using wowmodelviewer, exporting to blender, exporting to max, then re skining the mesh to a new rig.

I agree about the knee bending stuff DKK, ive changed that now ty

James9475

OK, new version

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIpLav8sC88[/ame]

Lord Fryingpan

Maybe it would be worth it to give the assaulted soldier something like two seconds of idling before the strike...

James9475

Mmh, that does make sense, the only thing is that I cut all of that sort of thing out of the reel b/c really you want it to be as short as possible.

SO like, as a self contained scene, it would be nice to have a little calm idling but the reality is that sort of stuff is a waste of an animation lead's time when he's watching it at lunch.

I'll have a think about it though, cheers

Lord Fryingpan

Well, since there is plenty of empty space around the soldier, you could very well write your name and contact there, while the soldier would do subtle wait moves, and once you're done with showing who you are and other uselfull information, the other solider would strike.

At least, that's what I would humbly suggest.

I guess there are many reasons why you shouldn't, and any professional will undoubtedly prove me wrong in a couple of posts XD

James9475

The titles idea isn't bad at all, I'm just generally sceptical of adding more 'filler' time from seeing my boss or other seniors at work looking at animation reels and it's always like, 2 mins here or there while waiting for a meeting or something so I want to get to the point fast.

However putting in the titles would be a nice kill 2 birds with one stone thing, so who knows

James9475

Ok here's a newer version:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dz-rahUx9Dg[/ame]

To be specific regarding crits, the most important thing to me is:

''Is this equally as funny/charming as the original version with the rolling punch?''

TY


P.S. Youtube cut some off the end but I cant be bothered re uploading with filler frames, sorry heh!

Andreas

Haha awesome! Tweak the timing a little on the uppercut and it's done. Give it more time at the start though, as far as I can rewind back, the jump in is in progress. If you get my meaning.

James9475

You think the uppercut should have more build up or come out quicker? And with the fast cut thing, it feels a lot better cutting like that when its in the reel sequence so I'd like to see if you feel the same way when I post the new reel with it edited in,

cheers for crit

James9475

Hey, all the advice I got from you guys last time was very helpful, GDC went very very very well. So thanks

I'm currently working on a new little project in Team Fortress 2. I have a small snippet of facial animation to show you and I would like to get some feedback.

Unfortunately due to various complications I can't get video to an amazingly good quality but I've done my best!

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpW8_XuJTBg[/ame]

Amarth93

i liked your orc v lich king clip on the first post.... but.... its not perfect as the stab is too quick for being with that long intervalls

James9475

Hi, to be perfectly clear, I am no longer looking for feedback on my Reel, that's actually an old reel.

I'm looking for crits on the latest video I posted. If more people are confused I will make a new thread instead.

Ty

Zoid

i was just going to say you need some emotion clips, awaiting your tf2 vid
edit uh the youtube link/clip no work for me

Mark Dygert

Too many mouth shapes, its popping so fast it doesn't look natural and its steeling focus from everything else. pick the important shapes. The mouth spends too much time open, for example the M in Mother should be emphasized.

natetheartist

i have to say, I think i actually liked the very first I know kung-fu the most.

Other than that, your soldier walk cycle needs his hips/center of mass shifted foward more, looks like his feet are walking ahead of him.

Also, the horse running has a pop at the end of the loop, you should fix that.

Aside from that I think this is really good work.

Saman

Your reel looks good. Although I have a few points I'd like to add. What kind of animation are you aiming at? Is it just cartooney or are you looking to do realistic animation as well? Most of the animations in your reel look cartooney even though not all of them are cartooney models. The combine running animation is a good example of this. Don't get me wrong, the animation weight and all that is fine but looking at reference videos would help alot.
Alot of the movements in your reel, like the guy who jumps in and makes a sweeping kick with an uppercut(shoryuken) look unrealistic alot due to the unnatural movements of the characters. The poses don't do it for me either, especially not the uppercut(he's holding his arm far too straight up for example). I would,once again, suggest looking at some references, street fighter would be good( see http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2008/072/939066_20080312_screen004.jpg)
Cartooney is good but keeping the movement timings and poses fairly realistic(despite the very exaggerated movements) is always good.
Anyway, good luck.

James9475

Hi, sorry I've been neglectful of my thread!

I agree totally about the mouth shapes. I cut out a lot of the in between shapes but I definitely didn't cut out enough!

As for the crits on my reel, I will stress once again that I am not asking for crits on my reel and I should have made a new thread, HOWEVER:

Thank for the crits, I find this stuff extremely useful and it makes me go back and improve things even when I wasn't intending to!

To specifically answer you crit, my feelings are this:

I agree about the shoryuken punch, it isn't quite right and I will make a change to it for sure. However, regarding the 'realistic characters moving like cartoons', in all honesty I have found that a really appealing strategy as far as employers are concerned. A large majority of the people I talk to find this juxstaposition adds a level of fun or even comedy to what might other be rather simple sequences. Having said that, I never, ever, ignore a critique, and I will have a serious think about the style of my next piece.

Thanks for everything guys, I will probably not reply to this thread again and will instead make a new one specfically for the team fortress 2 stuff, but it's been a really nice little update for me to get crits on all this stuff

Saman

Hi again
Perhaps I wasn't too clear on my last post. I didn't mean that you should stop doing cartoony animations and only do realistic ones. Cartoony animations are actually more appreciated by people, if done right. Adding humour to your work will make it more interesting in my opinion so by all means, keep doing it. I must however stress the fact that even cartoony animations need a bit of realism in them to make them look more natural. Look at pixar's animations for example. The characters do have funny and exaggerated movements but they still seem natural. The same thing goes for the old disney short films. There are, of course, some very unrealistic animations there but they still feel natural. I hope you understand what I mean. But judging from your latest video you seem to be on the right track!
Good luck with your work!