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QUEEN CAUCUS posted:This and more stuff: These are great mostly because your really know how to use color. The animation could use some work but the colors give it an already polished feel. MaxOfS2D posted:Been animating with 3ds Max 2011 & CAT for a while — here's what I think is my best work so far, but I'd like to hear if you guys have anything to criticize in there. THESE ARE AMAZING. Awesome character animation. Looks way better than a lot of professional stuff, like that Green Lantern CG series. Ugh. Ccs fucked around with this message at 23:12 on Nov 12, 2011 |
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Nov 12, 2011 22:58
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Chernabog posted:Here's a thing I made for my reel Character design is fine (although the length of the bridge of the nose is kinda freakin me out) but some of the movements in the first few seconds are really jerky and the final jump at the end doesn't have any weight to it. It's good, it just needs a little more work to look professional. When he adjusts his foot at 11 seconds in it happens way too fast and there's not a clear arc to it so it looks jerky. Try exaggerating that movement a bit more. Both the step in the middle and the jump at the end could be funny if they're a bit more exaggerated and look like there's some weight behind them. Ccs fucked around with this message at 20:01 on Jan 2, 2012 |
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Jan 2, 2012 19:56
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This was half of my honors thesis (the other half being a paper) where I animated "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T.S Eliot. There's not so much actual frame by frame animation unfortunately, mostly background work and limited movement, but I think it came out okay as a finished product. Now I'm gonna go and try to do all of Richard Williams' exercises to get better. http://youtu.be/xpRSmMnx1MU
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Apr 14, 2012 18:57
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Your illustration skills come through in that video, but the film is weakened by all the tweening and lack of fluid animation. I know using tweens is reaaaallly tempting, but so much character is conveyed through body language, which is lacking if you're using the same assets over and over again. The style in your film was really exaggerated, so if the movement was also exaggerated it would add so much life.
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Aug 25, 2012 04:16
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Yeah the weirdest thing about William's work is his obsession with animating on ones, because nobody really does that even in a professional work environment (except with computer animation I guess, where everything is technically on ones). Most things the Japanese do have between 8 and 10 drawings per second. Maybe Disney used to animate on ones, but I'm not sure. I've been learning Maya for the past 10 months, spending a lot of time learning as much as I could about it. This is a short film I finished making back in January: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGAwOuJVDaw I also did this piece of animation for the 11 Second Club: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QSb2S5htas Any critiques you guys have would be helpful, as I'm working on a new film now! Currently rigging the characters.
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Mar 31, 2013 22:54
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Thanks! Yeah, I definitely have a ways to go. These criticisms are helpful. I'm going to be attending Sheridan College for their digital character animation program this fall, so I'll be spending basically all my time next year working on this stuff.
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Apr 1, 2013 04:52
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Lucas Martell has a thing he calls the "layered" approach, which is the CG equivalent of straight-ahead animation. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azAv4oJsLDQ I've never worked that way and my experience with traditional animation is limited so I'm not sure how much it's actually like straight-ahead animation. This guy over at "Animation Tips and Tricks" says the layered approach is "far more difficult for newer animators, and my advice to anyone who hasn't been professionally animating for a few years already would be to stick with the pose-to-pose approach, using heavy reference, research, thumbnails, etc." https://www.animationtipsandtricks.com/2009/11/what-is-layered-animation-and-how-does.html But I think those two might disagree slightly on what the "layered" approach is. Also I was wondering if I could get feedback from you guys on this animatic. Its for a short film about two monkey-like aliens that are fighting in a "hammerspace" duel, where basically they have the ability to produce hammers from out of nowhere. I want to keep the film short so that it's actually doable, but I don't know if it's something people would actually enjoy watching if it doesn't have a real conclusion. So any input is helpful. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWdJlXnJCa4 Ccs fucked around with this message at 05:01 on Apr 2, 2013 |
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Apr 2, 2013 03:12
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DiHK posted:Could I get some feedback on this playblast before I give it a final pass? This is intended to go on an animation reel. The arms are twinning a lot, both on the finger pointing (which looks contrived) and with the guy on the right shaking his arms both in the beginning and near the end. Also the arms on the purple guy are folded unnaturally, it looks like a very stiff and uncomfortable pose. And you've got limbs popping into place and then coming to a complete stop, like when the purple guy points up. Complex character animation with multiple characters and dialogue is an advanced exercise. First you should practice animation basics, to develop a sense of timing and spacing and get a sense of weight. For example that coin the guy flips at the very beginning doesn't have the weight it should, due to improper timing and spacing. The one bit of solid animation is the vibrate on the man's hands near the end. That looks natural, and I like how the hands start out tight and then loosen. Here's a list of animation exercises that will really sharpen you skills. http://www.animatorisland.com/51-great-animation-exercises-to-master/ If you do a few from each level and get crits on them you'll find yourself getting much better. Work your way up to full character animation.
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Jun 26, 2013 03:38
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The fish count guy was funny. Good bit of animated comedy when he slaps his fins together. Didn't find much of the other stuff funny. The postman's vocal delivery isn't so good in a few parts, like the "sounds like quite a rascal" line. And I can't comment much on the animation as it's very minimal. I'd like to see bit more design go into the scenery so it looks like the whole thing has a coherent style.
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Aug 30, 2013 23:05
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The Japanese do some awesome traditional effects animation. But outside of the anime industry... not really. Houdini is currently the new hot program to learn for 3D VFX, if you have any interest in that.
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Oct 2, 2013 02:36
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DiHK posted:
So CG wise you need to work on timing, acting choices, and the general principles of animation. Take video reference and do lots of thumbnails strung together into an animatic before you start actually posing the models. For the moom character throw he raises his leg too slowly, it looks too much like basic spline interpolation. When people pitch their legs go up faster than that, and usually overshoot. Maybe have a bit of anticipation like him rolling the ball around in his hand before going up for the pitch. Also add some slight drag on each controller in the graph editor, so if the root control rotates, make the rotation on the above control a little less and so on. In general you want the sense that the weight is coming from the center of gravity and that the rest is being pulled along from that point, unless you're leading with the head or arm or something. But the COG usually shifts slightly at the same time the head or arm moves, because it needs to compensate for weight changes. For a pitch the center of gravity will shift, and then the arm as it throws will become the dominant driver of the motion. It's a bit hard to explain, but proper reference should make it easier to visualize. The weakest bit on the pitch is near the end, because the character basically stops moving. There should be more drag on the arm that just threw the ball, and his torso should go further down before dragging back up. Also use editable motion trails to check your arcs. Ccs fucked around with this message at 03:58 on Nov 5, 2013 |
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Nov 3, 2013 02:09
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Blocked in animation for a weight lift. Any suggestions on poses and timing would be appreciating, since I might transition this to CG.
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Feb 3, 2014 03:15
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Thanks for the feedback! I've been using this as video ref: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oE3oAm3Vy1U I actually was implying that he was taking a step forward (like in the video) but then losing his balance but I like that idea of "fumbling" instead of a deliberate step forward. Thanks for the timing input, I'll increase the antic time and the time from on knees to the up position. I think I'll start putting this into CG so I'll post that up for more feedback once it's done. I'm sure they'll be more to correct from there lol.
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Feb 3, 2014 18:27
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Alright, so here's a CG version. Copied a lot of poses from the planning stage but changed the timing and now there's magic computer inbetweens. But stuff still seems wrong to me, I just can't pinpoint what. http://youtu.be/JmRPvr5JAOs
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Feb 3, 2014 23:58
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Awesome, man. You went above and beyond on helping me with this! I'll post the revised version once I finish it.
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Feb 4, 2014 02:04
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Alright, worked a bit more on that weight lift. I'm sure there's still stuff wrong, but I'm having trouble pinpointing it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJmWA4EYRCI&feature=youtu.be
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Feb 9, 2014 21:38
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Smolt posted:Real cool stuff up in this thread. I'd like to learn how to animate too since it's something I've been putting off for far too long -- especially since I want to go into animation as a career. So is this a brick? Is it being pushed off a table or is it just falling? Decide what the object is and the weight of the object and the force being applied to the object before starting to animate it. Right now you've got really even inbetweens which make it look like the object is floating through space and then coming to a dead stop. There should be more drawings concentrated toward the front of the brick's arc, with fewer as it falls until contact. Basically it's a spacing issue, though the timing might be a bit long for a short fall. The beginning of The Animator's Survivor Kit explains timing and spacing and their differences really well.
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Feb 27, 2014 00:01
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neonnoodle posted:OK, so this took way too long and in the end I'm not even happy with it, but at least it's done and submitted. I think on the last line there needs to be some indication that the dog on the left is the one talking, but he just has his head down the whole time. If he's looking down less and we can see his mouth then there'd be more of an indication that he's speaking.
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Apr 3, 2014 02:50
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bitmap posted:Hey I just won this dreamworks competition and I get to develop a movie and pitch it to dreamworks? I think I speak for everyone when I say we're all waiting for "shrek babies"!!! How to Train Your Shrek Babies.
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Apr 3, 2014 15:32
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I'll be doing May's 11 second club because I'll have time then. It'd be cool if others on the forum did that as well! We can offer feedback!
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Apr 8, 2014 17:24
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Alright, I'll still post my work in progress here looking for feedback.
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Apr 9, 2014 01:46
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This is the first version of my CG animation demo reel I'm comfortable sharing. Before I've mostly done rigging. Got an interview tomorrow with a studio in Halifax, but I'm not gonna get my hopes up on being hired, so be merciless with (constructive, hopefully) criticism. I need to improve! https://vimeo.com/92857009
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Apr 25, 2014 05:17
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Cool, I will put the info in the video. I will definitely work on more fluidity in the movement. Much to learn! Thanks guys! bitmap posted:The CalArts student films came out, if y'all wanna take a gander at the work of some of the best animation students around: Awesome, that was great. Sheridan also had their final showing the other day, though a lot of the films aren't online yet. The best one was a combination of stop motion and traditional animation called "Lucy and the Limbs". I'll post it here when it hits vimeo. Ccs fucked around with this message at 03:59 on Apr 29, 2014 |
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Apr 29, 2014 03:51
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Sup guys, I started on my entry for this month's 11 second club. Here's some rough blocking in of poses showing the direction I'm going in. Any crits on staging or future stuff to add to the animation is appreciated! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fw2_Q2CP1A
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May 6, 2014 16:14
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Thanks for the input! That's good advice, staging I hadn't thought about too much and I hadn't even considered what the lighting would be but that'll give me something to keep it mind for the render! That's a cool little film you made. I don't know what it means, but I like the visuals.
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May 8, 2014 03:18
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I'm nearly done, I'll post my work in prog later today. Unfortunately I'm gonna be in Toronto next week away from my computer, so I won't be able to do as much polish as I wanted. Edit: Here it is. I still need to clean curves, push the up and down motion on the old guy, and add more breakdowns to the girl in the foreground. Also work more on the lipsynch. Not sure how much of that I'll manage to get done before it's due. http://youtu.be/HhqfSDv6img Ccs fucked around with this message at 22:58 on May 25, 2014 |
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May 25, 2014 16:28
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I love the shading style you used. Really fun.
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May 30, 2014 17:16
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Goddamn it, I got the dates mixed up and planned to render out my 11 second entry today, not realizing today is June 1st. Sigh. Oh well. I'll post it here later asking for critique. I still want to use it in my demo reel if I can make it good enough.
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Jun 1, 2014 15:19
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So I never rendered out May's 11 second entry that i missed by a day or two, but I'm working on June's entry which is a ton of fun sound effects. Finally get to do a fight scene. http://youtu.be/0KDx5vYqvOc
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Jun 10, 2014 02:43
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groweedallday posted:A super short comic animation called the You should work a lot more on the lip-synch for something like this, cause it isn't matching up with the audio at all. Also, as other people have mentioned, the volume is way too low.
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Jun 29, 2014 05:17
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So this is my entry for this month's 11 Second club. Critiques? Is it good enough to put on a reel with a bit of polish? http://youtu.be/yH2mHrzLkis
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Jun 30, 2014 23:46
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How in-depth are your boards? Are you trying to simulate camera angles or is there a lot of dialog and you're only changing the camera angle once a character has finished speaking? So it really depends. For example for a 1 minute 30 second short animated film I did I think I had around 40 panels, but that was mostly action scenes with no dialog, though I didn't try to simulate a camera angle changing mid action.
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Aug 4, 2014 01:22
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Do you have a set routine that you work on? For me habits have been really crucial to getting anything done. Also the fear of long term unemployment works in lieu of company imposed deadlines.
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Sep 2, 2014 03:54
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I wrote one down, and then started following it. Here's what my current schedule is. Been working well for the past few months: 9-10: Wake up, breakfast. 10-12: Drawing 12-3: Animation 3-3:30: Lunch 3:30-6: Rigging 6-8: Dinner, relax 8-9:30: Animation 9:30-11: Programming Pretty soon it gets so ingrained as a pattern you don't really think about it anymore. It's just what you do. And inspiration comes sort of as a necessity to keep you focused during that time.
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Sep 3, 2014 15:13
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Awesome. I really like your style and color choices, and the animation has really good retention of form!
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Sep 6, 2014 18:12
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You can describe most actions in five major drawings. Extreme - Ease Out - Breakdown - Ease In - Extreme. Start with Golden Poses, then Extremes, then Breakdown, then Ease In/Ease Out if applicable, and after that the inbetweens. Stuff like hair and cloth can be added as a separate straight-ahead pass afterward.
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Sep 9, 2014 00:39
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The point of the keys is to the extremes, the attitude of the actions. You can do this mostly through just conveying the angles and basic shapes, and maybe sketching in an expression. It doesn't need to be super cleaned up. Add the breakdowns in the same way. Once you're satisfied with your poses and timing, then you can go into cleanup and add the inbetweens.
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Sep 9, 2014 14:05
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Study of a dog running. Gotta make the last and first frames of the cycle match up better.
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Sep 14, 2014 02:48
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Thanks! It's also super rough though. With a little bit of clean up I'm sure I could get the sameness and monotony back in there haha. Also did a study of a Yoshiyuki Sadamoto-style run. He was the character designer for Evangelion but before that he did animation. 
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Sep 15, 2014 05:31
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| # ¿ May 4, 2024 16:47 |
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If you can get a full ride, maybe. Also if you can get into Gobelins, Sheridan, or Cal Arts, then maybe you have a future in the industry. Any other school though will probably not be worth the time investment. And whereas the connections at those schools will actually be useful, connections at other schools don't help much. It doesn't help if none of the people you went to class with can get into the industry. If you tour schools, make sure to ask the hard questions. Ask how many people they placed in the industry last year. Find out the qualifications of the teachers. Look at student work and see if it's good enough. It can't just have won awards. It has to have been good enough to get those graduates jobs. If they try to deflect, press them on it. If they try to side-step the question, or deny to show you the stats, tell them you will seek education elsewhere. Also, Full Sail and The Art Institutes are scams. They're for-profit colleges owned by Wall Street hedge funds. Avoid them at all costs. And finally, take some Mandarin classes while you're in school. Edit: If I were to recommend one school above others, it would be Sheridan, which is my alma mater. Cheaper than Cal Arts, even if you're American, and lots of animation work is going to Canada right now. If you do 4 years at Sheridan you can get a 3 year work permit in Canada and then become a Permanent Resident. Though learning Mandarin is good because if the film subsides stop, that's where the work will go. Just keep working on your portfolio. If you don't get in one year, work on your portfolio and apply the next year. And prepare for 16 hour work days. Ccs fucked around with this message at 19:00 on Sep 15, 2014 |
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Sep 15, 2014 18:41
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