W.I.P. Demoreel

ashusmotion · 14-09-2007, 10:59 PM

hi, this is my work in progress demoreel, i am a beginer and trying to make a good demoreal please give me some valuable coments on my work.

http://www.youtube.com/ashusmotion

thanks
ashutosh

ArtZealot · 15-09-2007, 02:28 PM

nice works there and ur going in Rgt direction!!!!

keep up !!!

ashusmotion · 19-09-2007, 04:44 PM

thanks for replying and watching my reel and i watched your demoreel and that is fantastic good work and you will get a good job is for sure.
"keep smilling and working"

ArtZealot · 19-09-2007, 08:09 PM

Thnx man !!! I got myself placed in a studio just now !!!!

For urs Try to put a better resolution and give download links otherwise things are really cool for Ur demo !!!!

BOL !!!

graphic_crap · 21-09-2007, 06:46 PM

Great job for a beginner.. only the lowman run and alfred weight lifting timing...i feel them pathetic comparing to the nice job done in other shots!!! the horse run was really good ..and the guy climbing..a lil bit work and it'll be smooth and great! i really love that choice of urs ..it's different from other showreels comes up everyday... and the last on.. the Sam out of toilet..Great one.. try to maintain the timing a bit more crispy and it'll do the magic nice works man!

Amrit Derhgawen · 12-10-2007, 02:34 PM

Hello there,

Good work for a beginner. I like your effort.
First off, I'm taking out some time to make comments on your animations, as you've personally requested me to do so. So, please take them constructively.

Critique

1) Horse Gallop: Its fine, but its weightless. It kinda looks like a flying horse, who is not touching the ground much. Thats because, the upper part of the body is totally stiff... especially the shoulders of the horse, the neck, and the head. You have to follow the principles of lead and follow. You can take the pelvis as the center of the body and let the outer most part follow it. For example in a biped, it should be like (most of the time), pelvis leads and the lower abdomen follows it. Then the upper abdomen follows the lower one, then the lower chest follows the upper abdomen, and the upper chest follows the lower chest, then the neck follows the upper chest and the head follows the neck. Its like a chain reaction. The pelvis (center) leads and the outer parts of the body follows it. Go ahead and get used to some concepts of overlaps and follow through (do simple test animations!) and then come back later to work on these types of exercises.

2) Dog animation: It looks better, maybe because its a small animal which you're animating. But the above rules will apply here as well. Body is a single cohesive unit and you have to make every part of the body work together.

3) A Guy running: Learn the basics of walk and run, and stop using interpolation for the sake of learning. You're giving the control to your computer which makes it floaty. The problem is not the computer, the problem is you're not sure how to use the computer to help you with your animation. You're simply surrendering most of your stuff to the computer. I would recommend you that you animate everything in stepped tangents and keep them in 2s' (just for the sake of learning the basics). Or in other words, you have to take responsibility of every alternate frames! This is just what I would recommend you.
Most of the CG anim noobs I've met, avoid working in 2D, as they are totally unaware of the power of 2D. Do a lot of drawing/sketching, learn gesture drawings and use them in your 2d animation. With time, your animations will become strong as hell.

SpaceShip anim: Avoid these space ship type animations in your in your character animation demo reel. They hardly show any of your animating skills.

Lifting weight: Just lifting an object slowly doesn't help much to create an illusion of weight. Learn about posing, line of action, silhouettes and also, make several gesture drawings of a person lifting a heavy block or an object. Capture ONE single frame of him lifting the weight off the ground. That single frame or drawing should have a lot of weight in it. You are free to exaggerate the pose or caricature it.
These are some of the stuff which applies to all of your animations.

The guy lifting a small box: This animation is very weak. Everything (the box, etc) floating around. You don't have to show this animation in your reel. Just get rid of it.

A few words of wisdom from me

Stop focusing on demo reels and love what you're doing.
Don't try and impress the world and get a job in just one exercise. Do 10 or 15 different exercises with the simple goal of doing them well, simply, efficiently and cleanly. Suppress your desire to "prove yourself" with every exercise. Instead focus on workflow, mechanics, basics. good arcs, showing proper weight, good breakdowns, strong poses, solid timing. 90% of animation done professionally isn't flashy or impressive- it just needs to be done really solid. No pops, no wobbles in the motion paths, no weak poses. Simple done well is far more valuable than fancy or 'impressive' done sloppily. Like anything you need to focus on developing your strength with the basic things first. So don't even think about a demo reel yet. You need to know how to animate before you can worry about a demo reel.

Animating is fun for me. Sadly for many guys today in animation, they don't love animation as much as having a cool job or a fat paycheck. I would animate even if I never got a job animating. That's how you need to approach your work right now. Worry about the job later. Do your work now with a strong emphasis on doing simple things really, really well and trust me- the job will take care of itself later.

I've been lucky enough to learn and discuss the craft of animation from some of the best of the bests like Keith Lango, Jason Ryan, Victor and a few other super talented guys. And something which I've noticed in common... all these great animators work hard and they never give up easily. They have a simplicity which inspires me the most. They take a super simple idea (could be technically complex) and simply break it down in such a way that its no longer complex in any way. They composite the idea together and the end result is totally jaw dropping. When I talk to them or learn from them, I not only observe their technical approach towards animation, I also pay attention to their mental approach. I'm just trying to follow their footsteps.

I just want you to get into that kinda approach, where you not only enjoy the end result or the final render but also, you enjoy the EVERY single process of animation....from story boards, to 2D planning and animatics to final CG render.

Aaaaaaaaaaarrrrgggghhhh..... I've made this post an essay! Never mind.. I've a bad habit of doing that!
Again, you have a lot of scope for improvement and you're doing well, so keep working. I hope this helps. Good luck.

-A

creator · 12-10-2007, 06:03 PM

hi ashusmotion,
good works, at least for Beginners ..........very nice
But just a bit of improvement is required on weight lifting, guy climbing ,i think follow the Principles of animation it will help u a lot ,.....

Keep on Updating and Best of Luck...

sunimation · 14-10-2007, 02:48 AM

hai ashu..... good going bro.
the advise from amrit is really awsom... its really helps freshers like us...... thanx amrit for ur valuable advise... may be this not my reel but ur advise helps me lots too.... thANx

and hai ashu.... ur animation is in the rite way , just keep working hard and make it perfect and practice all little things which leads to good animation....

and i know u can make it... keep working bro... best of luck
and then make a good reel...

"hard work matter"

so do good be good

Prashanth Cavale · 15-10-2007, 10:49 AM

Hey! interesting stuff!!...as others have pointed out, there are a few areas which can be refined!..If its a showreel you are compiling, I'd recommend you to refine your biped walk/run cycles!..but then you got some really good stuff also..I liked the dog animation the best!
keep it going dude!

ashusmotion · 17-10-2007, 12:13 PM

hi Amrit,
thanks for replying, your comments are awesome. i was afraid after seeing the lot of mistakes done by me in my work but i will take all this in a positive manner and in future, i will consider all things you describe in my animation and surely i will sketch allot once again to improve the poses thanks from the bottom of my heart and please do comments on my coming works too. so that i can improve my work.
thanks.

" animation is my first love, i will love it till i die"

ashusmotion · 17-10-2007, 12:16 PM

hi creator, sunny, prashanth.
thanks all of you for taking out your valuable time to comment on my work i will consider all the things you replied for my work.
thanks

" animation is my first love, i will love it till i die"

vish8873 · 17-10-2007, 06:26 PM

really nice start as a beginner.....but i guess u need some improvement...
the only thing i want to say is just ask ur self how ur animation is looking....

ashusmotion · 25-10-2007, 03:23 PM

hi vish, i will definitely do that.
thanks

audin · 26-10-2007, 09:31 PM

Nice start, way to go. Just correct the run cycle a bit, and with time its going to get better i guess. good work.

4ucharu · 20-02-2008, 10:59 PM

good work for beigner.......
i find the 'weight' thing missing in your animation.
and u have got all the wisdom verses. so happy animating

ashusmotion · 01-03-2008, 07:16 PM

thanks for watching my reel and surely that is the thing i am working now a days and will be in my next scenes, i am working right now plz be keep in touch and all your critiques are most welcome as hard as you can give me.

failing to try is trying to fail