'Up' Exclusive Clip: 'Need Any Assistance?'
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Friday, March 27, 2009
Beautiful Scary Robots of Shigeo Hirose
http://i.gizmodo.com/5184211/the-beautiful-scary-robots-of-shigeo-hirose
incredible.. especially the last 30 seconds
incredible.. especially the last 30 seconds
Thursday, March 26, 2009
What we're up against
A little reminder copied from keith lango's blog here
from may 27th 2005.. i had sent this email to a friend when i was at AM and came across it and throught it would be a good reminder of how lucky we have it.
from may 27th 2005.. i had sent this email to a friend when i was at AM and came across it and throught it would be a good reminder of how lucky we have it.
I got to thinking about just how cool it is that I get to do what I do for a living. It got me to thinking just how small this niche really is. Check this out…
Based on various conversations and public data this is my very rough estimate of the number of professional character animators working in feature film animation/service studios in North America:
Disney Feature: 60
Dreamworks-Glendale: 40
Dreamworks-PDI: 40
Pixar: 80
Sony Imageworks/Animation: 60
ILM: 50
Digital Domain: 20
O-mation: 30
Blue Sky: 35
DNA: 30
CORE: 30
Rhythm & Hues: 20
Other feature film service shops (Tippett, Wildbrain, Orphanage, Hydraulix, Blur, Vinton, Warner Bros., ReelFX, etc.) approx 150.
Rough Est. Total: 650
Of course I'm not right on the money with these estimates, but as a ballpark number, I think this is a pretty good first whack. If I were to include other animation film studios outside North America like WETA, Animal Logic, Aardman and more my guess is the worldwide total of character animators working on top end film projects is less than 1,000 max.
Compare that to...
Number of professional football players on NFL team rosters: 1,696
Number of professional baseball players on MLB team rosters: 750
Number of professional basketball players on NBA rosters: 450
Number of air traffic controllers in the US: 675
On the other side of the coin, consider this:
2,000 Secret Service "special agents" in the US
7,250 jobs at sound recording studios in the US
15,600 locksmiths in the US
22,200 winery jobs in the US
28,600 taxi drivers in the US
35,000 jobs at nuclear power facilities in the US
69,900 graphic design service jobs in the US
71,000 museum jobs in the US
115,000 jobs in broadcast radio in the US
127,000 jobs in broadcast TV in the US
530,000 mining jobs in the US
593,000 insurance agents in the US
1mil law firm jobs in the US
2.58mil grocery store jobs in the US
2.9mil fast food jobs in the US
source: http://www.bizstats.com/employment1.htm
The numbers don't lie. I'm sure there are millions in this land who would love to be film animators. Only a few hundred are. Our work will be judged in the crucible of the market and under the unflinching review of our peers. We need to be at the top of our game, collectively and individually. Just like being a professional athlete is a special privilege and honor it's an equally high honor to work at this level in this field. It takes commitment, serious effort and a driving desire (on top of your God given talent) to be the best you can be. The ones who make it are among a special group. We should take that honor seriously, consider what it takes to not only get to this level, but to stay at it, succeed at it and excel at it. We are the very, very, very few who can say that we make animated films for a living. Take pride in that and work hard to maintain that honor.
OK, that oughta get your engine revving!
Monday, March 23, 2009
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Navone on Brows
Since we’re going to be getting back into some facial animation, this might be a nice little reminder about that oh so expressive part of our face…
The Brows Have It
The Brows Have It
Watchmen Production Focus and Opening Credits
Production Focus
and if you wanted to watch the great opening credits (again hopefully)
Opening Credits
and if you wanted to watch the great opening credits (again hopefully)
Opening Credits
Animators @ Work
found by Nelson Brown
I stumbled across this site that’s just a photo gallery of animators (mostly traditional as far as I can tell) in their workspaces. For some reason seeing stuff like that always inspires me. Maybe it’ll do the same for you.
Animators at Work
P.S. this one of Glen Keane looking like such a working joe with his headphones cracks me up.
Glen Keane
I stumbled across this site that’s just a photo gallery of animators (mostly traditional as far as I can tell) in their workspaces. For some reason seeing stuff like that always inspires me. Maybe it’ll do the same for you.
Animators at Work
P.S. this one of Glen Keane looking like such a working joe with his headphones cracks me up.
Glen Keane
It's all in the timing
It's All in the Timing
while the point of the article is great, the thing that I liked most was Chaplin acting his anticipation out in threes before he tips the wine glass…
while the point of the article is great, the thing that I liked most was Chaplin acting his anticipation out in threes before he tips the wine glass…
Flip's Shotview melscript or "How i learned to stop worrying and love maya
It’s the magic elixir to ease tired blood and prolong your life
It’s a tear off window with built in timeline and playback controls to ease your pain
Also.. the ability to save off incremental playblasts with time stamping
It’s the handy dandy Shotview window
http://highend3d.com/maya/downloads/mel_scripts/animation/shotView-4274.html
also makes julienne fries
It’s a tear off window with built in timeline and playback controls to ease your pain
Also.. the ability to save off incremental playblasts with time stamping
It’s the handy dandy Shotview window
http://highend3d.com/maya/downloads/mel_scripts/animation/shotView-4274.html
also makes julienne fries
Lango has a post on gimbal spinning
Lango has a post on gimbal spinning
http://keithlango.blogspot.com/2009/01/pesky-gimbal-spinning-problems-got-you.html
http://keithlango.blogspot.com/2009/01/pesky-gimbal-spinning-problems-got-you.html
another Horton comparison reel between their reference and the film!
http://www.jmartinsen.com/p-comp.html
some other great stuff on his site as well
http://www.jmartinsen.com/
some other great stuff on his site as well
http://www.jmartinsen.com/
Shawn Kelly's tips for avoiding twinning:
Shawn Kelly's tips for avoiding twinning:
http://www.animationmentor.com/newsletter/0307/feature_geek.html#animationTip
http://www.animationmentor.com/newsletter/0307/feature_geek.html#animationTip
AAU breakdown of acting choices in several movies
AAU breakdown of acting choices in several movies
http://academyanimation.blogspot.com/2008/02/acting-reference.html
http://academyanimation.blogspot.com/2008/02/acting-reference.html
Demo Reel Do's and Dont's by Robin Linn (Sony)
Got this off the AM message boards but it was originally posted on facebook so I think it’s fine to put here
Demo Reel Do's and Dont's by Robin Linn (Sony)
Hey guys! Now there are a lot of demo reel do's and dont's floating around and I just cant get enough of em! There was a very interesting discussion over at facebook on Robin Linn's Status Update (of all places ha!) on the Dos and Donts of demo reels that was too good to not share with you guys! Robin is the Chairman of IPAX Career Services(Sony Imageworks). Here is most of the convo, enjoy!
---------------
>Robin is wondering if you all would like me to post Demo Reel Do's and Dont's on here? I could write a new one everyday and not repeat myself for weeks on end....<
**Chris Bailey at 10:19am December 3
When i see reels cut to to a cool piece of music, the first thing I do it turn the sound off. Petty Jedi mindtricks like this don't work on most directors.
And then there's "the more fancy the demo's titles are, the less accomplished the work is" rule.
Wow...this is fun!
**Chris Bailey at 10:46am December 3
Things are good...just finished directing some CG shorts for WB and looking for my next gig.
One thing that I got into it with my animators was how much of their animation from a given project to put on a reel. As a director, I'm looking to see how much work someone can contribute as much as how I like it. For small projects, fast is just as important as good. The animators were concerned about boring directors with too much...that they can tell if one can animate after just a few shots.
What's your view on this?
**Robin A. Linn at 10:54am December 3
As long as the work is good, I don't mind a reel being on the long side - especially if it shows a variety of work (some cartoony and then some more realistic, as an example) but if the work is just okay - nothing is going to help it. Oh, and another thing, dont repeat your animations. If we missed the mistake you made on the first view, odds are we'll catch it on the subsequent one...
**Chris Bailey at 11:18am December 3
A couple of animators on my crew (whom I loved, btw) asked me after the show what I thought of their reel. So I watched it with them and said my thoughts out loud as I recall from watching it the first time. I could tell it was an eyeopener. Some things that they had on their reel meant little to me and then when I got to a meaty bit I'd say, "this is where I decided to hire you."
I'm not sure we're all the best judge of our own reels...I've had editors and agents give me advice that I thought was counter-intuititve, but they turned out to be right.
**Robin A. Linn at 12:23pm December 3
I think students (and professionals) forget that animation is acting. We want to see acting on their reels - their acting should show us they know about physics, posing, timing, etc. BUT the performance should always come first and be at the heart of their reel.
**Thea Eaton at 12:44pm December 3
I think there are different types of reels, for different audiences. I can appreciate an action reel set to good music, from an animation company. A reel set to music does in effect show a sense of timing, composition and dramatic effect. These reels should have a topic, either action, gaming, special effects, emotion, etc.. with matching music. The audience for these reels are comsumers.
But.. if I am screening to hire an animator, I much more prefer to see an animated portfolio. This means that all animations are not 'reeled' together, but are seperated portfolio style, with information on each project, different clips for each project with the original audio or soundtrack. Animation is so tied to the soundtrack or voice over, that it is useless for me to see it without its original track. I like the option of seeing different parts of the same project. I also like to know project background and specifics, who was responsible for what, etc..
**Chris Bailey at 2:01pm December 3
I look at fancy music on a reel as a smokescreen. Also, if the music isn't to the director's taste, you might lose points. A lot of public domain music that people put on their reels sounds like porno music...yipes. Better to let the work speak for itself.
**Robin A. Linn at 11:36am December 4
Morning all, Animation Director (and all around great guy) Chris Bailey and I were just talking about reels and I thought you might like to read what was being discussed
**Robin A. Linn at 11:38am December 4
Chris, what terms would you use to describe the typical Reel Review? For those of you who dont know what a Reel Review is - it is where a recruiter sits down with the supervisors and takes a look at the reels that have been submitted
**Robin A. Linn at 11:40am December 4
Please know that most of the time these take place with one or two supervsiors (lets use anim. sups for this example) and we tend to look at between 25 to 50 reels as fast as possible. Remember these sups are on shows and are very busy ppl
**Robin A. Linn at 11:43am December 4
The reels once they arrive are, sorted, logged into a database and stored in bins. Sometimes the resume and cover letter get separated from the reel case. This is why I say not to send a separate CV - slip it under the clear plastic cover of your DVD's case
**Robin A. Linn at 11:45am December 4
They may sit there for weeks before a reel review can get scheduled - like I said, these supervisors are busy ppl.
**Robin A. Linn at 11:48am December 4
If you are one to put your reel into an elaborate case and send along a portfolio of your life drawings, please know that the packaging will probably get tossed and the life drawing may get looked at but more and more I am seeing that anim sups are not really interested in your drawing skills
**Chris Bailey at 11:49am December 4
Wow, where to start..I wish i saved our chat and could cut and paste what we were talking about.
The first thing people need to know is that director and supes have very little time to review work. If I'm looking at an art portfolio and see life drawings for more than a couple of pages, the next time I'm going to jump a few pages ahead ...if i see still more life drawings, I'm going reach for the back of the book skipping what's inbetween. I can tell if you can draw by just a few drawings...I'd like to see a progression and range from page to page.
**Robin A. Linn at 11:50am December 4
A coordinator will assist in the review - he or she will take the reel and put it into the DVD player. You'd think the artist who sent us the reel would make sure it would play, but all too many times, it wont and the reel gets tossed
**Robin A. Linn at 11:53am December 4
Okay - did you read that? A coordinator sees your reel case. NOT the sup. so why would you spend a lot of time designing a reel case? SPEND THAT TIME ANIMATING
**Chris Bailey at 11:55am December 4
I do like to see drawing skills. The most common thing I find lacking in CG animators work is their staging skills. Poses are weak and don't read as well as those with a background in drawing.
Actors learn how to stage their bodies to direct attention to to what they want the audience to see or not to see...traditional animators were taught the same thing, but I'm not sure that CG people are taught this anymore. There are exceptions, of course.
**Robin A. Linn at 11:56am December 4
Sometimes the sup will ask to see a resume - sometimes. See, your reel is in truth your resume. It not only tells the sup where you worked but also what you did - what shots you were assigned and how well you did them - you reel is a thousand times more important than your resume/cover letter - so, please do not spend valuable time designing logos, etc. Not to be blunt, but we dont care about that stuff
**Robin A. Linn at 11:58am December 4
Chris, what is the most common mistake you see on animator's reels?
**Robin A. Linn at 12:01pm December 4
Here's a lil background on Chris - just to let you know the caliber of his comments....http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0047193/
**Pete Draper at 12:02pm December 4
Don't send reels on those tiny DVD's or the business card ones either for that matter. At the last place I worked at they knackered two players. Also, don't ever send reels as .avi's, .wmv's or anything that requires a computer to play. And it goes without saying to make sure you get the right region format encoded down. NTSC reels don't look very nice on PAL players. Heck I even had one guy who region locked his to region 1...
... oh, and always ALWAYS shove your contact details on the disc itself. I don't care if it's fancy printed or scribbled with pen; I've lost count of how many blank-covered discs I used to get that ended up in the "to sort" pile (that ended up as the "i can't be arsed to sort" pile).
Pete (now back in the freelance trenches so I should listen to my own advice)
**Robin A. Linn at 12:07pm December 4
for me the most common mistake is that they all assume we look at their entire reel all the way through. We dont - we just dont have the time - you'll get 10 seconds or so....
**Chris Bailey at 12:11pm December 4
My kryptonite is that I'm an impatient guy. So if I go to an animators website to look at their work and don't see a big button that says DEMO REEL, I'll search for about 15 seconds and then move on. Likewise if I can't get a demo to play on the site for some reason, I'll simply pass.
On my last project, I did just that and if it wasn't for myAPM going the extra mile to make sure i got a copy of this person's reel, i would have never hired them. That would have been a shame for the both of us as they turned out to be very strong and we became friends.
**Chris Bailey at 12:13pm December 4
Please don't put weak work on your reel. We've all done work that isn't our best, when you put weak animation next to strong, it says that you either can't tell the difference or that your supervisor contributed to the strong work.
Is this too blunt?
**Robin A. Linn at 12:14pm December 4
How do you feel about elaborate menus that require you to push lil tabs to see part of the reel? I HATE THEM.
**Robin A. Linn at 12:15pm December 4
No such thing as being "too honest" on here
**Pete Draper at 12:24pm December 4
nope, that's pretty accurate :)
Which reminds me - breakdowns of each shot. What you did, what it was for, when it was. Helps us determine what you contributed to the shot. Useful if your animation was awesome, but the texturing and lighting by Joey Mc Nugget wasn't so we're not dragged away by the overall aesthetic. The same thing applies to credits; if you didn't do every single thing in the shot, credit the people who did the remaining assets; eg if your reel is environment construction with a scene of a kitchen and the most beautiful element is a toaster that you bought in from a library to populate, credit the library. (and then re-do the scene as your work should be away better than that...)
**Robin A. Linn at 12:29pm December 4
Ive seen reels where the characters that the applicant animated were in color while the rest of the shot was in black/white - that was a great way to break it out
**Chris Bailey at 12:36pm December 4
One last thing before I go out the door to the gym to beat my puny animator body back into some kind of shape. I posted about this earlier, but it bears repeating...
Since I haven't worked on big, multi-year spanning animated features in years, I need to know how fast my animators are. Sometimes, I'll need a shot in a day and while it doesn't have to be the best shot in the world, it needs to look like a shot, meaning that the poses must communicate and there is a sense of timing.
When I see reels from feature films with just a few shots on them, it makes me wonder how fast they are. If I were to look at the shot breakdown from Alvin and the Chipmunks, my guess is that 90% of the shots were animated by 30% of the crew.
I can't count the times I had to go to the animators on my latest project at WB and say, "we need this new insert/fix/whatever, but it has to be done be end of day tomorrow or it won't make it in.
The animators that can do that for me are invaluable.
**Chris Bailey at 12:37pm December 4
The color/BW solution is brilliant!
**Robin A. Linn at 12:39pm December 4
Pete and Chris, I cant thank you enough for your comments this morning - great stuff!
**Chris Bailey at 3:27pm December 4
Just remember, free advice is worth what you pay for it.
**Peter Saumur at 4:04pm December 4
Have any of you guys worked in a motion capture feature or used motion capture in a project?
**Robin A. Linn at 4:05pm December 4
Yep, on Polar Express, Monster House and Beowulf
**Peter Saumur at 4:07pm December 4
Ah HAH! So you know Demian then... :D
I was wondering what you would look for in a demo reel that was only motion capture shots? I've worked with motion capture my whole career, and will likely start AM this year, so I am curious if you hold the same criteria for those types of reels.
**Chris Bailey at 4:11pm December 4
I can tell if the animator knows how to interpret the mocap data.
**Robin A. Linn at 4:14pm December 4
Well, experience has taught me that Mocap only goes a very very very small way to finalling the performance - if these was someway to see the raw feed vs. the final that would be great, but I dont even know if that is possible. How about this - do you have any work that is Mocap free that you could put on your reel as well? That'd help. Look, I know one thing, animators that are Mocap savvy are also very tech savvy - and that is always a bonus
**Peter Saumur at 4:20pm December 4
I have had no animation training, unfortunately. Just learned the technical side (cleanup, camera setup, post-process) on the job. It's because of this, I don't have any pure animation on my demo reel.
**Robin A. Linn at 4:48pm December 4
a lot of the comment still hold true, best stuff up front, no music, no fancy packages, keep it bare bones and basic as possible...
**Jeff Cooperman at 6:07pm December 4
http://spungella.blogspot.com/2008/09/what-should-i-animate_24.html
Demo Reel Do's and Dont's by Robin Linn (Sony)
Hey guys! Now there are a lot of demo reel do's and dont's floating around and I just cant get enough of em! There was a very interesting discussion over at facebook on Robin Linn's Status Update (of all places ha!) on the Dos and Donts of demo reels that was too good to not share with you guys! Robin is the Chairman of IPAX Career Services(Sony Imageworks). Here is most of the convo, enjoy!
---------------
>Robin is wondering if you all would like me to post Demo Reel Do's and Dont's on here? I could write a new one everyday and not repeat myself for weeks on end....<
**Chris Bailey at 10:19am December 3
When i see reels cut to to a cool piece of music, the first thing I do it turn the sound off. Petty Jedi mindtricks like this don't work on most directors.
And then there's "the more fancy the demo's titles are, the less accomplished the work is" rule.
Wow...this is fun!
**Chris Bailey at 10:46am December 3
Things are good...just finished directing some CG shorts for WB and looking for my next gig.
One thing that I got into it with my animators was how much of their animation from a given project to put on a reel. As a director, I'm looking to see how much work someone can contribute as much as how I like it. For small projects, fast is just as important as good. The animators were concerned about boring directors with too much...that they can tell if one can animate after just a few shots.
What's your view on this?
**Robin A. Linn at 10:54am December 3
As long as the work is good, I don't mind a reel being on the long side - especially if it shows a variety of work (some cartoony and then some more realistic, as an example) but if the work is just okay - nothing is going to help it. Oh, and another thing, dont repeat your animations. If we missed the mistake you made on the first view, odds are we'll catch it on the subsequent one...
**Chris Bailey at 11:18am December 3
A couple of animators on my crew (whom I loved, btw) asked me after the show what I thought of their reel. So I watched it with them and said my thoughts out loud as I recall from watching it the first time. I could tell it was an eyeopener. Some things that they had on their reel meant little to me and then when I got to a meaty bit I'd say, "this is where I decided to hire you."
I'm not sure we're all the best judge of our own reels...I've had editors and agents give me advice that I thought was counter-intuititve, but they turned out to be right.
**Robin A. Linn at 12:23pm December 3
I think students (and professionals) forget that animation is acting. We want to see acting on their reels - their acting should show us they know about physics, posing, timing, etc. BUT the performance should always come first and be at the heart of their reel.
**Thea Eaton at 12:44pm December 3
I think there are different types of reels, for different audiences. I can appreciate an action reel set to good music, from an animation company. A reel set to music does in effect show a sense of timing, composition and dramatic effect. These reels should have a topic, either action, gaming, special effects, emotion, etc.. with matching music. The audience for these reels are comsumers.
But.. if I am screening to hire an animator, I much more prefer to see an animated portfolio. This means that all animations are not 'reeled' together, but are seperated portfolio style, with information on each project, different clips for each project with the original audio or soundtrack. Animation is so tied to the soundtrack or voice over, that it is useless for me to see it without its original track. I like the option of seeing different parts of the same project. I also like to know project background and specifics, who was responsible for what, etc..
**Chris Bailey at 2:01pm December 3
I look at fancy music on a reel as a smokescreen. Also, if the music isn't to the director's taste, you might lose points. A lot of public domain music that people put on their reels sounds like porno music...yipes. Better to let the work speak for itself.
**Robin A. Linn at 11:36am December 4
Morning all, Animation Director (and all around great guy) Chris Bailey and I were just talking about reels and I thought you might like to read what was being discussed
**Robin A. Linn at 11:38am December 4
Chris, what terms would you use to describe the typical Reel Review? For those of you who dont know what a Reel Review is - it is where a recruiter sits down with the supervisors and takes a look at the reels that have been submitted
**Robin A. Linn at 11:40am December 4
Please know that most of the time these take place with one or two supervsiors (lets use anim. sups for this example) and we tend to look at between 25 to 50 reels as fast as possible. Remember these sups are on shows and are very busy ppl
**Robin A. Linn at 11:43am December 4
The reels once they arrive are, sorted, logged into a database and stored in bins. Sometimes the resume and cover letter get separated from the reel case. This is why I say not to send a separate CV - slip it under the clear plastic cover of your DVD's case
**Robin A. Linn at 11:45am December 4
They may sit there for weeks before a reel review can get scheduled - like I said, these supervisors are busy ppl.
**Robin A. Linn at 11:48am December 4
If you are one to put your reel into an elaborate case and send along a portfolio of your life drawings, please know that the packaging will probably get tossed and the life drawing may get looked at but more and more I am seeing that anim sups are not really interested in your drawing skills
**Chris Bailey at 11:49am December 4
Wow, where to start..I wish i saved our chat and could cut and paste what we were talking about.
The first thing people need to know is that director and supes have very little time to review work. If I'm looking at an art portfolio and see life drawings for more than a couple of pages, the next time I'm going to jump a few pages ahead ...if i see still more life drawings, I'm going reach for the back of the book skipping what's inbetween. I can tell if you can draw by just a few drawings...I'd like to see a progression and range from page to page.
**Robin A. Linn at 11:50am December 4
A coordinator will assist in the review - he or she will take the reel and put it into the DVD player. You'd think the artist who sent us the reel would make sure it would play, but all too many times, it wont and the reel gets tossed
**Robin A. Linn at 11:53am December 4
Okay - did you read that? A coordinator sees your reel case. NOT the sup. so why would you spend a lot of time designing a reel case? SPEND THAT TIME ANIMATING
**Chris Bailey at 11:55am December 4
I do like to see drawing skills. The most common thing I find lacking in CG animators work is their staging skills. Poses are weak and don't read as well as those with a background in drawing.
Actors learn how to stage their bodies to direct attention to to what they want the audience to see or not to see...traditional animators were taught the same thing, but I'm not sure that CG people are taught this anymore. There are exceptions, of course.
**Robin A. Linn at 11:56am December 4
Sometimes the sup will ask to see a resume - sometimes. See, your reel is in truth your resume. It not only tells the sup where you worked but also what you did - what shots you were assigned and how well you did them - you reel is a thousand times more important than your resume/cover letter - so, please do not spend valuable time designing logos, etc. Not to be blunt, but we dont care about that stuff
**Robin A. Linn at 11:58am December 4
Chris, what is the most common mistake you see on animator's reels?
**Robin A. Linn at 12:01pm December 4
Here's a lil background on Chris - just to let you know the caliber of his comments....http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0047193/
**Pete Draper at 12:02pm December 4
Don't send reels on those tiny DVD's or the business card ones either for that matter. At the last place I worked at they knackered two players. Also, don't ever send reels as .avi's, .wmv's or anything that requires a computer to play. And it goes without saying to make sure you get the right region format encoded down. NTSC reels don't look very nice on PAL players. Heck I even had one guy who region locked his to region 1...
... oh, and always ALWAYS shove your contact details on the disc itself. I don't care if it's fancy printed or scribbled with pen; I've lost count of how many blank-covered discs I used to get that ended up in the "to sort" pile (that ended up as the "i can't be arsed to sort" pile).
Pete (now back in the freelance trenches so I should listen to my own advice)
**Robin A. Linn at 12:07pm December 4
for me the most common mistake is that they all assume we look at their entire reel all the way through. We dont - we just dont have the time - you'll get 10 seconds or so....
**Chris Bailey at 12:11pm December 4
My kryptonite is that I'm an impatient guy. So if I go to an animators website to look at their work and don't see a big button that says DEMO REEL, I'll search for about 15 seconds and then move on. Likewise if I can't get a demo to play on the site for some reason, I'll simply pass.
On my last project, I did just that and if it wasn't for myAPM going the extra mile to make sure i got a copy of this person's reel, i would have never hired them. That would have been a shame for the both of us as they turned out to be very strong and we became friends.
**Chris Bailey at 12:13pm December 4
Please don't put weak work on your reel. We've all done work that isn't our best, when you put weak animation next to strong, it says that you either can't tell the difference or that your supervisor contributed to the strong work.
Is this too blunt?
**Robin A. Linn at 12:14pm December 4
How do you feel about elaborate menus that require you to push lil tabs to see part of the reel? I HATE THEM.
**Robin A. Linn at 12:15pm December 4
No such thing as being "too honest" on here
**Pete Draper at 12:24pm December 4
nope, that's pretty accurate :)
Which reminds me - breakdowns of each shot. What you did, what it was for, when it was. Helps us determine what you contributed to the shot. Useful if your animation was awesome, but the texturing and lighting by Joey Mc Nugget wasn't so we're not dragged away by the overall aesthetic. The same thing applies to credits; if you didn't do every single thing in the shot, credit the people who did the remaining assets; eg if your reel is environment construction with a scene of a kitchen and the most beautiful element is a toaster that you bought in from a library to populate, credit the library. (and then re-do the scene as your work should be away better than that...)
**Robin A. Linn at 12:29pm December 4
Ive seen reels where the characters that the applicant animated were in color while the rest of the shot was in black/white - that was a great way to break it out
**Chris Bailey at 12:36pm December 4
One last thing before I go out the door to the gym to beat my puny animator body back into some kind of shape. I posted about this earlier, but it bears repeating...
Since I haven't worked on big, multi-year spanning animated features in years, I need to know how fast my animators are. Sometimes, I'll need a shot in a day and while it doesn't have to be the best shot in the world, it needs to look like a shot, meaning that the poses must communicate and there is a sense of timing.
When I see reels from feature films with just a few shots on them, it makes me wonder how fast they are. If I were to look at the shot breakdown from Alvin and the Chipmunks, my guess is that 90% of the shots were animated by 30% of the crew.
I can't count the times I had to go to the animators on my latest project at WB and say, "we need this new insert/fix/whatever, but it has to be done be end of day tomorrow or it won't make it in.
The animators that can do that for me are invaluable.
**Chris Bailey at 12:37pm December 4
The color/BW solution is brilliant!
**Robin A. Linn at 12:39pm December 4
Pete and Chris, I cant thank you enough for your comments this morning - great stuff!
**Chris Bailey at 3:27pm December 4
Just remember, free advice is worth what you pay for it.
**Peter Saumur at 4:04pm December 4
Have any of you guys worked in a motion capture feature or used motion capture in a project?
**Robin A. Linn at 4:05pm December 4
Yep, on Polar Express, Monster House and Beowulf
**Peter Saumur at 4:07pm December 4
Ah HAH! So you know Demian then... :D
I was wondering what you would look for in a demo reel that was only motion capture shots? I've worked with motion capture my whole career, and will likely start AM this year, so I am curious if you hold the same criteria for those types of reels.
**Chris Bailey at 4:11pm December 4
I can tell if the animator knows how to interpret the mocap data.
**Robin A. Linn at 4:14pm December 4
Well, experience has taught me that Mocap only goes a very very very small way to finalling the performance - if these was someway to see the raw feed vs. the final that would be great, but I dont even know if that is possible. How about this - do you have any work that is Mocap free that you could put on your reel as well? That'd help. Look, I know one thing, animators that are Mocap savvy are also very tech savvy - and that is always a bonus
**Peter Saumur at 4:20pm December 4
I have had no animation training, unfortunately. Just learned the technical side (cleanup, camera setup, post-process) on the job. It's because of this, I don't have any pure animation on my demo reel.
**Robin A. Linn at 4:48pm December 4
a lot of the comment still hold true, best stuff up front, no music, no fancy packages, keep it bare bones and basic as possible...
**Jeff Cooperman at 6:07pm December 4
http://spungella.blogspot.com/2008/09/what-should-i-animate_24.html
new gobelins shorts and Bolt Production Focus
Hope everyone had a good holiday cus the skills shone on the new gobelins shorts are gonna make you sick (in a good way)
http://www.gobelins.fr/galerie/animation/
I only watched 2 this weekend both were amazing
Après la pluie and Underground Psycho
Bolt Cgtalk Production Focus
http://features.cgsociety.org/story_custom.php?story_id=4801
a little light on the info but a good explanation on how they solved the issue of dealing with quad/biped hamster rig without creasing
http://www.gobelins.fr/galerie/animation/
I only watched 2 this weekend both were amazing
Après la pluie and Underground Psycho
Bolt Cgtalk Production Focus
http://features.cgsociety.org/story_custom.php?story_id=4801
a little light on the info but a good explanation on how they solved the issue of dealing with quad/biped hamster rig without creasing
For Socks Sake
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x62tgg_for-socks-sake_fun
apparently smashing together the students from gobelins and calarts leads to madness
awesome, awesome madness
apparently smashing together the students from gobelins and calarts leads to madness
awesome, awesome madness
Matt Kelly's Bolt into Thin Air ANIM INSPIRATION O' THE HOUR! (new (rhino)bolt trailer and the first Trailer for UP!
Bolt Trailer
http://www.firstshowing.net/2008/11/07/must-watch-one-final-trailer-for-disneys-bolt/
Up Trailer
http://www.movietrailertalk.com/2008/11/disneys-pixar-up-teaser-trailer/
also a totally depressing and confusing but well executed animation mentor short called “Greed”
http://www.embrya.se/greed/
Bolt Trailer
http://www.firstshowing.net/2008/11/07/must-watch-one-final-trailer-for-disneys-bolt/
Up Trailer
http://www.movietrailertalk.com/2008/11/disneys-pixar-up-teaser-trailer/
also a totally depressing and confusing but well executed animation mentor short called “Greed”
http://www.embrya.se/greed/
making of wall-e superhappyfuntime!
Possible spoilers
http://www.slashfilm.com/2008/06/26/votd-the-making-of-wall-e/
the text has it wrong on the page… the 2nd video is the one that has Andrew Stanton directing the animators.. the first video has him directing the voice actors up to 3:41 and after that it shows some in-marionette and in-maya footage of wall-e
http://www.slashfilm.com/2008/06/26/votd-the-making-of-wall-e/
the text has it wrong on the page… the 2nd video is the one that has Andrew Stanton directing the animators.. the first video has him directing the voice actors up to 3:41 and after that it shows some in-marionette and in-maya footage of wall-e
NPR audio interview with Andrew stanton
NPR audio interview with Andrew stanton
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92400669
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92400669
Victor Navone's Wall-E shot list
Victor Navone's Wall-E shot list. Animated nearly 7 minutes, most of them huge character moments. Beware of spoilers
http://www.navone.org/blogger/
http://www.navone.org/blogger/
Found a couple of decent animation blogs over the weekend
Found a couple of decent animation blogs over the weekend
Synchrolux: Animate From the Gut
http://www.synchrolux.com/?p=249
Synchrolux: On Polish
http://www.synchrolux.com/?p=234
Flux: How Pixar’s Presto Broke the Rules of CG animation (completely non-moving holds)
http://sunnykharbanda.blogspot.com/2008/07/q-how-do-you-break-rules_03.html
And just because I’m not sure if I’ve sent this one out before
Temple of the Seven Golden Camels (good storyboarding blog)
http://sevencamels.blogspot.com/
Synchrolux: Animate From the Gut
http://www.synchrolux.com/?p=249
Synchrolux: On Polish
http://www.synchrolux.com/?p=234
Flux: How Pixar’s Presto Broke the Rules of CG animation (completely non-moving holds)
http://sunnykharbanda.blogspot.com/2008/07/q-how-do-you-break-rules_03.html
And just because I’m not sure if I’ve sent this one out before
Temple of the Seven Golden Camels (good storyboarding blog)
http://sevencamels.blogspot.com/
Double Plus Pixar Edition
Wall-E Production Focus (possible Spoilers)
http://features.cgsociety.org/story_custom.php?story_id=4581
Presto (the short before Wall-E) is available on iTunes… but if you haven’t seen it yet, I’d recommend seeing it first in a packed theater (or on the DVD)
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=648614
http://features.cgsociety.org/story_custom.php?story_id=4581
Presto (the short before Wall-E) is available on iTunes… but if you haven’t seen it yet, I’d recommend seeing it first in a packed theater (or on the DVD)
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=648614
Eric Goldberg's Book is available
http://www.amazon.com/Character-Animation-Crash-Course-Goldberg/dp/1879505975/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1213943254&sr=8-1
Eric Goldberg is the guy who animated the Genie in Aladdin and directed Pocahontas…. So yeah, it’s probably a good book to have
Eric Goldberg is the guy who animated the Genie in Aladdin and directed Pocahontas…. So yeah, it’s probably a good book to have
Kung Fu Panda Intro
http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?mkt=en-us&vid=85627202-b0b2-4cf4-a92c-be2043fab541
first 2:27 of kung fu panda
wow
first 2:27 of kung fu panda
wow
supersized edition: Disney Shorts, Richard Williams Notes, Bambi Deer Anatomy and Movement Book PDF
There is a ton of stuff in here I stayed up late last night gathering.
Check out some or all of it. I don’t want to cut down anyone’s productivity TOO much
First Off:
Action Analysis Book for Bambi done for the Walt Disney Company by Rico Lebrun
Compiled these into a pdf last night at home from Michael Sporn Animation Blog
That Blog link above goes directly to a search for Bambi on his site where you’ll find the source files for the Pdf, Pencil tests from the film and animation breakdowns. I also suggest you check out the rest of his blog because it is chock full o’ goodness!
Richard Williams Notes from Art Babbit Lecture Series Chapter 5
From the same blog. I have the full set of notes in one of my binders if someone wants to check it out.
Here’s a group of Disney Shorts from the 50’s and 60’s that inspired me as a child. I found that most of the shorts I really enjoyed where the non-core character ones (no goofy, mickey, donald… don’t get me wrong… goofy “how to…”s are some of my favorites) because these usually had stronger stories and dealt with overall morals that everyone could relate to instead of relying on the love of a character to drive them. The animation in these is top notch and only now can I really see the difference between each of the animators. Watch for Ward Kimball’s over the top anticipations and reactions in Casey at the Bat (and as he goes even nuttier in “Toot, Whistle, Plunk, and BOOM”.) I’m pretty sure that Milt Kahl did Ludwig von Drake in “The Spectrum Song”
The reason I’m putting these all out at once is I’ve been looking for these shorts for a long time and somehow I found them all last night.
Susie The Little Blue Coupe (bill peet story)
Lambert the Sheepish Lion (bill peet story)
The Little House (I still remember being scared of those steamshovels)
Morris the Midget Moose
Willie the Operatic Whale Part 1 and Part 2 (had to be Ward Kimball)
Pigs is Pigs
Toot, Whistle, Plunk and BOOM (Kimball)
Casey At the Bat
Ludwig Von Drake : The Spectrum Song (heh, this used to play when I worked at Art of Disney all the time when I worked at Walt Disney World
Check out some or all of it. I don’t want to cut down anyone’s productivity TOO much
First Off:
Action Analysis Book for Bambi done for the Walt Disney Company by Rico Lebrun
Compiled these into a pdf last night at home from Michael Sporn Animation Blog
That Blog link above goes directly to a search for Bambi on his site where you’ll find the source files for the Pdf, Pencil tests from the film and animation breakdowns. I also suggest you check out the rest of his blog because it is chock full o’ goodness!
Richard Williams Notes from Art Babbit Lecture Series Chapter 5
From the same blog. I have the full set of notes in one of my binders if someone wants to check it out.
Here’s a group of Disney Shorts from the 50’s and 60’s that inspired me as a child. I found that most of the shorts I really enjoyed where the non-core character ones (no goofy, mickey, donald… don’t get me wrong… goofy “how to…”s are some of my favorites) because these usually had stronger stories and dealt with overall morals that everyone could relate to instead of relying on the love of a character to drive them. The animation in these is top notch and only now can I really see the difference between each of the animators. Watch for Ward Kimball’s over the top anticipations and reactions in Casey at the Bat (and as he goes even nuttier in “Toot, Whistle, Plunk, and BOOM”.) I’m pretty sure that Milt Kahl did Ludwig von Drake in “The Spectrum Song”
The reason I’m putting these all out at once is I’ve been looking for these shorts for a long time and somehow I found them all last night.
Susie The Little Blue Coupe (bill peet story)
Lambert the Sheepish Lion (bill peet story)
The Little House (I still remember being scared of those steamshovels)
Morris the Midget Moose
Willie the Operatic Whale Part 1 and Part 2 (had to be Ward Kimball)
Pigs is Pigs
Toot, Whistle, Plunk and BOOM (Kimball)
Casey At the Bat
Ludwig Von Drake : The Spectrum Song (heh, this used to play when I worked at Art of Disney all the time when I worked at Walt Disney World
"Presto" Sneak Peek
Sneak preview of Pixar's new short, "Presto"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dV0v09U30eE&eurl=http://www.cartoonbrew.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dV0v09U30eE&eurl=http://www.cartoonbrew.com/
splinedoctor Travis Hathaway's Principles of Animation
splinedoctor Travis Hathaway's Principles of Animation
http://splinedoctors.com/2008/06/my-not-necessarily-the-principles/
http://splinedoctors.com/2008/06/my-not-necessarily-the-principles/
michael caine Acting in Film masterclass
Here’s a great little lecture/masterclass by the man himself. Some of it is specific to acting in film but a lot of it is useful to all animators. I unfortunately found this as I reached the last chapter of his book by the same name which has almost all of this same info in it.
Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvUcJz7TuBM
Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EVALJHxYYM&feature=related
Part 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1soy1nKEaI
Part 4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLbYFetcFHM
Part 5 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBuel8cxp_4&feature=related
Part 6 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTNyzMwHAIM&feature=related
Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvUcJz7TuBM
Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EVALJHxYYM&feature=related
Part 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1soy1nKEaI
Part 4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLbYFetcFHM
Part 5 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBuel8cxp_4&feature=related
Part 6 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTNyzMwHAIM&feature=related
Karen J. Lloyd storyboard blog
Someone sent this to me this weekend… pretty great read if you check the links on the side
http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/
http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/
Wall-E Goodies and CG-Society Kung Fu Panda Production Focus
A little inspiration
Wall-E Clip (no spoilers in the vid but maybe in the reviews underneath)
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/36962
Kung Fu Panda Production Focus (possible spoilers)
http://features.cgsociety.org/story_custom.php?story_id=4549
Wall-E Clip (no spoilers in the vid but maybe in the reviews underneath)
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/36962
Kung Fu Panda Production Focus (possible spoilers)
http://features.cgsociety.org/story_custom.php?story_id=4549
Big Buck Bunny
Big Buck Bunny
http://www.bigbuckbunny.org/index.php/download/
nicely designed little short film.. great little character moments and all done on Blender (freeware 3d app)
http://www.bigbuckbunny.org/index.php/download/
nicely designed little short film.. great little character moments and all done on Blender (freeware 3d app)
"The Making of 'The Passenger'"
(how to make a 7 minute film in just eight years or... "The Making of 'The Passenger'"
http://www.chrisj.com.au/thepassenger/year1.html
http://www.chrisj.com.au/thepassenger/year1.html
Matt Kelly's Saturday Evening post Inspiration O' The Hour
http://www.curtispublishing.com/List/html/SEP1930.html
all of the covers… especially check out the Rockwell and Leyendecker ones for some fantastic poses
all of the covers… especially check out the Rockwell and Leyendecker ones for some fantastic poses
Kung Fu Panda Dumpling Scene
http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/kungfupanda.html?showVideo=1
this might be a pivotal scene in the movie so I don’t want to ruin anything for you but for those who wanna see some pretty great animation.. click the link!
this might be a pivotal scene in the movie so I don’t want to ruin anything for you but for those who wanna see some pretty great animation.. click the link!
TF2 Meet The...
Meet the Sniper
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/35249.html
Meet the Scout
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/33023.html
Meet the Demo
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/26185.html
Meet the Engineer (my favorite)
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/24784.html
Meet the Soldier
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/23880.html
Meet the Heavy
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/19522.html
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/35249.html
Meet the Scout
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/33023.html
Meet the Demo
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/26185.html
Meet the Engineer (my favorite)
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/24784.html
Meet the Soldier
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/23880.html
Meet the Heavy
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/19522.html
2 Shorts Overtime and Tim Tom
Some of you may have seen these before but they’re fantastic to those who haven’t
Enjoy
Overtime
http://youtube.com/watch?v=dWeU9DzBAdE&feature=related
Tim Tom
http://youtube.com/watch?v=RUAO9HIjkmM
Enjoy
Overtime
http://youtube.com/watch?v=dWeU9DzBAdE&feature=related
Tim Tom
http://youtube.com/watch?v=RUAO9HIjkmM
Purple and Brown
Some of you might have seen these before
They’re little interstitials that Aardman did to place between cartoons on Nickelodeon
My favorites are the alien and the blue ball one
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oL8_W7vPbTY&feature=related
They’re little interstitials that Aardman did to place between cartoons on Nickelodeon
My favorites are the alien and the blue ball one
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oL8_W7vPbTY&feature=related
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Valve GDC Presentations
I know, I know.. it’s not animation, but I ran across these last night and thought a few would find them at least somewhat interesting. The Portal one is pretty great with respect to bringing together a minimal story and minimal design with a simple gameplay and coming out with a fantastic game.
The TF2 one is pretty good if you’re interested in the design of iconic characters (or really deep into realtime rendering magic math). If you’re an artist I recommend just checkin out the video from last year “illustrative rendering in TF2” because it’s a lot of the same info with almost 0 math and that’s why we went to art school in the first place isn’t it?
http://www.valvesoftware.com/publications.html
The TF2 one is pretty good if you’re interested in the design of iconic characters (or really deep into realtime rendering magic math). If you’re an artist I recommend just checkin out the video from last year “illustrative rendering in TF2” because it’s a lot of the same info with almost 0 math and that’s why we went to art school in the first place isn’t it?
http://www.valvesoftware.com/publications.html
Turok Animation Walkthrough by Cameron Fielding
Cameron Fielding posts about his workflow.. fantastic :)
Best Figure Drawing Books Ever
Best Figure Drawing Books Ever
http://processjunkie.blogspot.com/2007/09/best-figure-drawing-books-ever.html
some free ones in there for you to print out and put in a book as well
http://processjunkie.blogspot.com/2007/09/best-figure-drawing-books-ever.html
some free ones in there for you to print out and put in a book as well
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