Graduate Showreel

# 1 21-12-2006 , 12:35 AM

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Hi,

I'm here to presenting you my graduate animation showreel, hope you guys like it!

Please click here then: Portfolio/Video (around 22MB)

Any comments are welcome, thanks. user added image

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# 2 21-12-2006 , 05:49 AM

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Location: Bolton - UK

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I have some problems with it, even though its very nice. You have some really nice work there.

1) text at the start (your name and what it is) is very hard to read.

2) man its way to long.

the frist part of the video could be cut down alot.

If you want the whole thing to be seen then put it up as a second file, but as a showreel I think it needs to be shorter as most people looking at it will not get to the poem and the modles as they would have shut it off.

also think that some parts of your main dude walking looks alittle off.

3) the poem thing.

A) its is labled 2d animation, when it is quite clearly 3d animation - toon shadded - don`t misinform people they will be able to tell and get put off your work. they will think you don`t know what your doing or trying to lie to them.

B) it is a much stronger peice of animation (i really liked this bit - good job) and i would have had that as the main part of the showreel.

but hay thats just me

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# 3 21-12-2006 , 07:00 AM

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Hi tweetytunes, first of all, thanks for your reply. I've always interested in how other people thinks about this piece, it's always good to have a detailed descriptions.

In regard to this showreel, this is actually made specifically for the graduation. The time limits has been set by the project supervisors, as we don't have much flexibility on this. As for this one is 4.5mins.

The texts in the beginning just as the same title as from the Title on the right hand side of the page, I've noticed that too myself, but the time was about to ran out for the year so I had to stick with this.

About the 2D poetry one, this is actually the only part that does not made with Maya, but with Flash, Swift and other additional Flash programs. The title itself, 2d Animation, is actually stands for the course name... Sorry I didn't made that clear myself, but thanks for letting me know - Probably other viewers would also thinks the same thing.

By the way, I've only stepped into 3D not more than 1.5 years, and this is my first showreel I've ever made, I know this is kind of long for an online showreel, but I'll definitely take your suggestions in the future.

Thanks for your time and your detailed suggestions tweetytunes. user added image

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# 4 21-12-2006 , 10:45 AM

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Location: Cleveland, Ohio (USA)

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in the first portion, there's a portion where the robot walks towards the camera and his shadow gets bigger behind him... but then he passes the light (which is apparently in the scene) and he's no longer lit by it. it's brief, but it looks like a mistake. all ya gotta do to correct that is move the shadow-casting light back a little so the character doesn't pass it.

in the second portion, the poem, the camera moves WAY too much, causing a bit of confusion (and vertigo?)and detracting from your character's motions. also, the animation of the lettering and words makes it a little hard to read sometimes, especially when the phrases appear in different places almost every time and in some cases the words only appear for 1-2 seconds at a time. a good piece of advice i usually follow when putting text on the screen is 'keep the text up long enough that you can read through it twice'. that way the slower readers still have enough time to appreciate what you put up without getting frustrated.

as for the models, the turntable approach is usually best, so good job there. as for the first model (oil rig? refinery? *shrug*) the camera movements were a little much, especially when the frame was split into three smaller moving clips. if you're trying to show detail, a still shot would be better, and one at a time to avoid confusion.

still, a good job.

Accept no substitutions.

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# 5 21-12-2006 , 11:44 AM

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Well, I was going to comment on the length and the crazy cam in the poetry part, but that's already been touched upon.

In the first part, I would do some tweaking. I would start with a showcase on the water, as that was the best part of the scene. The models were simplistic, with a lot of duplicates, so I wouldn't try to show them very often. I would showcase the city as a whole. Also, I would show it off more like you did with that Oil Refinery thing. That was a cool presentation.

As far as the Robot walking sequence, I felt it was a bit boring. I would of showcased more of the area he was walking around in, instead of staying focused on the robot. The sequence where he was in that room with the stairs and crosswalks looked cool, so why not try and showcase more of that with different camera views. Also, there is too much pop in the robot's legs as he is walking. I would remedy that by translating/rotating his body to a more natural position whilst walking to minimize the pop. I realize it is a robot, so it shouldn't be totally natural, but the pop is too distracting.

All in all, good work, though.

Eric Tacti
3D Artist

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# 6 21-12-2006 , 05:03 PM

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Hi NeoStrider and erictacti:

I did have some comments regarding to my 2D one from my mates early on, either too fast or too many lines, however, I'm afraid that this is also part of the restriction from the tutor, which I'm not that happy about it also - But I just had to go with it .. here's the thing though, it's an absolute 30-second ad, the poetry has also been given - which is rather alot of lines but still needs to be included all, and each line has to go with each individual scenes, so... I was wondering if is you guys, how would you go with this kind of restrictions, I would be totally glad to know...

Also about the robot scene, I too found out that there're do have quite a few glitches here and there after the completion, but I'll definitely take care in the future with your suggestions.

And lastly, I think I might be posted this thread in the wrong place, this work has already been done and handed just in few weeks ago, but you people's suggestions are great, thank you guys again for your times and inputs! user added image

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# 7 21-12-2006 , 09:08 PM

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Well, I liked the '2D' part of your film. It just thought the camera moved a bit too erratically. If you slowed it down a bit, and didn't have such jarring motions, it would be great.

Even though this is a finished set of works, if I were you, I'd fix some of these issues that you agree with being wrong (ie- the robot). That way, you can use it while applying for work.

Eric Tacti
3D Artist

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# 8 23-12-2006 , 10:42 AM

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Location: London UK

Posts: 351

/agree to most comments above.

The best work was all at the end. The water looked really sweet and you just rolled the credits over it :p

Poem thing was awesome apart from the text tweening, and the way you showed the factory type building was spot on.

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