Alike

Alike short film from psl on Vimeo.

Kubo - Fight test monkey

So cool!

Fight test monkey from jriggity on Vimeo.

Basic Jumping and spine reversal

June: Life is Better When You Share the Ride

Love it!

Lilou

Trailer of "Lilou" from Mikhal Bak on Vimeo.

Crowd Sim

Ok. Creepy.

Crowd Sim 2 from John Robson on Vimeo.

Despicable Me 3 - Official Trailer

Hahaha, that 80s guy actually cracked me up.

Worlds in Worlds

Not that this is animation but man oh man do I love this.

Worlds in Worlds from Goro Fujita on Vimeo.

James Baxter - Cat and Spider

Super cute!

Cat and spider animation test animated by the great James Baxter (Disney/Dreamworks) during an in-class demo for animation students.

A video posted by #cartoonbrew (@cartoonbrew) on Nov 27, 2016 at 7:31am PST

Character Testsby Jamaal Bradley

Character Test 02 from Cancelled Project from Jamaal Bradley on Vimeo.
Character Test 01 from Cancelled Project from Jamaal Bradley on Vimeo.
John Body Blocking Test 03 from Jamaal Bradley on Vimeo.
John Face Posing 02 from Jamaal Bradley on Vimeo.

X-STORY

X-STORY from Vitaliy Shushko on Vimeo.

DUEL - created on Artella

DUEL - created on Artella from Artella on Vimeo.

Annie Awards Nominatinos 2017

Congratulations to all the nominees! Head over here to see the full list!

SONDER - Teaser

SONDER - Teaser from SONDER on Vimeo.

iAnimate Games 2016 Show Reel

iAnimate Games 2016 Show Reel from iAnimate on Vimeo.

Majora's Mask - Terrible Fate

Pixel Art Tutorials by Pedro Medeiros

Awesome work! You can follow him on Twitter or support him on Patreon.

Movie Accent Expert Breaks Down 32 Actors' Accents

Crazy details, cool to see and hear!

GAMEPLAY ANIMATION - Showreel Review

Cool series by Kristjan Zadziuk!

Cars 3 Teaser

Smurfs: The Lost Village - Official Trailer

Interested in an Animation Workshop?

My schedule is getting lighter and spots are open, so if you're interested in feedback for your animation, now is the time to sign up!

Head over here for the FAQ in case you have questions.

What do those reviews look like? Something like this:

Submitted shot and My Submitted Feedback

Cheers!
JD

Expressive Eyes

Expressive Eyes from mike safianoff on Vimeo.

The Mermaid

The Mermaid - SNSM - Flying V from WIZZ design on Vimeo.

INVU Sunglasses Movie - Director’s Cut

INVU Sunglasses Movie - Director's Cut from Patrick Graf on Vimeo.

Westworld: What Makes Anthony Hopkins Great

Insight: Brad Bird on Animation

Insight: Brad Bird on Animation from Kees van Dijkhuizen Jr. on Vimeo.

UNSATISFYING

UNSATISFYING from PARALLEL STUDIO on Vimeo.

Moana Featurette "The Way To Moana"

Looks great!

Pirate Fight

Pirate Fight from Alessandro Camporota on Vimeo.

Luis Velasco 2016 Animation Demo Reel

Luis Velasco 2016 Animation Demo Reel from Luis Velasco on Vimeo.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens 3D Release

This is actually a cool clip for the 3D release of Force Awakens, mainly because since it's promotional material I can repost it as a reel. ;)

This is part of a sequence that I was leading and animating. Helping out in this clip were Jay Rennie, Cedric Lo, Michael Midlock and Yuhon Ng, and myself doing the 2nd to last shot "One hell of pilot". Woohoo! :)

Animation Thumbnails by Victor Navone

Great collection of thumbnails of his work at Pixar! Head over here for more!

MALL 84

MALL 84 from Gervart on Vimeo.

Prototyping the Levitation Ball for Psychonauts 2

The Boss Baby - Teaser

Planet Earth II Trailer

Fantastic footage!

Borrowed Time

Borrowed Time from Borrowed Time on Vimeo.

Trollhunters - Official Trailer

Star Wars: The Old Republic – "Betrayed" Trailer

David Stodolny’s ZOOTOPIA Animation Reel

David Stodolny's ZOOTOPIA Animation Reel from David on Vimeo.

Monsters University Character Design and Animation

Cool insight into Monsters U at CGMeetup! I love see character tests!

Story School - Monsters U

Cool insight. Love those characters, I want more sequels/prequels!

The Adventures of Indiana Jones by Patrick Schoenmaker

NICE!

Full Body Acting Shot from Ramon Arango

Full Body Acting Shot from Ramon Arango on Vimeo.

Dragon Walk from Ramon Arango

Dragon Walk from Ramon Arango on Vimeo.

Creature Shot from Ramon Arango

This shot was part of the 2 weeks creature workshop at LuMAA taught by Michael Aerni and myself. Roman did a really good job and we were all really impressed. Watch out for this animator! Going places!

Creature Shot from Ramon Arango on Vimeo.

Kubo and The Two Strings, from Concept Art to Stop Motion

Head over here for a lot of cool visuals. Sadly I haven't seen the movie yet but it looks incredible!

GDC Tricks of the Trade 2016

This was in my tabs forever, forgot to post it! It was so much fun to do! Head over to the GDC Vault to watch it!

Toniko Pantoja

Great work in Toniko's Twitter feed:

It's been a while since I played with 3D Layers in backgrounds! pic.twitter.com/yKWyzvFSkI

— Toniko Pantoja (@tonikopantoja) November 6, 2015

Pixar Internship Reels 2016

Rami Kasim 2016 Pixar Internship Reel from Rami Kasim on Vimeo.
Cody Lyon Pixar Internship Reel 2016 from Cody Lyon on Vimeo.
Elissa Peterson Pixar Internship Reel from Elissa Peterson on Vimeo.
Julian Teo 2016 Pixar Animation Intern Reel from Julian Teo on Vimeo.
Rebecca Liu Pixar Internship Reel from Rebecca Liu on Vimeo.

Simpsons Time Couch Gag | Season 28 Ep. 1

Importance of hands - Steve Vanseth

Moana Trailer

Wow wow wow.

Au Lapin Agile

Au Lapin Agile - Animation Short Film 2016 - GOBELINS from GOBELINS pro on Vimeo.

The Little Prince - Stop Motion Animation

So cool!

The Little Prince - Stop Motion Animation from A Scott on Vimeo.

Motion Matching GDC Promo

I saw this presentation at GDC and it blew my mind. Really fantastic results. No embedding allowed, so head over here to watch it.

Airball

Airball from Benoit Gautier on Vimeo.

Moana "Light The Torch" TV Spot

Can not wait!

Poet Anderson The Dream Walker

Poet Anderson The Dream Walker (Subtitulado) from Kevin Kaz on Vimeo.

Marvel's Rocket Raccoon & Groot Animation Test Trailer by Arnaud Delord

Action Test Polish

MOANA - Official International Trailer

Wow wow wow. Just wow.

Geist

GEIST from Giant Animation Studios on Vimeo.

Slow mo scream - Reference

Great display of asymmetry!

Maya plus HTC Vive and MARUI - Animation Test

Interesting!

LuMAA Welcome

This is going to be exciting!! Plus in my home town!

LuMAA_WELCOME from Animation HSLU on Vimeo.

A Love Story

Funny, was watching this on mute and then with sound. Preferred it on mute... I guess the song wasn't for me.

Veggiemancer

Super cute!

VEGGIEMANCER from Justin C on Vimeo.

THE INCAL movie trailer

Trolls - Trailer

DisneyXDFC

Cool Animation

I don't know the title of it, but it's super cool!

Citius, Altius, Fortius

Citius, Altius, Fortius from Felix Deimann on Vimeo.

Storks - Trailer

Disney Moana - Teaser

Wow, love it!

“Zootopia” Animation Reel - Andrew Chesworth

“Zootopia” Animation Reel - Andrew Chesworth from Andrew Chesworth on Vimeo.

AICP - 2016 Reel

AICP - 2016 Reel - Dir Cut. from Method Design on Vimeo.

Hank the Octopus - Finding Dory

This character is so cool! Even though animating tentacles is a pain, it must be so rewarding to see the final Hank shots!

Marco Regina Reel 2016

Marco Regina Reel 2016 from marcoregina on Vimeo.

“Zootopia” Animation Reel - Joshua Slice

"Zootopia" Animation Reel - Joshua Slice from joshua slice on Vimeo.

Face and Hand Breakdowns : Zootopia

Cool analysis! Head over to Tim Rudder's site for more!

Squash and Stretch

AnimationWorkout_SquashandStretch_Final from Brad Kinley on Vimeo.

METROID short animation

"Making of Maywho" by Riff Studio

Shawn Janik Animation Reel

Animation Reel 2019 from Shawn Janik on Vimeo.

Gaia The Cat

Super cute!

Gaia The Cat from ozeri ben on Vimeo.

David Gibson - Overwatch Animation Reel

David Gibson - Overwatch Animation Reel - @poodletime from David Gibson on Vimeo.

Finding Dory - Trailer

So good!!

Sing - Trailer

THE DIG - Intro remake

Love this game. Nice remake!

VAIO Z Canvas Tablet Impressions

Having a day job as an animator means sitting at a desk at work for the majority of the day (and sometimes week-end), so when I get home I'm not exactly looking forward to being stuck in my home office. When I animate at home then the heavy lifting is done with my desktop computer, but all the critiques for my animation classes and workshops for instance can be done on a laptop.

I've been using many different laptops over the years and none of them have ever been quite right. It's a massive first world problem, I know. At the same time it's also fun to try out new laptops or in recent years, hoping to find the right balance of portability and productivity via touch tablets.

Enter VAIO, who graciously let me borrow one of their tablets, namely the VAIO Z Canvas:

The review unit came with a keyboard cover and a pen/stylus. The keyboard cover clips on to the tablet via magnets and charges using the tablet's power. There's a button switch that lets you turn the power on and off and enable the trackpad if needed.

The tablet is very similar in overall size compared to my Surface Pro 4, but there are some differences, good and bad, depending on what you need, but both are very different compared to the iPad Pro, which is still miles ahead in terms of design, build, sound, performance, etc. but only if you like a closed ecosystem (software and hardware wise). Again, it all depends what you want and need.

Overall the Z Canvas is a bit bulkier and heavier than the Surface Pro.

Design wise I like the pen a lot. It's not too slippery (the little ring towards the tip helps), the length works for me (the Apple Pencil is too long), the clip on feature is great (I wish the Apple Pencil had it), but I do like the magnet feature a lot on the Surface Pro pen and was missing it here (although it comes with a plastic clip on for the side of the tablet, which is better than nothing, but not as convenient as a magnetic option). All pens perform ok, it just depends on the software. Out of the box though I'm still blown away by the Apple Pencil in terms of precision and (pretty much) zero lag.

The problem is that my preferred critique program (Screencast-O-Matic, which captures your desktop and lets you draw within your capture area) does not exist on the App store, and so far no app lets you use the built-in camera while you record a critique. The best app so far is Coach's Eye. Lots of drawing options, frame by frame video analysis, just no camera capture (as in, recording myself while I watch a clip and draw on it in case you need to act something out). For that I need a PC laptop/tablet.

The Surface Pro might be thinner, but the Z Canvas offers a lot more connectivity options, which is a big plus. 

I like the design in general..

... except for the built in stand.

Now, this is very subjective, so whatever problems I have can be a non issue for you. Here's how it works:

It's easy to open and close with one hand if needed and obviously no problem with two hands. Although I was a bit surprised by how hard you had to push the stand in order to fold it back in. At the same time, it also stayed in the position you want it to be because of it, which is a plus.

What bumps me is the size and width of the stand itself. I write a lot of critiques sitting either on a couch or in bed, with the tablet propped up against my legs. The foldout stand of the Surface Pro is as wide as the tablet itself. The Z Canvas stand, as you can see, is really small and ends up between my legs, so it's not very useful for my on-the-go needs. I know, very subjective, but just something that doesn't work for me.

On top that, there's the keyboard, which presented me with my second big problem. It's a detachable keyboard that serves as a cover, but doesn't stay attached to the tablet when used as a keyboard.

If you're looking for a hinge or anything, then you're out of luck.

But if you want to prop the tablet on a table (or whatever surface) and type in a different location, then that's an option (I haven't tested the range because it's not like I'm going to type in another room).

This can be a plus for you if you're more of a Cintiq person, but for me, it made it very difficult to type while sitting on a couch or in bed, on top of the tablet stand problem.

The usual suspects of external buttons are here for power and volume, but there's also a button for pen and keyboard input options as well as an on/off button for the touch panel, which is really neat. It allows you to keep using the pen as an input device, yet you won't get conflicting inputs because your hand isn't recognized anymore (think of it as an added palm rejection option). I do miss a screen rotation lock button though (even the iPads don't have it anymore, it's a software option as far as I can tell). Going back to power, the Z Canvas doesn't have a magnetic charging connector like the Surface Pro, but at the same time the regular charger plug doesn't pop out as easily as the magnetic connector.

When it comes to actually working with it, I was primarily looking for heat, noise and pen lag performance. You can buy different configurations, so you have options in terms of performance power, but after all those years none it matters to me the moment the laptop or tablet gets really hot and/or loud.

Heat: luckily, while recording critiques and performing other tasks, the Z Canvas got warm, but never as burning hot as my Surface Pro (to a point where I can't even have it propped against my legs anymore), which is great. The iPad Pro is still the coolest of them all (temperature wise).

Noise: because it does heat up, you will hear the fans kick in, and again, it's working better for me than the Surface Pro, because that one gets loud (and it's not a faulty unit, I tried four different Surfaces, two regular ones, two Pros, unless I'm really unlucky). Unfortunately for both, when recording my critiques, you can hear the fans kick in and it's an annoying layer of noise (even when using different mics like the built-in one, which immediately picks up fan noise, or headphone mics, which are better, so not all is lost).

Pen lag: if the software is optimized for the pen, they're all really good, although both PC pens ended up displaying more lag than the Apple Pencil (but even on an iPad it depends which app you use). The review unit did have problems keeping up with the pen movements when using Screencast-O-Matic. It wasn't a dealbreaker, but at the same time not really encouraging either for what I'm looking for. The Surface Pro 4 didn't have any problems with it.

I like to listen to music and movies while working and streaming Netflix/Amazon/HBO Go/etc. was no problem. Overall it behaves like you'd expect a Windows machine to behave. At the same time, I still prefer an iPad for mobile movie consumption and book reading due to ease of use.

There are other features that might matter to you, like color reproduction, viewing angles, performance when using Photoshop or video editing programs, etc. but that's not something I'm looking for, so I can't comment on any of it. I do use them, as well as Maya and other programs on the Surface Pro but only for quick jobs and not in a professional manner (i.e. for hours on end), so other reviews will be much more helpful to you. You can crank up the resolution though, up to 2560x1704, and if you keep the icon size at 100%, it gets all tiny really fast, so the screen real estate is nice.

CONCLUSION

Overall I'd be much better off price wise with a cheaper laptop you might argue, but the trackpads are usually not that good on cheaper models, carrying around a mouse and finding a surface for it is a pain and they don't offer the comfort of touchscreens. The ones that do offer touchscreens lack in precision and most of them don't have any (good) pen options. Unless you're willing to spend more money, but then you're in the VAIO/Surface Pro category. The Z Canvas has its list of pros and cons, but specifically for me, the keyboard and stand are dealbreakers, as well as the thickness and weight (even the Surface Pro is pushing it), and in its current configuration it's also not ideal when it comes to critiquing animation.

I realize that these factors are super specific and subjective, but that's what I'm looking for. #firstworldproblems


Head over to the VAIO site for an overview of all the features and which model configurations are available.

360 Google Spotlight Story: Pearl

Monkey Steals Food from Sloth

That is so mean yet would be so much fun to animate!

You're crunching. So now what?

Great article covering a lot of crunch aspects. Everybody crunches for different reasons. My main advice, take care of yourself, physically and mentally. Head over to Gamasutra for the post:

You're crunching. So now what?

Documentary: Who Needs sleep

Dawn of War III – Announcement Trailer

Neat designs!

Kubo and the Two Strings

This looks so good!

Shield - Horrormovie (cut)

Shield - Horrormovie (cut) from pliplip on Vimeo.

The Simpsons - Couch Gag by Eric Goldberg

VIRTUAnimator - VR Animation App

Star Fox Zero – The Battle Begins

Smear Frame Script

Head over to Tea Time for all the info!

Ma’agalim - Jane Bordeaux

Ma'agalim - Jane Bordeaux from Uri Lotan on Vimeo.

Supercharged Animation Performance in Maya 2016

Imagining Zootopia (Full Documentary)

Haven't seen the movie yet, so don't know if this is good since I want to stay spoiler free, but it got a great reception online so far.

Overwatch - Alive Animated Short

A Prank Time

HAHAHAHA!! WTF??? Yet so good!

Body Language

Curiosity, collaboration & imagination - Nate Stanton

Tom Bancroft Animation Reel

Cat timing reference

Random. I know.

The LEGO Batman Movie - Wayne Manor Teaser Trailer

100 Days of Walk Cycles

100 Days of Walk Cycles from JustGoscha on Vimeo.

The Good Dinosaur Short

Hahaha, love this moment:

Overwatch Animated Short - "Recall"

Satoru Iwata Game Developers Choice Awards Tribute

Animation Value Graph - Timing

Abhimanyu - Trailer

ABHIMANYU ANIMATION TRAILER from ajumohan on Vimeo.

AnimSchool Animation Student Showcase 2015

Sausage Party - Trailer

Hahaha, that Saving Private Ryan reference at the end!

Dragon vs. T-Rex

Dragon_vs_Trex from Klimenzo on Vimeo.

KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS - Official Trailer 2

Wow! I'm so in, can't wait!!

Cuts & Transitions 101

Cloud System Kickstarter is a go!

Head over to the Kickstarter page for more info!

Disney Infinity Combat Animation by Jamie Titera

Disney Infinity Combat Animation from Jamie Titera on Vimeo.

Objects with Faces

These cracked me up. There are a lot more here.

Hahahaha, that last one is so good!

Kayla Rig Animation Samples

Kayla Rig Animation Samples from Josh Sobel on Vimeo.

Breaking up movements : Mulan

Lots of gifs and more info at Tim Rudder's Animation Blog, check it out!

How to Train Your Dragon 2 Animation Process

Elefant Animation by Robert Kuczera

Elefant Animation from robert kuczera on Vimeo.

Animation for Videogames tutorial

Head over to CGMeetup for the full extensive list of movies!

Animation for Videogames tutorial: Creating a character animation set - part 1 from James Marijeanne on Vimeo.

Can 2D help CG?

Crocodile run