Demo Reel - Jen Hager

The Academy of Art Animation blog has a great post about Jen Hager's demo reel. Beautiful 2D:

Critique - Tough Road

Hey,

alright, rude boy:

The biggest thing that stands out is the lipsync during the first half into "... easy road."

Quick side thing. Check x44 to 59, the back of the "Bag" that holds the hair seems to stretch out. The bottom of it always stays around the same spot.

x45 to 53, when the left knee goes down, rotate the foot more with it (towards us), so that it doesn't feel so disconnect (IK).

x92, his left hand index finger is doing a lot. I would not have it follow the leg from there to 109.

Watch the left arm pop from x118 to 120.

Right had on x125 to 130, don't "wave" the fingers, there's no drag in a sideways motion for fingers.

These are the main points you should fix for your next pass.

Coming along nicely!

Cheers
JD

Critique - Chocolate Box

Ok, first the guy on the left:

the box stops a bit too quickly, almost seems to stick around x31. The keep alive is good, but it's just that one moment when it stops. It also comes out in a very straight line from x14 to 30. Give it more of an arc.
The way the hand goes back is too animated. I think it distracts from the girl. The mail man wouldn't really be that happy about the delivery. I know he's happy for her, but I think you should just focus on her. Just take the arm away (casually), then maybe have the postman step back or move the camera towards the girl.

The girl:

I know it's just blocking, but watch the eyes on x26, they dart down too quickly, you'd want such a big move to happen over two frames.
She reads really well, it's all clear, except around x72, during her lunge forward. Her face looks angry, which is a weird break in character. I'd have her happy and excited.

It's a nice grab she does on the box, well done!

So move on with another polish pass, but the girl looks already very good.

Cheers
JD

Critique - Ninja

Hey,

Shot 1:

guard first:
I wouldn't move the guard as much. It's a bit too distracting with the mouth, there's a lot going on and then you also have the ninja popping up at the same time. It's too busy. Keep the guard still with some keep alive so that the audience can quickly see what's going on, THEN pop the ninja.

The ninja works well, just do another pass on the sword. Check x42 to 43 how big the spacing is, then x43 to 44 it stays down. You need to finish the arc and ease into that stop.

Shot 2:

the ninja works well again, the steps are cool. The only thing is this, the shot is too short, the cutting point is weird, mainly because of the sword. If you fix the sword and extend the shot by 5 to 10 frames maybe, it will work better. So, the sword: the spacing is huge 81 to 82 and we only get one more frame after that before the cut. In the next shot the spacing of the sword is much smaller and it slows down right after the cut. So that move gets lost over the cut. Give the sword move a few more frames.
When the ninja lifts the guard, the tip of the sword will be heavy since the guy is hanging from there. So make it look like the ninja pushes the sword up with the tip lower than the handle. You can always have the tip go up at the end to show how strong the ninja is.

The guard needs more believable physics. When he's hanging around x80 and the ninja pulls back the sword, it would pull the head/neck back first while the legs/feet drag and follow.

Shot 3:
The ninja feels very block in the last shot, so give it another pass of breakdowns and polish. Same with the guard. The basic move of the ninja is good, but the guard looks too alive. After x85 he should tumble backwards. But you rotate him towards the ninja after that and he actually starts to feel off balance up until x95. I would have him be more wounded and out of control, now he looks lHey,

Shot 1:

guard first:
I wouldn't move the guard as much. It's a bit too distracting with the mouth, there's a lot going on and then you also have the ninja popping up at the same time. It's too busy. Keep the guard still with some keep alive so that the audience can quickly see what's going on, THEN pop the ninja.

The ninja works well, just do another pass on the sword. Check x42 to 43 how big the spacing is, then x43 to 44 it stays down. You need to finish the arc and ease into that stop.

Shot 2:

the ninja works well again, the steps are cool. The only thing is this, the shot is too short, the cutting point is weird, mainly because of the sword. If you fix the sword and extend the shot by 5 to 10 frames maybe, it will work better. So, the sword: the spacing is huge 81 to 82 and we only get one more frame after that before the cut. In the next shot the spacing of the sword is much smaller and it slows down right after the cut. So that move gets lost over the cut. Give the sword move a few more frames.
When the ninja lifts the guard, the tip of the sword will be heavy since the guy is hanging from there. So make it look like the ninja pushes the sword up with the tip lower than the handle. You can always have the tip go up at the end to show how strong the ninja is.

The guard needs more believable physics. When he's hanging around x80 and the ninja pulls back the sword, it would pull the head/neck back first while the legs/feet drag and follow.

Shot 3:
The ninja feels very block in the last shot, so give it another pass of breakdowns and polish. Same with the guard. The basic move of the ninja is good, but the guard looks too alive. After x85 he should tumble backwards. But you rotate him towards the ninja after that and he actually starts to feel off balance up until x95. I would have him be more wounded and out of control, now he looks like he's too aware of the ninja, too in control - with a sword through your neck, you'd be screwed! :)
The idea of the fall works, but make sure to continue the momentum of the fall until the very end. On x122, when he bounces up, it feels like just a Y translation, he's just going up instead of continuing the slide and sideways translation.

At the end, either change the pose of the ninja or (what I would do), move the wall so that the line of the door doesn't match the line of the sword.

Keep going!

Cheers
JD

BURN-E - footage

I doubt this will be up much longer, but if you hurry you can watch the "BURN-E" short @ io9. I can't wait to see this in HD, but even now, I really liked that one. Probably one of my favorite shorts. The look, animation, sound, etc. top-notch!

Imagi at the AAU

INDUSTRY ON CAMPUS

PRESENTS



IMAGI ANIMATION STUDIOS
Internationally acclaimed CG-animated
feature film creators


Thursday, November 13th
79 NM Theater, 1st floor

5:00pm sharp!

Hear and ask about:
Internships

Upcoming projects

Company Culture in L.A
& Hong Kong offices

Old Animation Clips

I went through a lot of my backup files in order to find an animation clip for my make-up class and ended up finding more than I expected. It's really funny to watch these clips again.

First up is the short "Alone Together" from the Pixar 3 class:

I remember taking 6 classes during my last semester at the AAU. I think they were: Maya 3, Pixar 3, Stop Motion Puppet Making, Intro to Stop Motion and two online classes (probably writing classes). I really wanted to finish the semester in Spring and crammed everything together, which meant that some projects ended up unfinished. I was more invested in the "Autumn Thieves" short I was doing in Maya 3, so "Alone Together" never went beyond the layout stage.

Next up is a pantomime shot I never finished (I sense a theme). This one was the last clip in the Pixar 2 class (which included "I do.", "Boxlift" and "His hhheeaad..."):



24 seconds! What was I thinking?! :)

Here are two ideas for a waiting assignment. I really don't remember if they were made for a class or during my spare time. Either way, there you go:




I actually still like the Tree Waiting, although it might be a bit too macabre.

Again an unfinished clip, "Tea for Two". This one was done during my spare time.



This one cracked me up. A modified Norman to look like a rat. A pre-version of the rat I'm using in the "Dual Use" clip, which is a WIP as well. Surprise!



"Stick it" is a recent attempt (last year?), which didn't go past layout (wow, not even into animation). There are so many ideas for clips that I would like to do, I guess to even have a movie is more than usual. :)



After I graduated I worked on unpaid projects, among them an AvP fan movie (see test clip here) and Dinoville. I tried contacting the makers of Dinoville but haven't heard back yet. The moment I get a go from them in terms of permission to put it online, I'll update this post.

Last but not least another recent clip. This time it's a rig test for two characters which are part of the No Continues project I'm working on. You can see more polished test clips here. This clip is more in a blocking phase, but I actually would like to polish it up because it's a fun clip to work on.



Ahh... good times.

2nd trailer for Jeff Lew's Killer Bean

Remember the awesome classic Killer Bean? Here's the 2nd trailer for "Killer Bean Forever".

Final "Bolt" Trailer

Animated-News got the link to the final "Bolt" trailer. The human designs are awesome and the pigeon animation is just genius!

Hmm... Isn't that the guy from Twilight? :)

Pixar's "Up" Teaser - now in HD

Head over to apple.com and check out the Disney/Pixar teaser for "Up" in 1080p. Looks amazing! Click on the images for a bigger version.






With all that detail you can start to look around the frame to see if they packed any easter eggs or other jokes in there.

This is probably just me, but for some reason I see Wall-E in this:

Of course you get the classic Luxo ball.

What's that? Anybody?

Drawing by a son or daughter of an employee?

Where's that from?

Blizzard Entertainment at the AAU

INDUSTRY ON CAMPUS

PRESENTS



Entertainment software and game developer of best selling franchises World of Warcraft, Diablo and Starcraft.

Monday November 17th
79NM Theater, 1st floor

4:00PM sharp!

Hear and Ask About:

Internships
How to get hired full time
Latest projects

ALL STUDENTS WELCOME!

Every frame counts

I always love it when I find posts about how each frame of your animation is important. After my rant about how you should not be your computer's slave, make sure to read these two awesome posts over at the Midnight Diaries of Catty Wampus:

"Every frame is a drawing."

and

"back and forth: an animation tip"

When you move from one pose to the next, nearly every single body part should move, even if it’s only a little bit.

Reminder - compress your movies!

Hey guys,

when you send me a movie, please make sure to compress them in order to keep download time to a minimum. I get files that are 15MB, which I can compress to 250KB. That's quite a change.

This is from the class F.A.Q. *cough cough*:

- Once you did the playblast in Maya, open that .avi movie in quicktime. Then go to File>Export..., choose Movie to Quicktime Movie, then Options. Under Settings use H.264, Key Frames: Every 100 Frames, Quality around 65. OK all that and save the file.

I do uncompressed playblasts, then export using H.264. Small files, good quality.

Critique - Doctor

Hey,

overall it's good, it just needs another pass of polish. Right now it feels a bit too blocky, too pose to pose. You need to add more keep alive between the action.
For instance, the knife hand-off around x22 is really nice (although I would break up the timing of the doc's fingers when he makes a fist - pinky could go first, stuff like that), there's nice detail work, so it would be cool to get that kind of polish throughout the whole shot. So when you rotate the arm from x1 to 10 it feels a bit disconnect compared to the rest of the body. The upper chest also comes to a pretty much total stop after x10. Even more disconnected is the arm move from x27 to around x42. The upper body doesn't really react to it, the head is completely stiff (especially from x41 to 49).
Also make sure that you continue the momentum when moving something, finish the arcs. For instance, track his head leading to x120, during that big move. Even if you track just his nose tip, from x119 to 120 you'll see a big move screen right. Then x120 to x121, no movement screen right at all, as if he hit a wall.
Look at the body/arm pose and rotation from x123 to 125, it feels like the whole body is one big unit, nothing is broken up in terms of movement. So after such a locked and stiff move, you suddenly move the screen left arm down from x125 to 128. Thngs like that just make it looks blocky.

It's getting better, but give the whole thing another pass of love!

Cheers
JD

Food Fight by Stefan Nadelman

Food Fight is an abridged history of American-centric war, from World War II to present day, told through the foods of the countries in conflict. Watch as traditional comestibles slug it out for world domination in this chronologically re-enacted smorgasbord of aggression.

more @ touristpictures