Work from my Maya Class that needs Critique
 

Hello! I am a student at Columbia College, Chicago, Video Game Art program and need critique for my finals in maya class. This is a short video of all our work for the semester. I'll be taking advanced modeling next year. The only rig I built was the mech by the volcano. The creature and tiny are from creativecrash.com (chatmv and oyvink). Music from imcompetech.com. Thanks! I love maya, and have a passion for doing this, so look at how to improve my work. Thanks in advance!!!

Final Video, Almost done demo of Animation Class work! Royalty Free music as well :D on Vimeo

the animations seem very clunky and light. One thing i think you need to work on is weight distribution to make the animations more believable. What lvl of class was this?

Sorry fragnog but there did not look like there was any composition at all, it must be hard when you have put so much work into this project but what has you teacher said......dave

Yeah, all around there are some basic stuff missing, the bouncing ball isn't all it could be, then they have you guys rigging and animating some pretty complex characters so that confused me. Another thing to consider is that text at 00:25 is really hard to read with it being so small and thin, plus the backdrop doesn't help, and that starscape texture looks really stretched. I think its important as its the first thing we see after your intro. As mentioned before, the weight and timing need a lot more precision and the framing could be better. I'm sure you'll get there after burning the midnight oil for a while. :)

Thanks for the critiques so far!
 

I really appreciate it.

As for the composition statement, There is no composition to this, it's just a final reel of all the work assignments we had to do for the semester. We just had to put each weeks assignments on one DVD. So, I think it's more like an assignment reel instead of a demo reel you'd send for a job...

I will be taking the advanced class next year, so will be burning some midnight oil so I can make better animations!

as for the class question, it was basic animations: Butterfly in flight, Ball bounce, side step, walk cycle and make a rig, facial expressions, acting for animators etc. So it was basic animation for maya. The class included: physics, rig building, acting, lyp synching, rendering, all in one semester.

Thanks for all the help! it can only make me a better modeler/animator! I'll start practicing right away! There's a neat site for basics that I need http://www.makemovies.co.uk/lessons/lessons_frame.htm :):)

Read john lasseter's 12 principles of animation paper and look at each of your shots with respect to all 12 principles.

Thanks for the Lasseter Link...
 

I'm a Game Major, and Animation is not my major in school, so I'm taking this as elective in order to understand the gaming 'pipeline' as much as possible. I think it's important, as a member of a team, to learn as much as possible about all that everyone will do in the team.

But, even as an elective I'd wish to be as proficient as possible. I do not plan on animation as a career as I've no real ability for it.


But it's important to receive these critiques so I can understand the needs and wants of animators on my team some day...

I'll be putting more things up because these critiques are so valuable! I know it can make me a better team member on a game team!