First rigging demo reel feedback

Rigging
#1

Hey everyone,

Just curious if anyone was interested in giving me some feed back for my first demo reel.
Is this one good enough to land me an interview at a game company? Any cc is more than welcome!

thanks for your time!

#2

A couple thoughts…it’s a good start

  • The order you present these in is important. Show the guy kneeling and standing in Unreal and then immediately after show the Maya rig. Going from that to the woman doing the weight shift was somewhat jarring
  • Clearly label everything. You labeled the first shot but I was left confused if the other rigs you showed were implemented in Maya or Unreal with Control Rig. The only reason I can tell the difference is because I know what NURBS controls in Maya look like vs. the controls in Unreal
  • The woman doing the weight shift is pretty good -at least the “overlappy” stuff. You’ve got a lot of great subtle dynamic movement in her hair and hat. Find a way to show that off more clearly - and render it better. The Arnold render looks nice, the playblast is overblown
  • You’re clearly going for a video game rigging reel - show off more stuff in the engine. Show off an implemented system of layered animations and state machines, Control Rig, retargeting, etc - not just a single canned animation that you pressed “import” on. I realize this note probably sounds a bit harsh but imo that’s the “bare minimum” you would need even for a junior rigger position
  • The tool at the end is your best piece and looks well implemented
  • From a nit-picky animator perspective - the animations themselves are pretty so-so and not quite dynamic enough to show off the rig. You want to show off dynamic movements that highlight your technical and skinning skills
  • Consider allowing your video to be played embedded. I’m lazy and avoid YouTube when possible

Again, it’s a good start. These are things I’m constantly thinking about as well as I try to build my own technical animator portfolio. Keep it up. Develop and show off more custom tools and implementations.

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#3

Video is no longer available.

1 Like
#4

Awesome, I’m really thankful you took the time to watch my reel and give such thorough notes. All these notes will definitely be in mind as I work on my next pass!

#5

sorry about that, I just updated the link to allow embedding.

#6

Hi there. Firstly, the length is good. A reel should be two minutes tops.

When I’m looking at a reel, I don’t care about the animation or music. I’m mainly looking for these things:

  • Polish. It shows that you have an eye for detail and that you care about who you’re presenting your work to. Animation rigs must be intuitive and present professionalism to an animator. They should also deform well. You can go crazy with muscle setups if you want, but that’s more for a CFX artist position.
  • Variety. A biped is all well and good, but that’s the basics. Show a robust facial setup, a quadruped, a vehicle, a rope rig or some complex machinery reacting to the rotation of a control.
  • Technical skills. Show that you know how to do some python coding. This again shows that you’re interested in problem solving and that you’re interested in making more persistent solutions.

Good luck. :slight_smile:

3 Likes
#7

Thank you so much! This will all be really helpful for me moving forward!