First Rigging Reel

[lifire]

Overall I think it's a pretty good looking reel. I really like the penguin flip animation as it really shows off what your rig is capable of. I also really like the facial work you did on him, as it can be tough to get good facial poses on things that don't naturally deform (ie a beak). The rig looks fun to play with, and from an animators point of view, that counts for a lot.

Some things to keep in mind:

*On average employers might spend 30-60 seconds on a reel. Keep it short and sweet, showing off your best stuff.

*I don't really think employers want to see us move our controls around (maybe with the exception of very intricate controls, such as your marshmallow rig). However, we got the idea after a few seconds.

*You didn't really have any characters that could show off great deformation, but if you did that would definitely be a plus.

*You mention "scripted rigging" at the very end and show us nothing about it. Show us what scripts you made and what they can do (put them in action). From what I've heard, scripting is our "meal ticket." That is probably one of our biggest assets in the industry. Not only do we have to create good rigs, but we have to do so fast. You show that you can do that, and you are invaluable.

Hope I'm not sounding too harsh. Actually, I'm a student myself. I plan to get my stuff critiqued as much as possible.

Anyhow, best of luck to you.

[fanger]

Frums....nice work there...love the marshmellow rig....lookin' good!

[Frumsylgu]

Hey, thanks for the feedback guys.

Fanger, no, not too harsh at all. I appreciate the honesty. Your right, I think it is important to keep things short, (i'm sure you were making this comment in general) but I didn't wan't to cut the reel so short that I left anything out. Most of the Rigging reels I have seen seem to be around 2 to 3 minuts long, so that is what I shot for. Besides, you can't stop watching after just 30 seconds, The music is too dang cool :)

I'm not really sure how to show off my rigs without moving the controls around? if you could give more of an example, that would be great. Again, I was trying to imitate what I have seen in some of the more successful rigging reels out there.

And as far as showing rigs with more advanced deformations, you're absolutely right. Unfortunately the rigs I have built so far have only been to service my needs as an animator, but hopefully in the future I will be able to tackle something more complex just for the sake of rigging.

and finally: The Scripting section at the end was to just say "hey, these three rigs were generated automatically" Perhaps I should go back and rethink how I did this section. But for the most part, I just wanted to let people know that I don't shy away from scripting. (a working example of my scripts will be sent out with my resume and reel to potential employers)

Thanks again for the feedback, and good luck with your education as well.

[PEN]

Well done. Over all that was a very impressive reel for a student. I agree with a few of the comments but I have also always struggled with how to show of rigs. I would make you a serious contender if I were looking to hire junior riggers at this point.

[Frumsylgu]

Wow, thanks for the support! Coming from you, that really means a lot. I've been watching your work for quite a while, and found you to be a great source of inspiration. I really appreciate all the time and effort you've given in sharing your knowledge too. That's one of the reasons i'm so excited to get into this industry; seeing how supportive everyone seems. Thanks again for the encouragement; and hey, if you ever are looking to take on a junior td, shoot me and email.

[crazyjc]

Are you sure you're a student ?? Man !! that is one kick ass reel !! and i dont think its too long... maybe a little.. but i'm sure they'll watch the entire thing ! coz its very impressive !! but i guess like lifire said.. you should show where you've used the scripting... but otherwise.. its awesome !

hey... can you gimme a hint on how you got that gui setup ?? oh yeah ! there's a lot of other stuff that i dont know on there but this is something i'm working on now :)

thanks in advance ;)

[Frumsylgu]

Hey, sorry it has taken me so long to get back to you. I’ve been out of town. Thanks for the comments. Now, I’m not technically a student anymore, I just graduated two weeks ago (still looking for work:).



The gui that you see is actually built in html and displayed by Maya’s webBrowser function. I got the idea from Davide La Sala’s reel, I saw it just like you and said “Hey that’s cool” and figured out how to do it for myself. The MEL Scripting for MAYA Animators book kind of shows you how it works.

[crazyjc]

Hey i didnt know you could do that ! Wow.. Cant wait to get back and look into it !! Thanks a bunch !!!

[alanf]

Like some others said already, not bad for a student. :)

Here's some feedback from a fellow rigger:

- I thought the intro was way too long. It was 9 seconds in and it was still in the title. You should shorten it up. (Maybe put your name AND "Rigging Reel" in the same slide?)

- If you're gonna be using this as your online reel to give out, I'd make it a bit bigger in resolution. I found impossible to distinguish most of your rig controls, and although legible, I'm sure most people would squint to read your bullet points.

- I'd try to demo more and make people read less. ;) (Keeps them interested, and besides... a technical guy will be reviewing the reel before making you an offer anyway, and they can tell what you have done.) Of course, there are a few things that cannot be noticed visually, such as say the case of the blending between dynamics and keyed animation, which would deserve having some text label come up; but a lot of what you put in bullet points you could just demo real quick... think about it.

- I personally find it more impressive/interesting when I see facerigs that are more visual. (You'll see what I mean once I'm done with my reel.) The kind that don't require so much labeling of boxes. This is just my opinion though. Do as you please.

- I'd change "Osipa Style Controls" for "Squash & Stretch Controls", but do we really need a label if you're just about to see it demoed? Recruiters will know what's going on.

- When you say you can blend between keyed animation and dynamics for the feathers bit, what if you had it so you can not only do that, but have keyed animation WITH dynamics simultaneously. I can do it in XSI and I'm sure it's possible in Maya.

- This being a rigging reel, I'm not sure if you'd want to put the part with the penguin rolling the snowball uphill. I wouldn't say it demonstrates anything about the rig that we haven't yet seen, and a recruiter would just want to skip it to see more rigging, more so than your skills as an animator. (I'm guessing you animated it as there was no credit saying otherwise.)

- In the marshmallow rig (which I thought was pretty cool), I'd cut down on the thick black framing you got going on and let the capture take much more of the screen. Right now the labels are taking valuable screen space which would be better invested into seeing the controls more clearly (as we'd see them a bit bigger). On a side note, the labels of the rig controls are pinkish on a light grey BG and I found them pretty hard to read at first. Perhaps it would be a good idea to make them a darker, more legible colour?

- In the last bit about scripted rigging, I too didn't quite understand that you meant that the rigs had been done automatically. Maybe you might wanna put the word "Automated" before "Scripted Rigging". It may make more sense for others.

- Oh, and in the last part, I can see you're demoing a hockey player rig's IK/FK blend at the bottom capture, which is fine, but you may wanna demo something less common. Is there something else more unsual/interesting/uncommon about that rig that might be better to show off?

- I'd put my email address in the intro slide if I were you. If you're sending this as a dvd, recruiters prefer to hit rewind than scrub to the end to be able to contact you. The easier you can make it for them, the better.

Wish you best of luck in your job seek.

Hope you found some of my feedback helpful, and have a nice day! ;)

-- Alan

ps: I'm currently a student, finishing in a week or two, more or less, and also am a rigger, coming from the Vancouver Film School after finishing college. An XSI one, mind you, but it's all the same deal in the end.

[twedzel]

Nice reel, well put together. Not too much wiggling of standard controls around over and over again. Showing some animation skills is good to see in a potential rigger. Rigs made by riggers who don't use their rigs (even at a basic level) can suffer from usability issues.

Two things, the scripted rigging at the end... I get what you are doing there but it would be nice to show the functionality of how the scripts work. But I like the brevity. This could naturally be covered at an interview. If you are called into an interview I would recommend that you bring with you further examples of the scripts and examples scenes of the set-up. Just in case they ask for more clarity.

It would be nice to see something that isn't covered under a standard rigging tutorial. The feather bit is a step in the right direction. Much of rigging is problem solving and demoing the standard rigging techniques out there just shows that you have the basic level of ability to rig in a studio environment. Showing inovation will go a long way to sealing the deal.

Nice work and good luck.

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