Rigging Reel

[spoodge]

Wow!....and I thought the 3D Quakers Rig was complex http://1.2.3.9/bmi/forums.cgsociety.org/images/smilies/eek.gif
Stunning work, loving the auto-walk.....I'm new to rigging this is definitely something to aim for.
What software do you use ? I use Max and am not a fan of the manipulators, your slider setup looks crisp and clean.

[theflash]

First this is really long for a demo reel. 8 mins is too much for somebody to seat and go through. You have some neat stuff that you are keeping for later which I think is not a good idea. You could start with your main character and switch to your facial rig and some other work and then bring back your first character at the end. Just few ideas, don't know if it will work for you. But I believe you should try to impress clients within 3-4 minutes.
Though I understand that you want to show you can do all those things. In that case I would make a pdf document listing all the features and specifications of each rig in detail with screenshots.

This is really nice stuff. The first character has a lot of nice features.

[eek]

The face rig is shit hot! kinda seen the rest gazzillions of times before. 8 mins! i got pretty bored and start skipping to find new stuff that was unique and interesting. The end bits are seem pretty old, and in no way consistent in the quality of the first rig and face rig - I infact skipped most of them, compositing? Only show stuff in your reel what you want to be - adding additional 'one off' interests can tell an employer your trying other things but havent really made up your mind, it can be imo deterimental to your prospects.

Solid reel though, I cant fault that - just wanna see thing that make the work really unique.

[PentamiterBeast]

hey fellas, thanks a lot for the kind words. Its really great to hear nice feedbak on my control systems, etc.

What you guys say about the length and shifted focus of activities is right to... but only to a certain extent... I feel that we're looking at kinda different markets here.

A lil explain of what I tend to do...

First off, Im not looking for employment, as a rigger, animator, or anything else. I freelance and go from project to project, mostly with smaller studios, and mostly on commercials, promos, etc...

My main interest is in rigging and animation, for sure, and that makes up about 50% of teh work I get in... where Im delivering either animation rigs to sutdios/outfits that supply a bit of animation but dont have their own in house high end riggers, etc... So most of them I ask "do you want pole or twist controllers, do you want them switchable?" etc... they dont really get waht im on about, and I end up having to write out the same list of explanations over and over, "this is good for animating in this kinda shot, this is better for that shot" and so on...

The other 50% of my work sees me in a more generalist role where I often do complete end to end stuff, concept through completion, which is usually for ad agencies, who have little or no 3d in house, or even end clients directly...

So to an extent my reel tries to reflect much more the kind of work/clients that i get/work with.

Ur right about the not so hot animation on show in the lil projects round up at the end... for sure, my worst ever work is usually my paying work, due to time/budget... Take for instance the pirate piece... TERRIBLE... without doubt some of the shoddiest animation ive EVER done... but it was 3 pieces, that I had to rig, animate, and do cloth for... totalled up to just under 2 minutes of animation in all... and Ihad 3 weeks to do the lot...

Maybe some of y'all will think me slow, but theres no way I can turn out 2 mins fo high end, gorgeous, nuanced, etc aniamtion in 3 weeks, plus rigging, plus cloth, etc... something gotta give on that kinda timescale/budget, and in my experience folks want quantity, NOT quality.

Also... Ive done it plenty times before... shown a potential client something really well done, beautiful, nuanced, amotive... adn they just dont get it... I did a couple pieces a couple years back (which I omitted from this and every other reel so far, lol) which was for tampa bay and coc cola co-branding... terrible, terrible cheap nasty work... But i show a potential client that... they see something final rendered, and for coca cola, and boom... they love it... they cant "see" that the animation/fx are garbage (imo)... so ive just gotten to the stage I guess of trying to show what experience has taught me folks in my circles tend to buy into, and sadly, taht aint pretty, locely aniamtion that takes time to produce... they want quick eye candy thats cheap and fast...

But thats fine... if their moneys good Im happy to produce the lowest level of crap for them... Ive always got my personal projects to try and inject my best work into where time/budget desnt exist.

So thanks agin for your kind comments and input... warms me to see you liking my rigs n all...

and Spoodge... you ask about my software... Im almost fearful to mention the name around these parts... but...

This is Lightwave.

[luigi]

nice reel but 8 minute are too long.
I found myself in a same situtauton as yourself because i do rigging ,tools, lighting , pipeline organize complex projects and...

so all in one real is too much, so mi recomendation si to make diferent reels. what it worked for me was a mian reel with only project and a breakdown only two minutes and quick to get people interested.

and later i did a rigging one and a tool one. 4 minutes each.

If i was you i will do one for project showing project with rigs and animation.
one for the rig with all the options when you are dicusing what rig to do.
and quicker one with few rigs but quick and the face control.showing you are a good rigger.

really nice material but to long and get my bored ,but at the same time impress.

dont try to do all in one , sent the tree links and the will know or choose what the want to see, but dont expect nonoe to see 8 minutes toguether without explanation.

[Poroksy]

I like your reel and didn't get bored watching this 8 minute long piece, partly because I'm learning rigging and constantly thinking about how you did it. But if the client or some senior rigger is watching this, they will either not understanding what's going on or lose interest because they know what it means in one second. Especially you said you need cheap eye candy to attract the client, I think you might need to put those pieces and some finished animation of your rig in the front. And then go into the detailed demonstration of each rig.

The instructor that taught me rigging has a reel of 12 minutes, and it feels like a rigging overview class watching it through......

[CGTalk Moderation]

This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.