advice?

#1

firstly, hellooo

right. to the point then.
i finished uni about 18 months ago now, but, due to general life type stuff im only now looking to start building up a showreel and try get a career started. (maybe im too late at 31??)
basically, im starting from scratch here. although uni did teach me a fair bit, it was only towards the end that i figured out that CG was the way i wanted to go. so, as crazy as it may sound, i’ve never had any kind of guidence or advice with regards to the best ways to approach a walk cycle, whether a cycle is the bast way to go, when to use a cycle etc etc.
(this is just one area where my knowledge is lacking!!)
character animation is what i want to do, but, im struggling with even the basics at the mo…
i have got a fair few books and the like on the subject, but i feel they can only tell me so much. i know theres no substitute for time and practice either. but if theres any advice anyone could give me that would point me in the right direction so i dont end up wasting time doing things the wrong way…well… that would be groovy :slight_smile:

hope im posting in the right place…im new to all this…

thankyou for your time

rob

#2

Get yourself a copy of the Animators Survival Guide, everything you’ll ever eneed to know about walks is in there.

Theres really only a few things you should show in your demo reel, especially if its your first one.

Walk (preferably one with personality)
Weight( a pull, a throw, a jump)
dialogue performance (acting)
a clip involving emotional change or interaction between more than one character.
if possible, a walk or other animation of a 4 legged animal.

good luck

#3

hello there

thanks for the post.

yeah, i have got a copy of the animators survival kit. and there is a lot of great stuff in there with regards to walks. it is something i’ve been working from, however, for some reason i’ve not been able to get the walk cycles to look quite right. i’ve tried filming my self walking and stuff like that to use as reference too. and its kind of what i’ve seen when doing this that has just created more questions. when using a walk cycle for example, how do you get that shift in weight to the front foot? i tried something the other day and got a passable result (it involved sliding both feet backwards untill the back foot leaves the ground)…but im not sure if this is thr right way of doing it. (does that make sense to you?..couldnt think of a better way to explain it)
im sure theres going to be a really simple answer to this, and i’ll probably kick myself when i figure it out :stuck_out_tongue:
like i said in my initial post, i dont want to be working on something if its the wrong way of doing it :stuck_out_tongue: …
as for the advice on a showreel… thankyou. its much appreciated. :slight_smile:

Rob

#4

hey mate good luck 31 isnt too old least i hope not as i’m 33 and in a not to disimilar position :smiley:

ive been working on simple things like bouncing balls etc for the last few weeks trying to get back to basics etc.

You may want to join the 11 second club (a monthly character animation forum) they have works in progress thread and give great feedback.

Pete

#5

hey pete.

thanks for that. theres hope for me yet then :stuck_out_tongue:
yeah i know of the 11 second club. love some of the stuff thats been produced on there. every now and then i download the sound clip with the intention of trying something. not necessarily to enter the comp, but just for the practice. life has a habbit of getting in the way though :frowning:
but yeah, thankyou for the reply.
how did the bouncing ball go?

Rob

#6

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