Moho Forum

Heyho my fellow anime studio users
I got my demoreel 2008 ready! (didnt made one in 2007)

http://www.bysamb.de/priv/demoreel2008.rar

online version(no HD!)
http://www.bysamb.de/priv/demoreel/demoreel2008.html

well.. what you think?

Excellent demo reel. It's worth the wait time of download.
The music is perfect and the mixed styles are great.
I only disagree with the abuse of bone dynamics. I don't like the bone dynamics so much lately.

I liked it!

thx genete
I think you mean the alien at the end. that project was made just to use dynamic bones.. so maybe that's why it's too much

and sorry all for the big file size and no streaming method. it's a HD video (wmv), so youtube etc. wouldn't make much sense.

I believe blip.tv allows bigger formats, although I haven't seen true HD on any of the download services (except, of course bittorrent and newsgroups). Often the compression is so bad, you really can't call it HIGH definition, high resolutions perhaps at best, but that's not the same.

I like the demo real, but I would leave out the giant with the big feet, because the walk animation, well, sucks, compared to the rest of your reel.

A demo reel should be like a resume. You only show your best stuff, to give the most positive impression of your skills. You should never give a honest, balanced view of your work (i.e. also include parts your not so proud of, but had to do like that, because the project had to be finished and you didn't have time to do it perfect).

Says he, who has never produced a demo reel. So take my advice with a grain of salt. It is just some thoughts that came to me when I viewed the demo reel.

Yuck -- RAR again.

Can't we please use ZIP instead?

hey, got a swf version online:
http://www.bysamb.de/priv/demoreel/demoreel2008.html
it isn't in HD but better than nothing

@rasheed
wow! thx for the critique
I agree, that the walk animation of the giant is not my best work. but I really like how I added a slight 3D effekt for the walk. also, shadowing and shading is absolut new for me first time I've ever done that.
the clips with "character-design: [...]" were tests. I tried to animate a figure that just exists as one picture and one pose. so, I had to figure out how to draw the character to easily anime it.
I think, the demoreel 2009 will be more interesting, 'cause I'll start to animate for payment. I hope at least someone will say "your reel is ok, I got something for ya"... we will see

@human
why use winzip, when you can use winrar?

I feel that the demo reel works perfectly fine as Flash (if the streaming were not so balky). Going to HD simply isn't necessary, because of the simple nature of the graphics.

Personally, I liked the giant walk. The timing may not have been optimal, but collaborating on it with another animator would solve that. The cool thing about this character is that he breathes. How many of you have characters that breathe ???? Samb showed great potential there, I thought.

My parting shot is not a criticism of the reel so much as a general wake-up call. Guys, you're always bragging about the particles in AS, and in the hands of someone like DK, who knows how to use particles in a "toony" way, this can work very nicely!

But look at the fire in this demo reel. Was it done is AS? It's corny, fakey, just plain dumb--and this is no reflection on Samb. No matter who you are or what you're doing--unless it's a parody--this canned smoke and fire stuff, in its present state of evolution--will detract from your animation.

It doesn't work as a "toon" and it certainly doesn't work as realism. You'd be much better off rotoscoping video or animating highly stylized shapes (ala Disney).

Found this link on the AWN forums: Designing 2D Smoke.

The problem seems to be that effects animators are a special breed. Their art is not as sexy as character animation. Effects animators, therefore, don't live as much in the limelights as their counterparts in animation. However, they are in high demand, especially in life action movies.

SFX animators are as unknown and on the background as foley artists. It's mostly about the voice actors, the director and the character animators.

ah, the fire
was my first attempt to use the partice-layer somewhere.
I really miss some particle features from 3D engines. I just can't get it right... maybe I will start to use small flame images replacing the small vector blops, that I use at the moment, for fire effects.

@rasheed
wow.. thats a really cool tutorial!
too bad you have to pay for the animated one