Animation Jobs

Showreels

List of impressive showreels I have come across, gives a good idea of the standards currently being set in the industry:


Character TD Reel 2010 from Chad Vernon on Vimeo.


Heavy use of C++ scripting to develop proprietory tools that aim to bolster performance and speed.  Lots of things to chew on and decipher.


Marek Schneider

Very accomplished showreel, not done in Maya - think it looks like Max?? (will look into it!) Begins with a lot of high end animation, then has a nice breakdown of the characters features. Loads of nice UI functions for controlling facial and deformation factors of the characters. Nice background music - Someone advised in the CG Society Forum to include some sort of voice over to explain some of the more technically intricate features, in case the interviewer isn't clued up on the rigging process.  Really like the functionality of the fish rigs. He's acquired a nice blend and control system between dynamics and FK/IK switch whilst making them simple and intuitive for the animator to use. Textbook!                                     

 Bernard Haux

Whole site devoted to Bernards Showreel. Here he provides a voice over highlighting the animation principles that have informed his decisions. This strikes me as comprehensive evidence this guy knows what he is talking about. Also shows a good range of understanding as he has an animating and TD showreel as well as a general section.

ShowReel Tips

Usefull Information regarding showreels and how to make them effective
                                                       Pixar

You can't argue with these lot, any advice they give I treat as gospel. Some useful guidelines on how to make the most out of you work and advice on things like music.  

                                                        CG Society

Usefull information regarding rigging showreels, also includes links pointing to other TD's rigging showreel's which I shall publish on a separate post. 

                                                       Rigging 101

This website has always been a handy resource and I'll certainly continue to use its forum for queries - really quick turnaroung time, people usually respond within the hour no matter the level of enquiry. This article features a few do's and dont's regarding the rigging showreel and how to approach putting it together.

Organisations/Funding

                                                       Indie Training Fund

Found this link on the skillset website, directed at providing freelancers with funding for relevant training courses. There is an office in London as well as Leeds, might be worth dropping them an email asking for advice regarding direction and a few useful contacts.


                                                       bmedi@

Useful networking organisation based in Bradford - they hold coffee events in different venues around West Yorkshire (Huddersfield, Shipley and Bradford) aimed to get people in the creative industry together. Coffee events are free and catered, membership is free for students and associated members, there is an annual fee for full membership but i'm not sure what the price is. On several occasions I have received cv's from prospectors so seems like a good way of getting your work/name out in the area.

Networking Opportunities

Animated Yorkshire
I attended their last meeting a couple of months ago (meetings are currently infrequent as the group is still in its infancy), and it proved to be a worthwhile networking opportunity which I will exploit in the future.

Among attendee's were some seasoned animators who had experience working for Cosgrove Hall, and Dreamworks, who were more than happy to have their ear chewed off for half an hour. There were also sound designers, people who represented government initiatives, entrepreneurs and those who just had an interest in Animation and liked to show and discuss it. There is the opportunity to bring and show your work off and gain valuable critique.

I will certainly be attending their next meeting and think the £25 anual fee is well worth the money.

Animators Database

Database of Animators, would be beneficial to be on it and to go through it. 







Screen Yorkshire

A wealth of useful information, too vital to ignore!







Just Add Water

Local Organisation aimed at narrowing the gap between student and professional. Similar to game republic, a good resource for finding out up to date information about the gaming industry.







The Drum

Creative/ Digital/Marketing Networking tool. Membership is free, similar to linkedIn, but focusses on the creative industry. Has News, Jobs, Events sections. Definitely worth checking on a regular basis.
CC Skills

Enkyad Heritage

I met these lads at Animated Yorkshire and the Exit session at LCAD. Ones an Archeologist, the other an illustrator and they are trying to get an interactive educational tool together, using 3d character animation to re-enact historical events. They need a character developer, rigger and animator to help them realise their project. I have offered my services, but would not be able to commit for a few weeks due to University commitments.






Susan Magazine

Design Network North

Game Republic

Created in conjunction with Screen Yorkshire and the Regions development agency. They provide the opportunity for students to upload showreels, acquire funding and obtain job information. A good tool to get in contact with gaming companies in the Yorkshire area. 





Innovation Centre
Came across this stand at the Exit Fare at LCAD. They provide office space, a telephone and broadband for a relatively cheap price. Pretty useful for startup businesses, but not for someone like me, however the lady did tell me there were a few 3d artists working freelance ther so might be worth contacting them for advice and information on the industry. 
Leeds Visual Arts

Northern Exposure

Animation Articles

AnimationArena

Very useful website, this article offers advice on breaking into the world of 3d animating, although i suspect its become a little dated when they suggest presenting your work on betamax rather than vhs. There was me thinking dvd was the way forward?

Skillset

Useful web resource that has a relevant page of articles regarding the animation industry. Loads of information and relevant links to go on. I have spent a lot of time reading through this resource and will continue in the future. See article "Jobs in 3d Computer animation" for a comprehensive list of job titles and roles. Really useful to have the correct vernacular when finding information.

Career Coach: Foolproof Your Career

Link to article by Pamela Kleibrink Thompson. She writes a lot of advice regarding recruitment and career tips.

Useful Links

FatCat

Directory of British Film and Television Production and Post Production. Quite a handy list that will springboard further enquiry. Useful information regarding each company such as Phone numbers and relevant email addresses.

GamesIndustry

Recruitment agency that specialises in the Games industry. Appears this site caters for vacancies around the world should feet begin to itch.



Highend Careers

"Find Hundreds of the Best Jobs" - Offshoot of Highend 3d, advertises jobs regarding 3d, Game, VFX, Film. You can also upload your own profile so poential employers can view your work. I have done a search to see whats about in term of rigging and i has confirmed my suspicions of availability up North. 



Animation Mentor

Animation Mentor is an online animation school who have been sending me their free monthly newsletter that features loads of up to date information regarding the industry. There's also a lot of useful links and free resources, as well as introducing you to new talent.
Dave Warren

Link to Dave's Blog address - both he and and I are looking inthe same area of work so would be foolish to overlook the opportunity to collaborate.  

agcas

Mammoth resource, only apage in length but put together with loads of useful links of information regarding job advertising, news and sources of vacancies. UK based so exremely relevant!



Tech Artists

Online community designed to update and sharpen the skills of technical artists and animators.

Visual Effects Society 

Looking though their website it becomesapparent this is where the big boys in Visual effects hang out. To become an active member you have to be in the VFX trade for 5 years minimum and provide evidence of your portfolio. Membership offers loads of fringe benefits such as cheap insurance, screenings, discounts, free dvd's, seminars, publications, educational seminars. One for the future - a must if your intending to secure a place with the VFX elite, not to mntion the possible networking opportunities.

The House of Curves 

London based VFX/ animation studio company, established by Andrew Daffy (originally of Framestore) and Matt Estella. As well as providing VFX, animations and pre-vis wor for film, they are committed to providing educational seminars to colleges and universities and write articles for 3d based magazines. This link directs to a really handy 'advice for students' pdf which featured in September 2008 Imagine Magazine. Well worth a look.





Animators Guild

I was directed to this site via a monthly newsletter sent out by Animation Mentor. TAG stands for The Animation Guild and proclaims responsibility for negotiating fair pay, health care etc for animators (They are a US organisation). This link to their blog is a useful resource, as it gives up to date industry information from across the pond, but also has plethora of useful links down the right to investigate.


Animation World Network

One of the links I found from the above blog address, this is a huge resource. They publish a regular Animation and separate VFX magazine (to which I have subscribed to both). There's also blogs, jobs and an events calender. Definitely worth checking on a regular basis.

Building a mesh using Curves and Birails

Right, I have started playing around with the few of the techniques introduced in a previous post and taken screenshots along the way:

The first step I took was to create a rough profile of the model by creating curves and resizing them in the relevant orthographic view to achieve the bodyshape. I am not using imge planes in this instance, the purpose of this exercise is not to stringently follow a shape but to create a two legged character that has good edge flow and smooth interpolation between points. And to do this using Nurbs. I will be converting this to poly's at the end but I want to use the powerful curve diting capabilities to achive that smooth hard edged look.

Next step was to connect up the curves. Bearing in mind the Topology should consist of four sided shapes I used the Edit Point (EP) curve tool to establish the flow. I displayed the edit points on the curves which gave me a visual reference of division points on the curve. This is a massive advantae because I can now see precisely where ponts such as the halfway point etc are aln the curves and figure outhow they need to connect in relation to each other. The rebuild curve option allows me to add and subtract spans whilst maintaining perfect spacing, rather than pushing and pulling verts around by eye like you would when poly modeling.

Close up of the proposed topology. This method allows superior interpolation between points asa bi-cubic spline will adjust the two points top and bottom side of the control vert you are pulling about.
Next step is to break apart all the curves so they are individuals. This is easily done by using the CutCurve tool (under Edit Curves menu). Now the cage is ready for the birail tool. As you can prably see there are a few issues with consistency regardiong the edit points but that can easily be corrected using the rebuild curve option.

I've started to create the patches using the Birail 2 tool which works by selecting two profile curves and two rail curves and then effectively lofting a smooth surface between them. The Birail'd surface still has history connecting it with the curve, so if you move the edit points of the initial curve around the surface will deform with it. Very useful indeed!

 

 

 

I've gone around the mesh and Birail'd all the curve and created the shape I was after. In some places where the patches are a little stretched a bit of pinching has occured, and the whole thing looks a little faceted because it is made out of seperate patches. This will be overcome in the next stage where I can begin to attach patches together and begin th rebuilding process.