Gamasutra GDC article

Hit a small jackpot when it comes to information regarding animating in the games industry. An article was posted to Gamasutra about a week ago now which is detailing the conversation between 5 industry lead and senior animators at GDC last year.

They are:

Kristjan Zadziuk - Animation Director, Ubisoft Toronto

Ryan Duffin - Senior Animator, EA DICE

Simon Unger - Lead Animator, Robotoki

Tim Borrelli - Lead Animator, 5th Cell

Mike Jungbluth - Senior Animator, Zenimax Online

link: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/212003/game_animation_bootcamp_an_expert_.php?page=1

This article was an amazing read, they detail everything from what they would like to (or like not to see) on show reels aiming for game animation as well as how the role is shifting away from being just animating to needing to understand more of the technical side and actively help think of ways to improve how the aesthetic and the game play collide. It's made me realize that having scenes with two characters interacting and a dialogue section on my show reel is probably not necessary and would pale in comparison to showing a set of animations separately and then bringing them together preferably in engine showing that I not only understand weight and timing but also the technical needs when it comes to game play and state engines.

I need to work on some more interesting walk cycles and animation sets to show my worth rather than the cinematics style stuff I've been working on. Cut scenes aren't a fallback for storytelling in games anymore and demonstrating my skills at creating personality through animations that would be seen during game play will play much more to my advantage.

I think I'd like to do more with my fox animations actually.. have the jump, fix the run (which i know is terrible) create a walk but then also maybe sort out some state changes so have an injured walk, maybe a couple of idle animations that also show the shift from healthy to injured.  

Another interesting point made is about being able to understand what other disciplines responsibilities and risks are and letting them know yours so instead of just complaining at design for throwing something at the art team resulting in throwing time away and not having enough time to get something done, everyone understands their place in the system. Particularly useful right now =]

"Taking the time to educate each other on what your work entails and the challenges you face can go a long way to fixing a lot of the issues that arise during production." -  Simon Unger

Simon also plugs an article he wrote back in 2012 entitled "How to get a job as an animator in games"
link: http://gamasutra.com/view/news/176374/How_to_get_a_job_as_an_animator_in_games.php

I've actually already read this article before but reading it again with new information in mind will help me see how the industry is changing and what is still a consistent request. Also this article goes into a little more detail when it comes to interviews and resumes.

Animation Planning/Practice

I was looking for existing animation reference for a different module when i stumbled across a blog done by an animator for Pixar detailing his planning process for the shots he needs to create. It's really nice to see someones process in so much detail from his initial research to thumbnails and even including some of his own reference footage. If there's one thing I'm going to have to get better at its creating my own reference footage. Its tricky to get my ideas about movement and facial expression out of my head without it. As I've been explaining in the previous post I've been trying to find better/quicker ways to thumbnail while getting all of the detail of the posing in. also being able to get the subtlety in is quite hard. I'm getting better though!

Link: http://www.carlosbaena.com/resource/resource_tips_planning.html

Another webpage that talks about workflow is on the animation mentor site. It has a short video talking about two animators from tippett studios workflows and how they are different depending on whats needed in the animation and what is most important but also advises adapting it constantly to help improve how you're going about animation. They also mention that just diving in is probably the worst thing to do... I agree. It has been something that has tripped me up in the past.

http://www.animationmentor.com/tips/jim-brown-brian-mendenhall-tippett/

I've had to abandon the box lifting clip unfortunately due to a pretty rookie mistake during blocking. I'm a little disappointed as it was starting to go quite well but at least I can try and plan a new one out better. I've already started to block a new one in and I've been fairly ambitious, I'm trying to produce a subtle performance displaying a characters sense of loss. Being able to demonstrate emotions without needing to over act or exaggerate hopefully will help show range in my abilities.

Here's the blocking pass for that: