Unofficial animation entry reviews

[Kevin Thorp]

Originally Posted by KHall

What is the link to access the animations on firstbase? Would like to view a couple to see what other teams have done. Thanks

Click here to see the videos.

[KevinReid]

Team 2609 would like feedback for our student animators, if you have the time.
Waterloo competition.

[Mazin]

Originally Posted by KevinReid

Team 2609 would like feedback for our student animators, if you have the time.
Waterloo competition.

Team 2609: Man-Made Beaver Dam
	+nice character---normally I suggest that rookie animators avoid characters altogether---while your character was not realistic, it served its job and was not distracting
	-again, split up your animation into multiple cuts.  watch a couple commercials on television and note all every camera change including how often they occur and what type of camera movement is in it.
	-narration has odd pauses in it, as if it was artifically expanded 
	-the narration extends past the thirty-second time limit
	-the water sound was too loud relative to the narration.  bump the water sound down and the narration up.
	-the next topic your animators should consider learning is lighting.  Your animation this year had no lighting/shadows, but you have all of this year to figure that out, and I expect to see that in your animation for next year.
	-there is a way to get the fake flowing water to flow in a curve.  If you create a prim (e.g. plane or box) with many segments and make sure to have the mapping automatically mapped, and THEN bend the shape, the texture will keep the old texture coordinates and thus follow the shape.
	-consider putting a bit of splash/foam effect (white particles) around where the water hits the dam or bank to make the water even more realistic, but keep it subtle
	-same with the smoke

Essentially, your animators did a solid job.  The concept, while vague, worked.  More importantly, the way the idea was presented was clear and concise.  Keep it that way; don't fall in to the trap of animations that leave the watcher scratching their head or have distracting mistakes or shortcomings.  Keep your plans within the range of your abilities and focus on communicating your message.

I don't think I'll do any more evals unless they're requested. It's late in the season and I simply don't have the time.

[boehmz]

Could you review 1730's animation? It's at the Greater Kansas City Regional.