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DVD REVIEWS
CG Website Reviews
Customer Reviews
I've been in the middle of making a career change in the game industry from an IS/IT-type to an animator (don't laugh, I've got a great mentor ). Anyway, I've been animating for over a year now, and I love it.
I want to say I was extremely impressed with your DVD. To someone starting out, the ability to see animation examples in motion is invaluable. To someone that's been doing it a while, it's a great refresh on proper anim techniques that can sometimes be forgotten. You presentation is calm and laid back, which should really help those guys that are learning and are going to be hitting the rewind key alot.
I would/will confidently recommend your dvd to anyone I meet interested in learning the craft.
-eric webb
development assistant
id software
Im a graphic artist in a local tv station and I use Max
but this dvd is great I really see solutions to the problems in my character animation. Very descriptive
to the point, and the outtakes are hilarious.
The only thing i was waiting to see was more of the animations on your site at dvd quality like KB2.
I recommend this dvd to all
-bangulo
Great job! It was worth the wait!
Wonderful explanations on simple things like how utilizing the zero slope curves in the Graph Editor (F-Curve editor or whatever you want to call it), offsetting keys for overlapping motion and understanding the basic articulation of animation make this a real deal.
I'm recommending it to everyone I work with. I think it's like the video equivalent to "The Animator's Survival Kit" by Richard Williams.
Kudos!
-froGGee125
Jeff's DVD is a valuable and entertaining learning tool. It is absolutely worth the money he's asking for it. On a scale of 1 to 10, I give it a 9. My comments follow:
NEGATIVES
I have very little negative to say about Jeff's product, but here goes:
* Can you say "Euler"? I don't think the statement "we're animators, we're not supposed to be smart" adds any value. Contrary to Jeff's advice to "just pronounce it any way you want," the dictionary says it's pronounced: "oiler." Yes, I'll admit I used to think it was "you-ler" too until someone corrected me.
* In the "keyframing" part of Section 1 where Jeff is showing keyframing on the computer vs. (simulated) hand drawn cels, I think he should have shown not just the static computer-interpolated keyfames, but their actual motion so the novice animator can see how bad they look compared to drawing (or posing in CG) frames on ones or twos.
* It would have been nice to see Jeff animate an example where IK arms would be the best choice.
POSITIVES
There are many positives, including:
* Jeff achieved one of his main goals, which was to make the presentation interesting. I watched the entire (nearly four hours of) video at a single sitting--except for food and bathroom breaks--and did not get bored. I have other learning material that has me fighting to stay awake after only 20 minutes. Thankfully, Jeff knows how to capture interest, and keep it alive. There are entertaining examples for each concept discussed.
* The first section ("Tools and Technical Methods," 1 hour and 32 minutes) is a little drier than the rest of the DVD, yet still very palatable. The second section ("Artistic Principles and Applications," 1 hour and 21 minutes) is a lot of fun, and the same goes for the third and final section ("Animation Exercise," 58 minutes).
* The DVD lays a good foundation for beginners who are new to this stuff. Additionally, you have to applaud Jeff's breadth and depth of coverage. However, novices will almost certainly have to get some hands on experience before all of it makes sense to them.
* It's valuable to see a pro of Jeff's stature animate an example from start to finish, and to explain the reasons why he's doing what he's doing.
POSITIVE or NEGATIVE?
You may see the following as positive or negative, depending upon whether or not you are an Animation:Master user:
* When a program interface is shown it is Animation:Master.
* The free models that Jeff provides at www.jefflew.com/l3dca/models/ are Animation:Master models. These could be exported to other formats, but they'll have to be re-rigged in their target packages.
Animation:Master aside, the principles, tools, and ideas discussed are valid for any full featured character animation software.
HYBRID METHOD OF ANIMATING
I just want to make the distinction between Jeff's illustrated hybrid of straight head and pose to pose animation, and the hybrid ("combination") method described by Richard Williams in _The Animator's Survival Kit_. What Jeff demonstrates is really a modified straight ahead approach. Although Jeff animates every 3 or 4 frames instead of every one or two frames, he does not lay out in advance the main poses ("the storytelling poses," extremes, breakdowns, and inbetweens).
With the combination method (of straight ahead and pose to pose) proposed by Richard Williams, you put in your main poses, then go back and animate over them in a straight-ahead fashion, using the poses that are already there as a guide to where your character is, and where it needs to be at a particular time. Your animation may or may not look any better with the method that Williams illustrates, but you are guaranteed to have your poses in the right place at the right time.
One of Jeff's criticisms for straight ahead is illustrated this way: a director wants a CG monster to step on a car (that's part of a live action backplate) at a particular point in time. With the hybrid method that Jeff proposes, that timing problem is still there. However, Jeff mentions that you can easily shift keyframes in the dope sheet to correct the timing, when necessary.
Regardless, Jeff's finished animation example speaks for itself. It's awesome!
CONCLUSION
There is some really great stuff on this DVD. It should serve as a source of inspiration for anyone who watches it. I recommend it enthusiastically!
-David R. Britton Jr.
See my Animation:Master creations at:
www.davidbrittonjr.com
I just got my copy today. All I can say is: if you have an interest in character animation, you should seriously think about picking this dvd up. I watched the nearly 4 hours of content in two sittings. There is a ton of useful information here. Even for some one who has "been around the block" will pick up something new even in the introductory section. Hell I finally have a grasp on why gimbal lock happens (after 10 years ). Lots of real world experience went into this dvd. And what I appreciate the most is the effort Jeff put in to make it entertaining as well as educational. It's well worth the asking price. I hope Jeff decides to do more dvds, because he did an awesome job on this one!
-Paul Holm
Once again, thank you Jeff! I finally finished it and it was amazing. All the little questions I had on my own animations were answered by this DVD. I can't wait to get started using your techniques and obvious things I had, just didn't explore to the fullest. I tresure this DVD above every video I have, and will always let know you helped out the most in aspiring the love for 3D in me. Would still like the model in .obj or LW, but if not, no problem... I still have some models to use. Thanks a ton! You will see my progress soon.
-NeonLife2
I wish I have had this DVD 2 years ago! I bought books and a video (which to my surprise only covered character setup) about animation. I knew the principles of animation but when I actually tried to animate I felt overwhelmed by all these possibilities and rules.
I know that there isn't the one easy way of animating correctly, but I belive that after watching Jeff's DVD it is of tremendous help to see one way of animating. Actually seeing an example of applying all the rules and principles and when to use which tool (graph editor, dope sheet) to fix problems or to achieve a desired effect is awesome.
I'm not saying that books can't help you learn how to animate. Quite the contrary, but if I was asked by a person new to animation what I would recommend to get first - books or Jeff's DVD? - I would definitely say: DVD!
++ watch the development of a complete animation
++ excellent examples to explain the principles of animation
+ entertaining presentation
+ cool music
Overall usefulness-score for beginner/intermediate animators: 10 out of 10
-Quaternion
I felt it gave me a solid understanding of animation and tech jargon on the subject. I really enjoyed Parts 1 and 2 and the first section of part 3 after that it became a bit redundant, but that's at the very end of the dvd lol. I would love to see another with more info packed into it, and more example animations that builds on the first dvd.
-Cowboybebop
This is a great DVD.
I would have to say this is up there as a all time great.
I would recomend it to any beginning animators as has a firm grounding of the principles needed to get your feet wet.
The first part really lays down the foundation for what a newcomer would need to know to get started. The shoulder rig is something that had me slap my head. so simple and never thought of it.
The second part is really good. Again very useful for new animators but the depth section I think is something experienced animators would find useful as I never really considered depth when doing an animation or than as a vague thought that something did not look right.
I haven't seen the rest of this DVD. Will tonight and I'll post more after I've seen it tonight.
Over all a great DVD. Well worth the money I spent on it and got it pretty quick to boot.
So I would say it is a great DVD for new users based on the first two sections. Animation Master users overall since you use it exclusively.
I like the presentation of the material. It is very refreshing from teh mouse moving on the screen videos that are all teh rage lately. I would also have to say that it woould off been more fun if you had gotten permission to put some of the animation you've done in the movies into it to show some of the examples, but that would have been for fun since what you did was very good.
A note:
If you ever get around to a second printing of the DVD you should put some of the example .acts, and model/obj/lwo files for as many software versions that you are capable of doing. DVDs can hold files and still run normally in a DVD player. I have a few like that now.
I am in the middle of repairing the greenguy now for use in Lightwave. I'll post any animations I do with him once i'm done with replicating teh bone setup you used in AM.
-Jay
© 2003 Jeff Lew Productions LLC
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