Comments on: Q&A: Using generic rigs

By: employee

employee — Wed, 28 May 2008 11:43:25 +0000

As an employee I think that the reels with generic rigs and/or openGL rendering are great to watch. It really helps you to concentrate on what you are looking for when you want to hire talented animators.
In generic rig/openGL reels I don’t have to worry about being distracted by another things than animation itself.

By: Rob D

Rob D — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 08:02:11 +0000

I think all the comments so far are on the money as far quality up front. Don Dixon does bring up a real good point that I agree with, though. I’ve looked at tons of reels and have seen the blue guy all over the place. When I do I just figure that this person is an animator and not a rigger. The fact that I’ve seen it so many times, both well and poorly animated, makes it more “generic” which helps me focus on the performance only.

By: Don Dixon

Don Dixon — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 13:23:09 +0000

I think its been said here already before, but just to touch on it again, I think its fine to use generic rigs that you can find online, I have been hired at a few jobs using nothing but the peter starostin rig for 3dmax, when you get hired as an animator, thats what you do animate, if you want to get a job as a character designer, or a character TD then build and design your own rigs. So possible employers may see the same rig over and over again, I actually think this is a good thing, then it forces them to not get wrapped up in its design and look but rather its emotion and acting and how the character is feeling.

By: Pritish

Pritish — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 23:04:38 +0000

With so many choices in the free rigs available, I am sure that you can definitely choose the rig that suits the animation that you want to do, thereby breaking away from the trend of doing animation with just the “blue generi” rig or “Bishop” rig.

At the end of the day, the person watching it is not gonna care if you created your own rig or used someone else, because as a professional animator you are always gonna be using someone else rig anyways.

Pritish

By: Ryan

Ryan — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 15:30:30 +0000

If this was the case, they’d be getting sick of Bishop as well, yea? I guess my point is, if the animation is strong, use it, if not, lose it.

By: Todd Shaffer

Todd Shaffer — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 17:38:22 +0000

This is a more complicated question than it appears.

On a basic level, if you can animate well no one cares if you use a generic rig. Rigging is a highly specialized art form, and few people can rig really well — even those with jobs. If you want to animate learn to animate well.

Now, it is helpful to have a small working knowledge of rigging. And it should not take so long to build a better rig and model than what most schools provide. Usually they are quite awful.

The problem is, whenever I see school models and rigs in animated clips that are obviously from some class assignment, rarely (and I can’t think of even one case) have they had any positive impact on me. They immediately alert me to sophomoric animation that I would rather not be faced with sitting through. They do breed an immediate snooze factor. But if the animation is striking, we can get past that. However, if you really are good at animation you’re going to have a lot of animation mileage behind you, and I doubt you’ll be happy or inspired to animate the same ugly rigs for that length of time. School rigs = school animation.

If you’re animation level is maturing, you will find a way to get better models and rigs, whether you do them yourself or get them from a friend. For certain, your rigs will be basic, but a decent basic rig can showcase your animation skills. Don’t get too fancy. Keep it simple.

Again, if someone took the time to build their own character and apply rigging, even if the joint deformations aren’t perfect, the animation can still sing. We don’t expect student level rigs to be perfect.

Viewing reels is time-consuming, and usually the person reviewing has a hundred other things to do, so put your best stuff right away — you’ve got 10 seconds.

By: Carlos

Carlos — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 17:56:06 +0000

This is an excellent question; thanks for addressing this issue, Clay.
Generic rigs are great because they allow a person to focus strictly on animation.. But, would having an original rig tailored to a specific piece give you an edge on your reel? Or a big enough edge? In other words, can a rig be on the same level as actor casting for a specific plot? If they’re truly “generic” they’ll ultimately work for any given situation, but I would start to look at them more as a swiss army knife.. it’ll get the job done, but it won’t be pretty..

By: Marco Milone

Marco Milone — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 09:42:03 +0000

I agree with Cristin McKee

By: Carl Luc Campbell

Carl Luc Campbell — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 11:21:41 +0000

Sorry for not making myself clear enough in my post. You’re absolutely right about the quality Cristin, spot on. Again, I thought that since it was the rigs appearing in the reel that we are discussing I could go without saying that a reel should always order the clips from highest quality to low.

So yeah, I thought that much what be obvious so I sort of left out saying that. Of course, if your absolutely BEST animation was made with a generic rig that doesn’t mean you should push it back in favour of an original character; let quality always be the deciding factor behind the order you show your animations on your reel. =)

Cheers!

By: Clay

Clay — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 17:03:54 +0000

Obviously the animation is the most important thing but I disagree on one of Cristin’s points. Don’t save your second best for the end because the reviewer may not make it that far. You have to lead them along, so start with your strongest to hook them, follow with a couple things that aren’t going to turn them away, then get some back to the strong stuff and if you have some things that may not be the greatest but you’re still emotionally attached to, put those at the end. I’ve also seen a few reels where the person put their short film on the end. That’s a good approach, I think, because if the animation tests were interesting enough, the reviewer will want to watch the short. But, if the short is at the head, the reviewer has no idea of how long it will go and they may not be willing to take a chance on spending the time to watch enough to get a good impression.