Good animation is good animation. However, if one takes just that little bit extra time to customize the ‘look’ of the rigs, even if they are the free ones, it goes a long way i think. The animation mentor showcase is a good example of that. same rigs, colours and costumes changed (in a very basic way) and voila, it works! Ofcourse, the key is good animation.

Even with so many free rigs, not all of them are strong enough. So, I usually end up with 4 or 5 rigs to play with. Still, with rendering tweaks, texture changes and simple prop additions, the whole thing can be made really interesting.

my 2 cents.

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.

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Pritish

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.