Second Job - Character Animator at Rockstar North

The second job I found was for Rockstar North. I had trouble finding jobs in the UK for games companies. Seeing this I may have to consider working overseas, which I currently am more than happy to do. I also found this job on http://www.gamesindustry.biz

We would like to hear from talented animators with a range of experience & backgrounds to produce in-game animations for future projects at Rockstar North, Edinburgh.

Requirements:
• Minimum of 3-year degree with an emphasis in character animation or equivalent work experience.
• Outstanding demo reel demonstrating strong animation ability and good aesthetic eye.
• Exceptional skill in animating realistic human characters.
• Thorough understanding and application of classic animation principles (staging, timing, anticipation, follow through, etc.)
• The ability to collaborate and communicate effectively with a wide variety of project staff.
• Consistently meet project deadlines in a timely manner without compromising artistic integrity.
• Assist in the integration of animation with designers and engineers to create compelling in-game animation.
• Strong interest in video games.

Desirable:
• Experience with motion capture and MotionBuilder
• Professional experience developing a third person action game.
• Strong traditional animation/art background.
All applicants should be fluent in one or more of the major packages with MotionBuilder experience an advantage.

Please note: ALL applications should be accompanied by a demo reel, either on DVD or a web link.
• Demo reels should be no longer than 3 minutes.
• Sound is not important


This job seems a lot more attainable than the first, not that I couldnt get into Ninja Theory. Its just to me, for my first job in the industry, this one seems more attainable.
For a start I am currently working towards a 3 year degree and have a few years experience with human animation as that has been the main focus of my course. Throughout the course theres been a lot of emphasis on the 12 principles of animation so I have a lot of knowledge about it.

I've got experience working alone and with a group, learning how to work together to get work done on time and working to a tight schedule. Being able to work to deadlines might be something I should work on, I always get work done on time but sometimes I could leave it too late which can affect its quality somewhat. But I can work on that and its something I can certainly improve. I naturally have a strong interest in video games, its probably why I don't always do my work early!

I currently don't have a demo reel, but I will have one after finish uni so I don't need to worry too much about that, I could make one now but I don't feel as though I have good enough work to put on it.

First Job - Cutscene Animator for Ninja Theory

I would love to get into the games industry once I finish my degree. The first job I found via http://www.gamesindustry.biz was for a Cutscene Animator at Ninja Theory.

Cutscene Animators:

To be successful in the role you'll need to demonstrate:

Good knowledge of both Motionbuilder and Maya.

Knowledge and experience of cinematic pipelines.

A good working knowledge of the principles of cinematography with experience of setting up cameras within previous work.

Good knowledge and skills with facial animation both using motion capture data driven and hand keyed

Good hand animation skills

Understanding of practical aspects of the requirements of the role likely gained through at least two years industry experience - this does not necessarily have to be within the games industry

Creative thinking

Able to understand, help create and maintain own schedule

Able to accept change and be flexible

Good communication skills - both with other members of the team as well as other disciplines

Ability to work as a positive, contributing team member

Problem solving skills and ability to self-motivate - a self-reliant individual


It would also be nice to see (though not essential):

Experience with the Unreal Engine

Experience of game development

Passion for games

Basic knowledge of rigging

Basic knowledge of video editing software

As I am not at the end of my degree I still have time to develop my skills further. I chose this one to analyse my skills because I know that some places demand a lot of skills.

I enjoy animating in Maya and I am always building on my skills. I currently do not have much experience with setting up cameras but I can always learn about them. I've always wanted to know more and perhaps wanting a job like this would give me the drive to actually learn about them.

It does mention that it would be good to have at least 2 years industry experience. This doesn't sound like its essential but unless I stand out after I get my degree I will be hard pressed to get the job with out experience. So I will really need to push myself in my final year to be as good as I can.

I have most of the skills needed for this job. I would have to really work hard for something like this. The only thing I don't have much experience on is on motion capture. I haven't had the opportunity to use official production quality motion capture software. I can only show that I have the passion for it right now. I can actually do motion capture on my laptop with a Kinect and a Japanese program called Miku Miku Dance. Its not the best animating software in the world, but I can easily experiment with motion capture with it and its a lot of fun to do.

And to top it off I LOVE Ninja Theory. Not only have they made some amazing games they are also re making Devil May Cry, which will be amazing in itself but I hope that it stays true to the original. In Heavenly Sword and Enslaved there was amazing facial animations. They portrayed emotion so well and I loved watching the cutscenes over and over because of the amazing animation and I would love to be a part it.

What can you doooo?

Theres a lot of things you can do in nCloth. I'm not going to cover them all as I'll be here forever so I'l probably just cover the basics. I noticed there are more advanced tutorials around rather than basic ones, I had a lot of trouble finding a basic tutorial.

nCloth can be used for material that moves in the wind and you can change the strength of the wind and direction. You can change the properties of the nCloth so it mimics real materials. for example if you chose the denim setting the material would be heavy and would be quite rigid, whereas if you picked silk the cloth would be really free flowing and very light.

Other tutorials

http://www.freemayavideotutorials.com/tutorials/video-wind-feature-in-maya-ncloth.html

I found this tutorial to be very helpful when I was looking up information on nCloth, rather than just showing playblasts and rendered shots of nCloth, this tutorial showed exactly how it was done and I found it very informative and easy to follow.

http://www.3dtutorialzone.com/tutorial?id=102

I wanted to do a tutorial on tearing if I have time and Id like to learn more about it. Plus it just looks cool.


I tried not to view to many tutorials so I didn't subconsciously copy them. Plus this helps a bit with my learning with trial and error.

nCloth

After using nCloth again for my environments project with creating wind on a market stall I decided I wanted to do a tutorial on nCloth. I spent a long time finding decent tutorials to help me learn new things during the environments project.

Even though it took me ages to find good useful information I really enjoy playing with nCloth (even though it may crash out my laptop sometimes). Once you know where to look nCloth is really simple to use.