DemoReel

[mballard]

This is my Fedex commercial idea along with everything else I been working on. Hope the Mediafire link and the way I saved it works. http://www.mediafire.com/?991qxr3go4d

[adamredwoods]

My recommendation for showing reels to people is try to use youtube, tinypic, vimeo or another video-hosting site. The quality is reduced, but its a great way to get a lot of eyeballs on it.

Mediafire and file-hosting tends to be a little cumbersome.

[mballard]

Yea a friend told me about Mediafire so I tried it out. When I open it the audio track dissapeared, don't have a clue there. I'll go Youtube straight from Adobe Elements4. I was just worried Fedex might get peaved from me posting something using their logo but I guess I can always take it down if I hear from them. Thanks again

[meatycheesyboy]

I just took a look at your demo reel and have a few comments about presentation. I'll start with that then I'll go into the specific pieces.

First, file format. I don't have flash installed so I had to go out and download a viewer just to view the file. Use something more universal, don't make the viewer have to work just to see your reel. mpg files can be played natively on PCs or Macs without any additonal software if I'm not mistaken.

Second, title screens. Generally, 3d text looks pretty cheesy (to me at least), I would suggest working on a nice clean, well designed 2d title screen. But remember, even though it's 2d and just a title screen, make sure it's well designed with good layout, proportion, and font choices since it can really be viewed as another piece that'll show your understanding of color, composition, hierarchy, etc.

Third, anti-aliasing. Many of your pieces, especially the hotel model near the end, look like they aren't anti-aliased at all. Jaggies are a big turn off to me. This is a promotional piece to sell yourself, do everything you can to make sure it's as good as it can be. If that means rendering for another day or two, then render for another day or two.

Fourth, length and order. The reel is a bit long. I'd probably cut it down to about 2 minutes as opposed to three. Also, some of the pieces that I feel are your strongest are near the end of the reel. Put your best stuff up front, realy try to wow people from the get go.

And last for the critiques, music. Try to find music that is more neutral. The guitar solos were way too polarizing and really distracted me from actually pay attention to the reel.

ok, now for the good stuff, the actual artwork.

Fed Ex piece - I like the idea of a mass of packages constantly flying around the world and generally think that you pulled it off. Also, I think this one has some of the better lighting of the reel but I do have a few little things to comment on. As is shown on the packages, the FedEx logo is two colors yet your 3d text is all orange.

Watch/picture frame - I like the wood texture on the picture frame. It looks like you're using mulpitle shadow casting lights. In a composition like this one, you're better off only using one shadow cast key lights with some non shadow casting fill lights.

Outdoor woods - I like the texture on the trees and rocks in this scene. The one thing that really sticks out to me though is that the fallen tree in the foreground is coming right out of the rock on the right.

Columns - I like the dramatic lighting you you use on the columns, good color choices onthe lights to convey a sense of drama. On this one, my biggest critique would be that the textures obviously repeat on the columns.

Watch closeup - It looks like you've got some good details on the model but I'd check the proportions on the model, especially the width of the watchband. The watch face says men's watch but the width of the band says women's watch.

Crate - This is my favorite piece on the entire reel. Mdelling and texturing both look solid. The only thing I'd change is again, I'd cut it down to only one shadow casting light.

Gumout - Same comments as crate. Good modelling and tetxuring but you're lighting is letting you down. Als, you could have a stronger composition on this one, it loks tiny in the frame with alot of wasted space. That's not to say everything should always fill the screen but in this case, I think you could definately move the gumout closer to the camera.

Hotel - A really ambitious model, so kudos to you for tackling such a big project. The first thing that jumps out at me on this one is the backdrop. If I'm not mistaken, that's a windows wallpaper, isn't it? I'd probably try to find a different one.

Keep on going and start posting individual works for critique. People here love to see other's works and would love to help you take your work to the next level.

[mballard]

Wow! Thank you for taking the time to critique the whole thing. You nailed it on all fronts. Many of the elements used like the music and backdrops, the compositions, among others were just things or thoughts I had at hand and I used them. I have a background as a painter (Michael Ballard on Absolute Arts website) which I guess that medium allows for a loose happy accident style but not good for 3D. No excuse but my time to devote to Lightwave is so limited I tend to rush things and obviously it dont work that way. You totally busted me and enlightened me that every element no matter how small has to be well thought out and executed. Saving as mpg I will experiment with as well. I was just guessing and hoping with what I had done. Thanks again and I'll knuckle down for my next postings. and you are correct, that was a windows wallpaper arrgggg MB

[shrox]

...and you are correct, that was a windows wallpaper arrgggg MB

You are among artists whos' eyes have seen everything.

[Brunson]

...
First, file format. I don't have flash installed so I had to go out and download a viewer just to view the file. Use something more universal, don't make the viewer have to work just to see your reel. mpg files can be played natively on PCs or Macs without any additonal software if I'm not mistaken.
...

Flash format, I think, is a great format to use. It is probably one of the most popular formats for displaying video online. The problem with this video is that its .flv and not in an embedded player. I agree with adamredwoods about putting it on YouTube. Better is to get some hosting and a domain and build a website, then embed your video on your website in a custom flash player (there's programs you can download that I can't remember the names of that will create a flash player with your video in it, with customizable players/sizes). You could then put many other things on your website, like still renders, your contact info, etc., that would help you get more business.

[meatycheesyboy]

I agree, Flash would have been a good choice but as an SWF not as an FLV. Someone correct me if I'm wrong but, an SWF can be viewed in any web browser that has flash player (virtually everyone's) whereas an FLV for some reason, cannot.

[Brunson]

I agree, Flash would have been a good choice but as an SWF not as an FLV. Someone correct me if I'm wrong but, an SWF can be viewed in any web browser that has flash player (virtually everyone's) whereas an FLV for some reason, cannot.

Generally, neither a .swf or a .flv file can be directly opened in a web browser. However, both a .swf and a .flv file can be embedded and displayed in a web browser. This is because it is not the browser, but rather, the Flash plug-in that is displaying the file. The type="application/x-shockwave-flash" tag that goes in the embed code summons the Flash plug-in to display the file. YouTube videos, for example, are in .flv format but are embedded.

[Stunt Pixels]

Generally, neither a .swf or a .flv file can be directly opened in a web browser.
I may be wrong, but I believe that you can open an swf directly. It just has no parameters to define the playback size, and things out of frame are not masked. But I think that is correct with a (an?) flv...