PPGI - Week 2

Good and Bad Modelling Showreels

A good google search later, its possible to bring up loads of websites explaining how to make a good showreel, one such website is this.

Few points to note include:

Concentrate on your chosen profession, so if you're good at animating then make sure that's prominent on the showreel, even if the modelling isn't great, make some generic models and animate then. On the other side, don't animate a model if it looks good on its own, unless its necessary.

Don't waste time on creating fillers between models or on the beginning/end credits as this is meant to be a showreel of your best work, and in a sense make the employer want to see more of your work.

Make sure the pacing of the video is correct; if you want to show of a model as its your best work then spend enough time showing it while if its not your best work don't spend as much time on it. Furthermore, if you're going to include a soundtrack, try get the music to match the pace of the video so it feels like its flowing through your work.

Credits at the beginning and end should have your name and contact details, and the middle if you're showing group work so as the employer knows what work was done by you.

Bad Showreel Example

This showreel started off alright, but I feel it kind of went down hill from there.

The continuous camera movement is brilliant throughout the whole video, and its always good to show 360 degree views of the models. However, the constant change to the skeletal meshes is just another way to extend the length of this short showreel (which only shows 5 pieces of work).

The addition of average animation skills will confuse the employer as to if they're applying for a modelling position or animating position.

The train, with animation, was good but there was no 360 degree view of it, and then it changed to a sketetal mesh.

The victorian town modelling was once again good, but looked unfinished as it wasn't textured and that would have been a good addition to a showreel.

The female model wasn't a great piece of modelling, so the addition of it makes me assume that the creator of the showreel doesn't have any more good pieces of modelling to show and that he shouldn't be a character artist as the model was unclothed and looked unfinished because of that.


Good Showreel Example

A good clear example of work on this showreel, specifically to character and vehicle modelling, with some animation to make the models look more realistic.