Subject: Re: OFFTOPIC : Gamer Demo Reels
From: [email-masked] (Scott McCabe)
To: Multiple recipients of list <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 8 Dec 1995 12:48:05 -0500

>
>The point is, these are games that were developed "yesterday". If you are
>going to be competitive, the animation is going to be much more involved
>than what is currently available. I would not shrug it off so casually.

I'm sorry if I came off that way, I am in no way shrugging this off. I guess
the point I was trying to convey, is that in *past*, game character animation
has been just a few tiny frames and never complete motions. Also,  I agree
that if one wants to be competitive, the character animation skills one
carries should be like hot snot. I am NOT saying "Well the other games don't
use full character animation...so why should I?". It was just an observation
that past games don't use heavy character animation, which lead to my
question "so what are they looking for when they look at a tape then?".
That's all.

>If you are relatively new to animation, I'd venture to say your character
>skills aren't as up to snuff as you think. But then who am I to say as
>I've never seen your work. 

Ok, I'm not saying that I'm the master of character animation but then I'm
not saying I totally suck at it either. However, I learn extremely fast and
would welcome any suggestions or pointers you might have. I will always need
to better my skills at character animation and modeling (among other things
too) and will for the better part of my life. I know where my strengths and
my weaknessess are and I'm not afraid to admit to them...in fact I enjoy
just making scenes,enviroments,non-organic objects far better than characters..
for some strange reason..but I will not turn my head from it either. 

>This in itself points to how much more sophisticated the motion needs are
>today, far beyond what you are implying.

Again, what I've said obviously didn't come out right. I was just asking a
question based on what I've seen in past games. I'm not saying "Well if the
game doesn't use heavy character animation, why should I do it then". There
is a ton of stuff I need to learn and work at. I just wanted to find out
what game people are looking for. I have been teaching myself for the past
while, no outside comments on my work, no other help (except this list :)) 
no-one, It's almost being stuck in a desert island. I wanted to see if
the skills I currently have match up to what the demand is (or at least
somewhat close). If I don't have the skills yet, I will work dam hard to get
them.
I'm lucky to be working on the current game I'm doing now..is a hoot and I
love it..I want to get better at it too. 8)

I'm sorry if my posts came across as egotistical, or arrogant, that was
not my intent. I am just a guppie in a huge ocean, and not in anyway
consider myself even capable of sporting any kind of attitude..in fact
it's quite the opposite.

Sorry again..Maybe I should stick to 2 sentance points then. :)

--Scott