When Pigs Fly - My first Blender animation!

Hi all!
I’m a 3D animator that spends whatever small amounts of free time I have on Blender, working on Animations and models. The following link shows my first CGI animation ever (made around a year ago but published online a week ago), by all means help yourself,


I do urge you to actually watch the whole thing and not skip parts. In order to appreciate the video, you’ll really need to muster the attention span for it.
I’m making another CGI animation as we speak, and I’m really aspiring to watch all your independent animations and the like.
I’d love more than anything to find people who are passionate about discussing storyboard ideas, as well as screenplay scripts; just people who are as passionate as I am about discussing the animation process.
If you’re reading this, do not hesitate to show me ANY short animation you’ve made. Heck, let’s talk about your upcoming stories together and help build up something stronger, I promise I’ll give novels of feedback on every turn.
If you enjoyed the video, please, leave feedback, >>>>>as well as a link to your own youtube channel or videos.<<<<<
I look forward to hearing from you,
Thank you for reading!

It’s always nice to see how their first animations turn out. Now, here are my views on the video. Right off the bat, the title of the video was misleading. The name of the video posted was called “When Pigs Fly” but the actual title is called “Wake Up, Speaker Robo!” This, in turn leads into the next statement. The focus of the story was all about the flying pig staying cool and not much about waking up the robot. There are two things that I noticed about the scene at the 1 minute 44 second mark. Part of the wall was not UV mapped correctly on the right hand side of the window as well as around the window still. Once you get to the 1 minute and 51 second mark, it kind of broke the illusion for me when the robot, somehow, faded from sight. You could have let it walk off camera, “walk out the door” and then fly up. That would have been a bit more believable.

The last thing I want to point out is the sound in the ending credits. I have no idea what they are chanting about, but it doesn’t make sense to add it on at the end of the animation.

Overall, it was all over the place about what the story was mainly about with the conflicting titles and it feels like it was jumbled together with out ironing out the details at first. It’s better to create an idea and just stick to that one. Create a script and just follow it to the letter.

Wow, what great feedback.
To put you in a mindset of the video making process, when I was making the video I had some kind of weird bias in which I simply HAD to put the Robo in somewhere.
Also, I called it “When Pigs Fly” simply because I thought nobody would be interested in a film called Wake Up, Speaker Robo.
But yes, great feedback. I’ll keep that all in mind for my next animation.
Send me your animations if you have any!

Hi!
Yes I didn’t get the storyline either, and the black frames between scenes were a bit distracting for me - maybe a more subtle ‘fade’ might have worked better and helped the flow?

But don’t be put off by what others might say - making mistakes and correcting them is a good way to learn, and (hopefully) getting constructive suggestions for improvements from more experienced animators on here is far better than your friends telling you you’ve done a brilliant job!

I’m just a beginner myself and posted my own very first attempt at 3D animation on here about a week ago - but so far I’ve not had much response (other than from XeroShadow who seems to like helping newbies! :))

It’s here if you want to have a look… https://youtu.be/fcMCZolULd4

Hey Bloke! (Heh. Great username.)
I’m at work and I’ve seen your comment, once I’m home I’ll edit this comment with a proper response. (That will be in 5 hours from now)

(Edited)

Thank you for the feedback! I’m super fond of feedback of any kind, as long as the opinions are honest. At the end of the day, I’m just trying to become a better animator.
For example, this feedback makes me aware that I really need to focus on two things for my next animation:
-Preproduction
-UV Mapping

Of course there are general QoL changes, but these were the most urgent in my opinion.

I saw your video too by the way!
I liked the lip sync and all, and the fact that it seemed like you knew exactly what you were doing.
Of course, the animation seems very old-school internet-like; it feels like an animation that was taken from 2000-2006 internet era. But the fundamentals are there, if you built up on making it seem a touch more professional, I could really picture a series or something.
Also, I subbed :slight_smile: That means keep making videos.

Never assume that no one will like a film just because of the title. Like everything else, there’s an audience for someone. As far as the animations go, they are more like works in progress. Here’s an example.

This was made a year ago! I need more content.

I was looking around your channel actually, and saw the RvsB animations. It seems you’ve been doing this for years (3000 posts?).
I would give feedback on your video, but I think you’re already completely aware of the things that need fine-tuning, just a hunch.
One thing I will mention though, is that it would go a long way for you to really express your character. When he wakes up, I feel like he’s supposed to have a slightly difficult time waking up, so maybe just a second of him on his back after stretching, contemplating waking up, the way we all do in the morning, would go a long way. I’d love to see this when it’s fine-tuned. You need to link me the end result :slight_smile:

Of course. It’s a test shot. It still needs more polish, but I’m all over the place on this project. It’s going to take me a while.

I’m relatively new as well…

This was actually decent. I don’t have any new feedback, but I agree that part where the robot thing just disappeared from the screen just kind of broke it for me…but it was kind of funny when dudes legs were spinning like a helicopter…
Otherwise it looked and sounded fine…I’ve seen worse animations on T.V. so…good job.

Really?
I’ve had this film in festivals and the like, and had so many people watch it, and the Robo fade-out scene being an issue was never mentioned once. This is super interesting.
The part with the helicopter legs being funny was brought up almost every time, and even I find that one funny!

So, Outlaw, you’re not immune; what are your animations oe works in process?

Well…I have some things I’ve been working on, but they are still being tweaked. I’m not currently at a point where I want any criticism because they are not complete in many ways. For example: I have a walk cycle for a character. She has “filler” clothes and a very basic look, but it was a proof of concept, not a finished project. I just wanted to see if I could do it. I’m not going to be uploading these raw animations to youtube, so…hmmm…okay:
[video]https://photos.google.com/album/AF1QipOXagbpZegDDK558CpRSNyuxePCmv-tne-MnFJJ/photo/AF1QipPcb-WvvmANqPYREV2ry3AhIPUs5mUZYRRMBhwy[/video]
[video]https://photos.google.com/album/AF1QipOXagbpZegDDK558CpRSNyuxePCmv-tne-MnFJJ/photo/AF1QipMjcf8m4RLiVd1EAkVMJd-k-oM8mmnVjkjdL_96[/video]
[video]https://photos.google.com/album/AF1QipOXagbpZegDDK558CpRSNyuxePCmv-tne-MnFJJ/photo/AF1QipMMVwFYUQs06DSDfMA2oCctFTeFkMQ0EAhlUrPG[/video]
I have more…quite a few more, but I will post my own thread when I’m at a stage of development where I can constructively use criticism.
Those three little animations are…conceptual. I’ve been working less on animating and more on materials. I’m not working on something that will be…short or easy. Like XeroShadow, I have a project that is just going to require a bit more.
I don’t have a bunch of money to throw into learning or buying cool models. I work with a laptop that probably should have been retired 3 years ago.
My point here is that, I started with a story to tell and Blender is the means through which I will tell it, but it’s too big and I still have much to learn before I can crank out anything worthy of criticism.

Yo Outlaw, your links don’t work!

Just tested them…
Work fine for me…

They seem to be links to things only you can see since you’re logged in.
Do you have any other links? Do they work for anyone else?

Hmmm…I see. It’s Google’s filesharing rules. The links expire. They’re really not worth the effort anyway…As I said, they’re just raw concept videos.

Looks like something from 2001 early animation like something from Jimmy Netrun and Veggie Tales. (Sorry I’m new too the guys above me gave great advice though.) I haven’t even made an animation yet i’m still figuring out texturing good luck though I’ll bet you’ll be one of those amazing animator one day.

Hey DollFace, that actually means a lot!
Texturing is one of the trickier parts to Blender, in terms of being able to pull it off properly. Even I haven’t gotten the hang of it and I’ve been using the program for almost two years now.
If you ever need help or advice with anything, let me know! I might be able to help you get started.