This one took me a lot longer than I’d anticipated. Had to learn Blender fur, energy explosions, advanced eye rigs to get the cats pupil working and wrap my head around Blender’s render layers system better to get the passes I needed.
But…I think it was worth it.
Direct link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSL0t2aHMvg
And a couple of images:
Cool, nice work 
Did you make the fur with a particle system? And what part of the project took you the longest?
Nice, the effect for the Pokemon coming out is a little different from what’s on the show, but it looks like the quality in general is pretty good.
He looks pretty cute 
Hello!
I think the overall render looks fresh, appealing and efficient. Animation wise, the howling part seems spot on and really convincing!
I would have some suggestions/remarks:
The smallest one: maybe it’s intended, but the fur makes it look more like a plush.
Then, about some animation issues:
First, it needs a touch more follow trough, especially on the ears and tail.
Also, it’s clear that you forget to manage the Carpus and Hock joints (similar to our wrists and ankles) on some parts.
I would take as an example this frame:
With this kind of pose, it would be painful and uncomfortable to have this wrist angle, it should be kind of aligned with the arm and the paw. For the ankle, it seems relaxed and unbalanced while it should be tense en firm, I would bring it forward.
Fixins this joints issue will make the poses more “physically” correct and believable.
I don’t know for Umbreon, but I know for sure that Eevee is supposed to be kind of a dog, and dogs have a very precise gesture system.
The pose you made is near the “threatened” pose, dogs take this pose kind of as a dissuasion: “be aware, I grumble loudly, I have big teeth and if you do one more step I’m ready to jump at your throat!”.
You have the “be aware”, the “grumble” and the “big teeth” sides of the pose, but you’re missing the “I’m ready to jump” part, which IMO is very important and make the difference between other poses like “angry” or “attacking”.
Because the dog is ready to jump, he basically tenses up his muscles and posture for that: upper body lowered in order to give his arms a nice wide angle of action, the butt slightly behind his feet, ready to give a very strong hard push on his legs (and making the whole body go backwards, and the arms more extended and free for move).
Your pose is kind of in between all of that, the legs are extended far away, making them kind of “out of the game” for the eventual aggressivity engagement, the arms are not free.
I think that kind of attention to poses would make your animation look more awesome and emotionally intense.
Thanks!
Yes, the fur was made using Blenders particle/fur system. Rendering Umbreon with fur was definitely the most time consuming part. But in terms of actually having to sit there and do the work…believe it or not but probably the background. I was hoping to do the background as a composite in After Effects, but the shot has a lot of camera movement and I just couldn’t get it to line up. In the end I had to render the grass and stadium as 3D elements and bring that into AE.
Thanks Ace 
Yeah, I spent a lot of time trying to get the Pokeball energy stuff right. There’s some things that are easier to do in 2D, and getting it looking the same in 3D just wasn’t quite possible. Also, if you go and look at a variety of the anime (anime, movies, Pokemon Origins) the energy changes quite a bit. So I kind of made something up that was close, but also looked nice in 3D.
I’ve definitely still got some tweaking to do next time when the Pokemon exits the ball. Didn’t quite nail that.
Hey LOLock,
Thanks for all the detailed feedback! Some really, really good pointers in there.
The fur: I’m not sure if it’s the lighting, or if once posed the fur moved around a bit. It didn’t quite have that ‘patchy’ look in my tests and looked less ‘plushy’. That said, I think it still generally needs a bit more work, mostly with the fur material.
Great feedback on the quadruped posing. You’re fight, Eevee and Umbreon should have almost the exact same bone structure, both based on a fox/dog.
The Carpus and Hock are both parts I struggle with when animating quadrupeds. I think the best way is to just look at a lot more references to get those poses correct.
Thanks again, it’s great getting such detailed feedback
As I’m animating a cat, I have the same challenge with carpus and hock.
My tricks to get around this is to really consider them as hands and feet, meaning that the “fingers” are posed after the hand/ feet. Also, thinking that way helps to imagine yourself in that position (well, kind of 
) and consider how you would hold that pose without getting tired within two seconds.
That’s a good approach with designing your Umbreon. I love those fangs. Impressive work!
