Client asked for an animated transformer robot that could turn into their logo. Can do.I’ve got the modeling done, started the texturing, so far it’s about 4-5 hours of work.
It’s not super high quality, but it’s exactly what the client wanted, and that’s what matters 
I can feel the pain coming from the Clients Decisions
Looking forward to see how the Animation will turn out 
We’ll see what the client can afford- that will have a large impact on how the animation turns out 
personal projects, I always do my best. Client work, I give them exactly what they pay for and no more
I should clarify, I don’t work in 3D, I work as a web developer for a marketing agency. If I was a 3D freelancer, I would care more about quality, but this is just a weird little request that no one else knew how to do 
I instead have the bad habit to try giving my best even when the client does not pay for my Best.
I’m still too much of an Enthusiast to crash their Dreams with a pay per hour budget, but looking at your Portfolio, you do Right as you do
I also have a strange kink for B-movies, so I kinda love Projects on a Budget; I’ll keep what you said in mind when I’ll see your animation
I used to be that way, I found for me personally it didn’t work well because I’m not great at saying “no” to clients. I ended up doing way more work than I was getting paid for, and burning myself out. I don’t know that that’s universal, though, if you can say “no” to a client without pause I think you can always give your best, because you can ensure you’re getting paid for it
I totally agree, hope I’ll develop this useful “Addon” in the future happy bl
Client also wanted a sword made out of RAM, movable jaw, and more of their logo, and I do whatever the client wants
Updated the logo unfold animation- since I still have no idea what the client is looking for animation-wise (they don’t know either), I’ve left it pretty rough.
Client wanted a “tougher” face:
Well it’s getting in the right direction !
These clients !!! I love the RAM sword , so unique !
I’d say some improvements can be made to the animation but you’ve got a great basis with the robot !
I don’t want to interfere with what the client could say !
Keep up the good work , it’s fun to work on this !
Oh for sure. Truth be told, they’re running very low on hours they’ve paid for, so I’m deliberately leaving the animation rough until they’ve given me the directives for the final animations they want They want even more changes to the base, but my boss told me to hold off unless they pay more, so that’s that 
It is admittedly fun, but I definitely have some mixed feelings about it. I’m proud of my work, of course, but I don’t know if I’ll be putting it in a portfolio, as it’s such a radical departure from what I try to focus on. We’ll see
I was worried about the photo-realistic RAM looking out of place, but I think it’s just over the top enough to blend with everything else
Hahaha ok !
Well I understand, it’s great to let them decide and stick to the budget !
I also tend to be compulsory and try to do things as best as possible even on very low budget, but that’s a bad habit.
Sometime it’s also our job to influence them in the right direction, they aren’t supposed to know how to direct and take good artistic decisions. But it’s also possible to let them do what they like Especially if they don’t pay much and ask for a lot of changes.
And yes these project with cool stuff but low budget / bad decisions sometimes doesn’t feel right in a portefolio. At some point it’s also possible to add extra hours for yourself and make it like you wanted.
Or output a few bad ass images to not to struggle with animation.
It’s always great to have different stuff to show, and at some point when it gets too old you remove it from your portfolio.
that’s a really great idea, thank you I hadn’t though about that, but I think I’ll probably do that
One thing I should mention about the animation- there’s no armature, it’s just parenting currently. I am planning on adding an armature, but again I’m working on a pretty strict timetable and so far the client has wanted to hold off on that and focus on more immediate visual results. Once they sign on the final visual version, I’m going to add a simple armature with some 0/1 weight painting (probably, unless my funding gets pulled ) and that will dramatically improve the quality of animation
Awesome, you can parent to the bones in pose mode and skip weight paint. Indeed an armature can make it easier to work with.
Something that can be really cool, it to make the logo actually transform into the robot.
How to do that in a cheap way ?
If think it’s possible to do something like that with geometry nodes. You can take all the objects from your robot collection, scale them, make them move , maybe rotate, with slight offset.
For the logo you can cut it in different parts, and apply the same principle.
If you look at the reference video, they offset the red and blue part a bit too much so we see better the transition. But nearly every kind of motion works, and it works even more with a fast motion.
Once the robot is formed , then the armature start to move.
If I had a few hours to invest in geek stuff I’ll look into it, but maybe the client don’t deserve this…
Or you make it at home and show it to the client : “this is what I could have done if you payed me better …”
I can have a look at it if you want, seems simple to do it in a quick and dirty way !
I also love that idea. I’ll have to try that at some point. Normally I would jump on any opportunity to see your work with open arms, in this case,
yes, you are correct, your time is worth more than that the client is also super happy with the simple folding into the logo, I’m sure they’d also love that more complicated method but I’d rather they not know more complicated is possible for now. We’ve learned it’s somewhat dangerous to give them ideas
Thank you for your input, it’s always an honor to get your feedback
Hahaha you’re so right !
I think it’s a great exercise to try it out, and maybe keep it under the sleeve for a better occasion !
Indeed it’s much better to keep it simple, I tend to put myself in trouble with clients that don’t even ask for it !
I should definitely learn from you !
Just got out of a meeting and it turns out, my boss is having me pause work on this while they talk to the client about the end use (they want the animation on a place on their website that could potentially be bad for their business), so who knows where this goes from here
hahaha we always think that we are the artists here, but these clients are the best dreamers of all time !
