Thursday 24 February 2011

First Job: Character Animator at Rockstar Games

The first job that I have chosen to analyse my own abilities and development against is a Character Animator job at Rockstar Games.  I came across this job on GamesIndustry.biz .  I will start by analysing the job itself and I will then contrast it with my own ability.
We would like to hear from talented animators with a range of experience & backgrounds to produce in-game animations for future projects at Rockstar North, Edinburgh.

Requirements:

  •  Minimum of 3-year degree with an emphasis in character animation or equivalent work experience. 
  •  Outstanding demo reel demonstrating strong animation ability and good aesthetic eye. 
  •  Exceptional skill in animating realistic human characters. 
  •  Thorough understanding and application of classic animation principles (staging, timing, anticipation, follow through, etc.) 
  •  The ability to collaborate and communicate effectively with a wide variety of project staff. 
  •  Consistently meet project deadlines in a timely manner without compromising artistic integrity. 
  •  Assist in the integration of animation with designers and engineers to create compelling in-game animation. 
  •  Strong interest in video games. 

 Desirable:

  •  Experience with motion capture and MotionBuilder 
  •  Professional experience developing a third person action game. 
  •  Strong traditional animation/art background. 

All applicants should be fluent in one or more of the major packages with MotionBuilder experience an advantage.

Please note: ALL applications should be accompanied by a demo reel, either on DVD or a web link.

  •  Demo reels should be no longer than 3 minutes.
  •  Sound is not important.
First of all, I am working my way to have a 3-year degree.  However, I will need to put more of an emphasis on character animation.  I feel as though my character animating skills thrived during the first year; but since I have been on the second year, I have focused less on character animation and more on other areas.  In the next projects, I will need to put myself forward for animating duties as well as the texturing and rigging that I have been heavily involved in in the past few projects.

I have some ability to work with a variety of project staff; in other words, people who have different jobs on the same project as me.  I am currently working on this skill in Post Production project, as part of a team; but it would be good to get more experience working with people from other departments as I still feel I could improve my team working skills.

As for time management skills and consistently meeting deadlines; I find that I have always been good at handing work in on time.  However, I have recently started to learn that I have poor time management skills and I find that I easily use up time designated to certain projects, because I invest too much time in other projects.  As for working to tight deadlines, without compromising the artistic integrity in a piece, this has varied; and has depended on the varying technical ability of people who I have worked with in the past.

The desirable qualities for this job involve experience in MotionBuilder; along with experience working in a third person action game and an animation/art background.  I would say that I do come from an art background as I did several art courses before I got onto this degree and I always finished them with high grades.  As for the desirable experience, I have no experience in MotionBuilder, so I may consider teaching myself another 3D software package.  I also have no professional experience in the Games or Animation industries, but then again, I am working my way towards getting experience.

From this, I have found that I would benefit from learning other 3D software, particularly MotionBuilder.  I will also need to brush up on my character animation soon to check that my skills are still up to speed.  As for my ability to work within a team and my time management skills; I am at an advantage as the two units I am doing require me to work on these.

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