Hello everyone, I graduated from the Art Institute with a BA in computer animation here in MN. I have done a little bit of freelance work but my real goal is to get into the gaming field. I am currently making a new demo reel from the ground up for specifically games. My question to you, what are the points, and content I should really focus on. Thanks for any advise.

I'm not an expert in this area but I think it would be useful to make sure you animate both a humanoid model and a complicated quadruped like a dragon. You could even make the two fight each other.

Modeling isn't my area, but I worry about art assets all the time. I think there's a certain logic to this sort of thing:

I'd include:
- animated humanoid character, to show that you can model people. For bonus points, I'd include a realistic figure and a highly stylized figure.
- animated non-humanoid character, to show that you can apply general principles of animation and modeling in, ah, exotic applications. If you're awesome, model a running horse or something; it's amazingly difficult, as you can imagine.
- some props/items; or better yet, a character using different props/items, because just modeling a sword or something is what everyone ever does. Consider having some realistic examples as well as highly stylized.
- architecture, both interiors and exteriors, to show that you can model artificial environments.
- a natural environment, or props for one -- like trees, or something. A lot of this is generated nowadays, of course, but I imagine it's a good trick to show that you can model a tree with particular care for making the foliage look natural by clever use of textures without modeling every leaf and branch.

I'm not sure if you're into texturing, but it'd be a good trick to show the exact same model with different textures that make it look radically different. It'd show an understanding of how to make generic model features look particular through clever texturing, which is great for the re-use of assets.

A lot of this depends on what you want to get into, of course. Maybe you are more into characters -- then focus on those. Maybe you do stylized more than realistic. Play to your strengths and passions, of course.

Best of luck, etc!

Thanks for all the advise, my strengths are def. modeling and texturing. but I do want to be more versed in the rigging and animating. Thanks again and if anyone else has any feed back or ideas, my ears are open!

The main thing is to be a master in whatever job your looking at and have some knowledge in the rest of the workflow. (This just helps you with communicating with the other members.)

If your going to work in 3D Modeling then make your demoreel focus on showing off the geometry and the textures of your models. If your looking into a job in animation, then show off the animations, maybe display a little bit of the rig set-up. Show off some actions and running cycles of various types to show you can do what's needed for a game.

If your BA is in computer animation then that would probably help your resume a bit more for getting an animation job. But remember that the portfolio is the strongest point in the art side of the gaming industry.

Don't combine your animation and modeling reels into one, make sure they seperate and top notch for the specific job your looking into.