I could absolutely be wrong about it. It could just be a crazy bias. However, when I’ve seen the work of a “generalist”, it’s generally (<-- get it?) not that good. And when I see killer modeling work, and ask if they do animating, they usually say something like “I can, but i’m not that good at it” or “no”. Same with animators – they’re ether not very good at modeling, or they don’t do it at all.
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Contact me to get a quote. Can do models from early concepts to integration into unity.
there are generalist who do a good job at everything out there, and I think I’m far from being the only one.
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While this is true, you can rig it and than apply mecanim animations to it to validate it is mecanim ready AND you can check to see if you have any bad clipping occurring as the model moves. You can always use Ethan’s animations from the stealth project assuming you can rig your model to human.
Not true in general but not wrong either.
Some could do both but one not as good as the other and don’t want to argue or raise false hopes in the customer. And gerneralists not being as good … that depends on your expectations of “not that good”.
I know people of every kind: Those who mainly animate, those who mainly model, those who can do both very well (but most of them don’t freelance). And then there’s everything inbetween I am sure.
People who are exceptionally well at one thing are as good for a reason. They do mostly this. And they also know what they can’t do as good so they son’t sell it at all. Obviously as your wording implies you are someone who would definitely expect stellar results on both fields. So not to disappoint or lose time on something someone else specialzed can do much better much quicker they don’t sell it at all.
It all boils down to expectations and finding the right person. Personally I’d say - yes you are biased and it’s not true for everybody. I’d expect you are extrapolation from a few experiences but I can see where you are coming from.
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As a contract animator I prefer not to have to animate other peoples attempts at rigging, Unless they are basic humanoid low poly characters.
I like having the models created for me, and the quality of freelance modelers over the years has really increased.
Rigging on the other hand seems to be the point where people fall apart. Some modelers can rig, and believe it or not a lot of animators can’t rig.
I’ve performed several small fix it jobs on animation rigs over the last year.
Personally I wouldn’t consider hiring an animator who couldn’t rig characters. I also wouldn’t hire modelers who couldn’t create UVs and texture. These are requirements being contract artists I think.
If you consider to hire only 1 generalist artist to do the work from modeling to animations, I think I would hire two generalists.
I also agree with sfbay - you will get the highest quality from specialists. But make sure animators can rig and modelers can texture.