So I'm constantly asking myself. . . "is it worth it to animate my 3d models?"
And I don't think I've ever come to a definitive answer. Some clients love the animations. They believe it helps them to get a real feeling for the depth and scale of the scenery. Even more so when cameras are involved and we can stage the animation to reflect the method of recording.
But there are other clients that seem to barely react to an animated rendering. It just isn't that important to them, and the long hours put into creating the animation are wasted effort.
I still try to keep my basic animation skills up to speed, as I did for the video above. It's worthwhile just in case we get a client who springs a last-minute animation request on us. And as long as I've taken the time to set up and organize a 3d model properly it doesn't take too much time these days. Fortunately the software (and my hardware) have made the process far faster than in the past. I still find my animations somewhat crude, though. And, in my opinion, there isn't much of a way around that without honing some hard core video skills. Let's face it, this is a real profession and people are used to seeing a lot of quality work out there. "Faking it" usually shows. And, trust me, for the most part I'm faking it.
It's still an interesting endeavor, though. And I'll keep trying. It's a vicious cycle, of course. Because you can't practice your skills and get better unless you have a project to use as practice. Yet you can't get those projects without having the skills and portfolio to back it up. That leaves me trying to practice in my "free time". Yeah, I used quotes for that. Most of you probably understand why. If anyone has solutions or suggestions, I'm all ears. . .