Autodesk Maya and different looks of animation?

[Meredith]

In the Star wars clone wars animated movie you see what professionals can do with autodesk maya, but when you see someones animation online you don't see a very good quality animation? Is it because they have more time to spend on it or what?

[Castle]

If you're talking about the overall look of the scene:
Generally character animators are just that. Character animators. They'll show their ability to make a character move realistically and that's all. People who focus on character animation generally aren't Effects Animators (people who work on particle effects, fire, smoke, water...), lighters, hair/cloth TD's (technical directors), render artists or compositors. To make something look as polished as the show you mentioned, you'd have to be skilled (or at least familiar) with those steps in production.

Usually, animators will post a bare animated scene if they're working on a personal project, or a group project that hasn't been fully rendered yet (and by that, I mean lights haven't been added, the cloth and hair don't move, muscle simulation hasn't been done, and so on and so forth).

If you're talking about the "actual quality" of the "character animation":
A lot of times when an animator finishes animating a scene, the director (and other animators (s)he's working with) will give them notes to improve the animation of the character. This can go on for weeks, until the character moves just right. When people have personal projects, and they're working alone, it can be hard to tell if the animation is as good as it can be.

I hope, somewhere in my ramblings, this answered your question. ^_^;