Week 1

Advanced Specialism: Prop Art

Day 1

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Starting out, I have been tasked in choosing what I want to do for the large scale upcoming group project for my third year at Escape Studios. I chose prop art as I feel that my modelling is what I'm good at. I have recently learned more sculpting and Zbrush based workflow, allowing me to increase my quality of assets, along with the chance to learn a new and trending industry workflow called photogrammetry, giving me an edge when applying for jobs in the future, adding this to my portfolio.

For prop art I must create two models. One created using traditional methods, and another using photogrammetry. 

Victorian Leather Chair: I want to showcase a wide range of skills and this is why I chose this as a prop I want to make, traditionally, using reference online and from titles such as Visage and Layers of Fear. 

Visage is quite a recent title from the company SadSquare Studios that has impressed me quite a bit with the quality of assets. While watching gameplay, I was immersed with the level of detail in the environment.

RST Motorcycle Boots: For the photogrammetry side of this module, I thought my racing boots would be a very interesting reference to learn photogrammetry with. It has a lot of interesting shapes and as I am still learning this pipeline, I am eager to see what kind of results I will get from it.

For the rest of the week, I will be creating a schedule for this unit, prioritising my time and organizing what Im going to do, when, to keep on track, as well as produce a library of photos in the form of an art bible, for my Victorian leather chair. There will also be a style guide to go along with it, that will keep the quality of work constistent.


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Summary of Tasks...

• Schedule
• Art Bible
• Photogrammetry Research
• Skills Audit
• Primary research into antique furniture would be useful (bonus)

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Day 2

Art Bible:

I started my art bible for the objects I wanted to model. I gathered a page of references of Victorian-style chairs that I can gain inspiration and understanding from, All of the chairs that I am looking at have quite a lot of complexity and detail. The leather cushioning especially, but the wood also has a lot of interesting shapes and curves that will be moderately dificult to create.

I then chose what chair out of these references I liked the best and proceeded to break down and develop how I would tackle the workflow I think will be the most practical in achieving the desired goal, which is to get my model as close to the reference material as possible.

Processes I listed, involves blocking out the leather cushions in Maya, then exporting it to Zbrush, where I would add all of the bumps, curves, buttons and details. Once the high poly is completed, it would be either Zremeshed or exported back to Maya for retopologizing, using  quad draw. As for the wood, the majority, if not all of it, including the high and low poly will be achievable solely in Maya. The repeating parts of the chair can be duplicated. 

At the moment however, I only have this one reference for this chair. If I could find more photos of the same chair, it would be greatly beneficial, as more perspective images would aid in my modelling, but is not required, absolute.

I repeated this analysis with the object I am going to photogram too, but instead of listing methods that I am unfamiliar with, since I will be learning on the way, I just highlighted areas of the boot that I am excited to see the photogrammetry capture, such as the texture, lines, crevices, shapes and mesh, etc.

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Day 3

Skill Audit:

Later in the evening, I started to look at job applications and requirements, to reflect on my own skills, and compare them to what companies and studios are asking for, in order to get a visual of where I currently am, whether I am good enough to be hired, and where I need to improve. This also tells me where I am strongest so that I can focus my skills on the weakest points.

This included lsiting their requirements and pretty much just ticking the boxes, yes or no when it comes to me having what it takes to potentially get hired by them...

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Datascope Recruitment

Job Description:

The company

Our client, is now seeking a 3D Artist to join the team at the crucial time of the project in the north of England studio to create world class 3D art and AAA game worlds. The salary will include the salary that will depend on the experience levels plus benefits and relocation assistance.

The role

The 3D Artist will work on creating a variety of high quality and wide range of 3D assets to populate the game world such as weapons, vehicles, props, UV maps, textures and more. The ideal person will implement assets effectively into the game engine and maintain quality and consistency of work to meet objectives, quality and schedules.

The person

The 3D Artist will already be working in a similar role within a gaming studio.

The ideal candidate will have:

• Experience with 3D modelling tools such as 3ds Max, Maya or equivalent.
• Experience with texture creation/authoring tools such as Substance.

If you are interested in this opportunity, please send your CV in a WORD format to marta@datascope.co.uk

Reflection of My Skills:

Do I have experience with 3D modelling tools such as 3ds Max, Maya, or similar? YES

Do I have experience with texture creation/authoring tools such as Substance? YES and NO

Can I create a wide range of 3D assets? YES

Are my models consistent in quality? -

Do I have experience with game engines? YES

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Cloud Imperium Games

Job Description:

The ideal candidate has a strong understanding of game art creation and should strive to push the boundaries of next gen art. They should be organised, adaptable and understand technical limitations and budgets. Responsibilities: • Create high-quality props, working with and without concept art • Create props that complement the environments and help to tell the story of the Star Citizen universe • Continue to push the quality of artwork both visually and technically • Deliver high-quality models while being mindful of budgets, technical requirements. and time

Requirements:

• Thorough knowledge of the game development process

• Strong working knowledge of 3ds Max and Photoshop

• Hard surface modeling experience • An understanding of effective asset creation and optimization

• Experience applying and tweaking shaders

• A keen eye for spatial composition and building believable game assets • Excellent sense of form, mass, and volume

• Passion for pushing state-of-the-art asset fidelity and production techniques

• High degree of self-motivation and initiative

Pluses:

• Experience with Lumberyard

• Experience using ZBrush or Mudbox for organic shapes

• Experience with Substance Designer

• Knowledge and/or experience with physically based rendering (PBR)

• Strong verbal and written communication skills

• An avid gamer This position is offered at our Wilmslow Studio by Cloud Imperium Games Ltd

Reflection of My Skills:

Do I have strong working knowledge of 3DS Max? NO

Do I have strong working knowledge of Photoshop? YES

Do I have good hard surface modelling experience? Kinda

Do I have experience applying and tweaking shaders? Kinda

Do I have a keen eye and excellent sense of form, mass and volume? Kinda

Do I have a passion for pushing my art and production techniques? YES

Do I have a high degree of self-motivation? YES

[Extras]

Do I have experience with lumberyard? NO

Do I have experience with ZBrush or Mudbox? YES

Do I have experience with Substance Designer? YES but not confident so NO

Do I have experience with PBRs? YES

Do I have strong verbal and written communication skills? NO – I’m okay

Am I an avid gamer? YES

I have quite a bit of modelling experience in Maya and Zbrush, and throughout my two to three years at Escape Studios, my skills have improved a lot to where I am quite confident in my modelling knowledge.

I have some experience with Substance Painter and Designer, but my confidence in material creation is minimal to nothing. As for basic texturing in Painter, I can texture an asset okay. If they want someone that can also create materials using Designer, I would not be a suitable candidate, but if I was just expected to texture in general, I think I would be a suitable choice.

I can create a wide range of assets, and that was shown last year in my group project for Bioshock: London, where I created multiple props to be used throughout the game.

The consistency in my work is hard to pinpoint as I have been improving quite fast in very little time, so from last year, I feel a lot more confident in my abilities to produce a good asset than before. However, right now, I would say I keep my quality consistent.

I do have experience in Unreal Engine 4. I have a basic understanding of how to navigate, import, basic lighting, materials, etc. I have general knowledge and can create and implement my assets into an environment. This was learned during my second year in my group project.

I do not however, have experience in other 3D modelling softwares such as 3ds Max and Blender, which means that companies that don’t use Maya will most likely not hire me on that condition if I do not have experience in their main modelling platform. I also have little to no experience in creating materials in Substance Designer, but I do have quite a bit of experience in Photoshop, so I am decent in texturing, creating alphas and textures to be used in Substance Painter or ZBrush.

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Day 4

I have started my art bible, where I am composing pages of images and annotations to communicate a better understanding of what I want to achieve in this specialism project. I am hoping that this will make it very clear how I intend to approach the tasks at hand and demonstrate the research I have put into what I'm doing.

I currently have a page of references of many different chairs in the style that I want. This initially gives you the feeling of the model I want to create. I then chose the reference I want to use for my model, and started to break down how I will attack this challenge, the techniques and methods I am expecting to use throuhout the course of the modelling process, and how it is appropriate for the parts of the reference. I did do a little research on how the environment would effect what the chair would look like too. 

Going onto the photogrammetry section, I talk and showcase what Im excited to see how this more recent industry method of pipeline works, and what results that can come out of it.

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Day 5

Adding more pages to my art bible, including inspiring environments that you would expect to see my model in. This gives a greater sense of a style guide. This really solidifies what I am trying to achieve at the end of this project and the level of quality and detail I want to go into.

Victorian Chair Inspiration

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Day 7

Although I knew which reference I wanted to use for my model, I only had one image of a 45 degree view. Luckily, one of my friends managed to source more images of the chair from different views, which will help immensely during all phases of this project. I can see details clsoer, placements and shapes a lot better. I also have a better sense of scale.

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