Sigma

Beautiful renders there, @Vorontsov . Testing out a new software (EmberGen by JangaFX) below. Just the initial 20 minutes result.

Beautiful renders there, @Vorontsov . Testing out a new software (EmberGen by JangaFX) below. Just the initial 20 minutes result.

After working on my cave scene so much, I decided a few months ago to parry away from environment art permanently, and instead have chosen the VFX route. Below are a couple I have worked through. I am on the fast track for learning Houdini as well.

After working on my cave scene so much, I decided a few months ago to parry away from environment art permanently, and instead have chosen the VFX route. Below are a couple I have worked through. I am on the fast track for learning Houdini as well.

After working on my cave scene so much, I decided a few months ago to parry away from environment art permanently, and instead have chosen the VFX route. Below are a couple I have worked through. I am on the fast track for learning Houdini as well.

After working on my cave scene so much, I decided a few months ago to parry away from environment art permanently, and instead have chosen the VFX route. Below are a couple I have worked through. I am on the fast track for learning Houdini as well.

After working on my cave scene so much, I decided a few months ago to parry away from environment art permanently, and instead have chosen the VFX route. Below are a couple I have worked through. I am on the fast track for learning Houdini as well.

After working on my cave scene so much, I decided a few months ago to parry away from environment art permanently, and instead have chosen the VFX route. Below are a couple I have worked through. I am on the fast track for learning Houdini as well.

Hey Pau,
I agree with Mike that there seems to be a little bit of confusion between your stated role (Environment/Props) and your reel and portfolio. Why is there a character head if you're doing props and environments? If you do not need movement to show the nature of your work then stick with still shots. Recruiters and managers do not have time to watch unless they are specifically looking at motion (animation/vfx). They're literally going to do a "has chair, has table, good material definition, has talent" type of check. So I would start there. The second thing I would mention, and you have gotten much better, is to really spend some time on environments and/or props. Give them a lot of character. Go back in and really define a prop's story or the environment. Environmental storytelling is key and it takes a lot to get right. Look at some of the twitter threads by Ryan Benno (Insomniac Games) as he covers this in detail and really pushes for it, particularly with juniors. Right now, I see basics in your full environments, but not storytelling. Same with the props. Go back in and really refine where the rust shows on that airship and how large it is, etc. On this note as well, remove your weakest works from your portfolio. The bomb, futuristic pistol, and ShogunX (not the photogrammetry one, although remove the character face). My last note, remove the "(training)" from everything. You are a Environment Artist. Period. I hope that helps.

Took a break from the bridge and hopped back onto the vfx work for this scene. Made a new, smaller scene so that I can work, refine, and compare versions of the effects (namely the waterfalls with light shafts and mist and fire work).
 

Took a break from the bridge and hopped back onto the vfx work for this scene. Made a new, smaller scene so that I can work, refine, and compare versions of the effects (namely the waterfalls with light shafts and mist and fire work).
 

Took a break from the bridge and hopped back onto the vfx work for this scene. Made a new, smaller scene so that I can work, refine, and compare versions of the effects (namely the waterfalls with light shafts and mist and fire work).
 

Took a break from the bridge and hopped back onto the vfx work for this scene. Made a new, smaller scene so that I can work, refine, and compare versions of the effects (namely the waterfalls with light shafts and mist and fire work).
 

It's both clunkier and also less clunky due to the modifier stack. Regardless, looks like you have a good start there. Depending on how detailed you want to get, you could probably get away with a lot of it just showing as texture work using tiling textures. Also, FFD (or lattice deformer in Maya) is an awesome tool. I use it all the time.

Took a break from the bridge and hopped back onto the vfx work for this scene. Made a new, smaller scene so that I can work, refine, and compare versions of the effects (namely the waterfalls with light shafts and mist and fire work).
 

Good enough for my first Max model. It feels a lot clunkier than Maya, but I guess the modifiers are cool. This will do for the gray box.

Took a break from the bridge and hopped back onto the vfx work for this scene. Made a new, smaller scene so that I can work, refine, and compare versions of the effects (namely the waterfalls with light shafts and mist and fire work).
 

@Castle: This is what concerns me the most about approaching the industry to join it and it is something I have been trying to argue against for the last year. I come from the land of City Management as a professional; we have literal lives on the line when we make decisions so it disturbs me when leaders are ineffective and/or incapable of decision making. It helps that we have a very well understood organization hierarchy and that decisions are made early and often (reassessed depending on changing environment). It drives me nuts hearing about decision paralysis so deep into a project as being prevalent throughout the industry. It is why I have become a strict adherent to a mantra of "under promise and over deliver." I hope one day I get to bring my professional expertise on organization management to a video games company. As for the burnout and lack of information concerning mass layoffs (and by extension project release dates) I created videogamelayoffs.com (don't look if you are touchy about the subject). Hopefully that becomes a helpful point in tracking the relationship between hits, the general economic outlook on sales, and layoffs/burnouts.

@Castle: This is what concerns me the most about approaching the industry to join it and it is something I have been trying to argue against for the last year. I come from the land of City Management as a professional; we have literal lives on the line when we make decisions so it disturbs me when leaders are ineffective and/or incapable of decision making. It helps that we have a very well understood organization hierarchy and that decisions are made early and often (reassessed depending on changing environment). It drives me nuts hearing about decision paralysis so deep into a project as being prevalent throughout the industry. It is why I have become a strict adherent to a mantra of "under promise and over deliver." I hope one day I get to bring my professional expertise on organization management to a video games company. As for the burnout and lack of information concerning mass layoffs (and by extension project release dates) I created videogamelayoffs.com (don't look if you are touchy about the subject). Hopefully that becomes a helpful point in tracking the relationship between hits, the general economic outlook on sales, and layoffs/burnouts.

When splines break causing your bridge to break. :/

When splines break causing your bridge to break. :/

Hi gang. Last year I started putting together my own personal wiki due to finding others lacking in areas (such as dead links or out of date information). After a couple of migrations and a lot of additions and edits, I made it available publicly in November. Since then I have continued working on it. I don't know if anyone here will find it useful as I am not treading any new ground - but thought I would share it. It covers a wide range of topics centered around 3D art for games. It is a work in progress so there are areas that are clearly lacking (e.g., the Unity section). Please let me know what you think. Thanks!
- John

Hi gang. Last year I started putting together my own personal wiki due to finding others lacking in areas (such as dead links or out of date information). After a couple of migrations and a lot of additions and edits, I made it available publicly in November. Since then I have continued working on it. I don't know if anyone here will find it useful as I am not treading any new ground - but thought I would share it. It covers a wide range of topics centered around 3D art for games. It is a work in progress so there are areas that are clearly lacking (e.g., the Unity section). Please let me know what you think. Thanks!
- John

My girlfriend is currently presenting the demo we created to R.R. Martin, not sure what to think about that. I can't help but be excited, even though it doesn't really mean anything. Fame is weird.