Portfolio review (VFX, Environment)
polycounter lvl 10
Hi Guys,
I need a second opinion about my portfolio pieces/content, I was wonder if you guys could to through my portfolio and just tell me what do you think, is my portfolio missing something? (quality? specific environment? VFX?). Currently I am looking for a full time position and I'm struggling to find a job. That's why I am asking what I am doing wrong in terms of portfolio.
I'm about to start new portfolio piece, probably a Sci-Fi environment with some VFX. I want to replace my Sci-Fi corridor as I believe its my worst piece now.
Thanks !
Portfolio www.pmargacz.com
I need a second opinion about my portfolio pieces/content, I was wonder if you guys could to through my portfolio and just tell me what do you think, is my portfolio missing something? (quality? specific environment? VFX?). Currently I am looking for a full time position and I'm struggling to find a job. That's why I am asking what I am doing wrong in terms of portfolio.
I'm about to start new portfolio piece, probably a Sci-Fi environment with some VFX. I want to replace my Sci-Fi corridor as I believe its my worst piece now.
Thanks !
Portfolio www.pmargacz.com
Replies
Don't forget you asked for this feedback, I don't have time to sugar coat due to my limited time, so don't think I'm being an ass. Just calling em like I see em.
First Impression:
Your strongest piece is your boxing arena, Lead with that instead of your foliage.
I didn't get right away that I could click on the names themselves to get breakdowns. I attempted clicking on the image itself. (possibly make that whole image the link?) Not a fan of the halftone image in the background when viewing things, I'd say keep it simple and clean.
Foliage Scene:
Tree for Foliage Scene needs better silhouette, it looks very unnatural and very 3-d gamey atm. The arch needs another pass as well. It's not a very pleasing shape and I currently cannot tell what it's a bigger part of. A great ruins piece will allow the viewer to make sense of what was previously built before. Not always the case, but it'll lead to a stronger piece and tell a better story. Right now you've got a couple assets and a grass texture. You don't have to go nuts, but think of your competition. If they even attempt to tell a story or add some sort of visual landmark it'll stand out.
Example:
Take your Foliage scene - what if you added a cross and sword and helmet laying on a pile of rocks? See what I'm getting at? Still shows off what you want your viewer to see, grass and rocks, but now your telling a story. Should be doing this in some form for all your pieces.
Robocraft:
In game shots of robocraft look really low res, if needed at all. (shrink em down and do a four up shot onto one image.) Your images are getting stretched due to the vast size of my monitor...something to think about. Might look great on your setup, but what about others?
Boxing gym:
flooring texture needs work, ceiling should have different look than flooring, seems like you got lazy and didn't finish it. Seems odd to me support pillars would be made of wood. Should be concrete. Same goes for ceiling. I'm having a hard time identifying what this space is. Is it a warehouse, a basement? You need to figure that out and add the correct shapes to reflect that. Seems like a real missed opportunity to make this a warehouse. Better interesting shapes, windows, proper materials, will lend to a better opportunity to improve your lighting. Door and lockers in background seems dis-proportioned. Scene could use a sense of color composition as well.
Industrial Street:
Looking pretty good....lighting could use more work. Sky-box needs another pass. Road white stripes seem gigantic. Scale on wood pallets seems off. Get a car in there, use that to judge your scale for everything. Road widths, props, etc. Neon sign needs better construction method. Look at this image. This is one example for construction. Right now it just looks like your threw a glowing material onto a 3-d letter shape and called it a day.
Sci-Fi hallway:
Seems like everyone takes a stab at this at some point, and right now your in genericsville. Even with a most basic hallway. Look at image below: Even though it's a basic hallway there are interesting shapes, the lighting has a purpose or is interwoven into the design, windows or view-ports hinting at larger areas....you have none of that, and screams generic instead. Your sci-fi Silo looks good. Why isn't that quality reflected in your full composted scene?
Showing off texture work in your textures section that we've seen elsewhere seems a bit unnecessary.
Can't really comment on the VFX stuff since it's not my area of expertise, hopefully someone else will chime in.
So you've got work to do. Good luck.
Just compare (I scalled your pic horizontally):
When looking at the first I have a feeling I would hit the ceiling with my head if I were there.
Also there is really little info about your work, only single images + some props (not accessible from the home page). I think it's pretty important to tell how you made the environment.
Besides that your work looks good to me.
I think if you cleaned it up a little and made it more streamlined in how you actually access your work it would make viewing your work a nicer experience. You gotta remember the guys who view your folio have seen thousands of folios, so you've got to think how you can make it simple for them to see what you can do.
@KMiklas: thanks again for feedback I will definately work on scale
@Laze: Thanks, I was thinking to create a showreel (short video), to show my all models/environments and VFX.
thanks guys for feedback, I really appreciate your honest opinions. I will come back with some updates.
That's my que!
As far as your VFX go, you could pretty much omit the Maya fluids examples from your portfolio, as they aren't helping you much. All of them feel like they were simmed at a fairly low resolution. The fire looks alright, though fairly basic. The explosions need more work. They don't have very good motion to them. They're both very fast, and the smoke is much too turbulent.
As for the UDK fx, I'll give feedback on each one individually.
-Explosion: You shouldn't rely entirely on just one flipbook maya fluid texture for an explosion. It might look alright from the front, but if you start moving around the effect it will completely break the illusion. Render out a flipbook of a circular fireball, and emit several of them to give volume to your effect. You could also amp up the sparks/debris/smoke.
Here's an example of a nice volumetric explosion particle:
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-Weapon Effects: These ones are a bit better. I really dig the glow on the hammer swing. They still feel fairly bare bones though, like you're making them for a last gen game, especially the big cannon he fires last. Throw some sparks and smoke into it! Giving the hammer an impact effect would also help a ton with the presentation.
This video's got a bunch of cool character and weapon effects. You might be able to get a few ideas on how to give some more punch to yours.
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-Explosion 2: This one is a bit better than the previous example. Though it's still lacking a lot of detail that you could put into it.
-Barrel Fire: Visually it looks quite good, but it moves like it's in slow motion. You could definitely speed up the fire and smoke. Also, a small fire like that wouldn't be creating such thick and billowing smoke.
-Fire and Smoke: The fire, like in the barrel fire, is still lacking a lot of movement. Increase the speed and distortion to make it feel a bit more violent and random. The smoke doesn't feel like there's enough to pay attention to so you may not even want to include it.
Here's a nice example of a fire shader, no animated textures involved in this one:
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-Rain: The rain looks alright, though maybe a little sparse. The splashes on the bottom feel a little odd as they don't fade away, but rather immediately disappear once their lifetime ends, making it look like there are a bunch of popping bubbles on the ground.
-Muzzle Flashes: Probably your strongest effect. I like the smoke trail you've got going off them during the first few flashes. You could zoom in closer on them though, and it also feels like you recorded them at a low framerate.
Overall, you should keep working at it. If you haven't already seen them, you can take a look at some of the tutorials by ImbueFX
http://www.youtube.com/user/imbuefx
They've got a ton of real great tips. Also be sure to look at what other people do! Watch other peoples experiments and fx reels to get ideas that you can incorporate into your own work.
I started changing my Gym scene, here is an update. Let me know what you think.
After finishing this piece I will fix my street scene. Thank you guys for your help.