Aspiring 3D Environment artist: Give me a reality check.
polycounter lvl 6
Here is the thing, I'm 25 years old and about to complete my degree in Industrial Design. I've made maps for fun for some years but only discovered and taken 3D environment art seriously recently.
I'm attracted to 3D environment art because it uses skill in painting, texturing, modelling and art direction all in one. I've always been really interested in colour theory and lighting as well. I topped my class in drawing and am known as one of the better CAD users (Solidworks and Rhino).
That being said I feel like I'm getting a late start, anyway here is some misc work of mine.
Basically I want to know if I have "what it takes" and also was hoping someone can clear up any misconceptions a may have about working as an environment artist.
Main Role:
- To use game assets to create visually compelling levels within the guidelines of both the art director and level design restraints.
Secondary Roles:
- The creation of game assets for the use in levels.
- The creation of textures for use in levels.
- The ability to concept sketch for ideation and communication (not production painting)
Pipeline:
- Start with preliminary sketches
- Identify models and texture to be made.
- Create level with these assets according to the guidlines.
Programs:
- Photoshop for textures and painting (proffiecient)
- 3DS max for the creation of props (learning)
- Substance designer for texturing (haven't used at all)
- Knowledge of unity, UDK and other mainstream engines (I primarily been using source)
Industry:
- Yes there are jobs in 3D art.
- Salaries range from 45K - 55K entry, up to 68K mid-level, up to 74K senior, with advancment to art director.
Basically I need a reality check from someone more experienced. Do I have what it takes? is it worth pursuing? I've only had the confidence to take such a notion seriously recently, before that I've struggled to get a "real career" in engineering which just lead to depression.
I'm currently involved in a project as an environment artist, it's a friend who said they will pay me for assets.
I'm attracted to 3D environment art because it uses skill in painting, texturing, modelling and art direction all in one. I've always been really interested in colour theory and lighting as well. I topped my class in drawing and am known as one of the better CAD users (Solidworks and Rhino).
That being said I feel like I'm getting a late start, anyway here is some misc work of mine.
Basically I want to know if I have "what it takes" and also was hoping someone can clear up any misconceptions a may have about working as an environment artist.
Main Role:
- To use game assets to create visually compelling levels within the guidelines of both the art director and level design restraints.
Secondary Roles:
- The creation of game assets for the use in levels.
- The creation of textures for use in levels.
- The ability to concept sketch for ideation and communication (not production painting)
Pipeline:
- Start with preliminary sketches
- Identify models and texture to be made.
- Create level with these assets according to the guidlines.
Programs:
- Photoshop for textures and painting (proffiecient)
- 3DS max for the creation of props (learning)
- Substance designer for texturing (haven't used at all)
- Knowledge of unity, UDK and other mainstream engines (I primarily been using source)
Industry:
- Yes there are jobs in 3D art.
- Salaries range from 45K - 55K entry, up to 68K mid-level, up to 74K senior, with advancment to art director.
Basically I need a reality check from someone more experienced. Do I have what it takes? is it worth pursuing? I've only had the confidence to take such a notion seriously recently, before that I've struggled to get a "real career" in engineering which just lead to depression.
I'm currently involved in a project as an environment artist, it's a friend who said they will pay me for assets.
Replies
Do straight up hero props, no environments. Its easier to throw away and faster finished and you lean more by doing one complex thing than 50 simple ones. Don't mess up your chances by sending your stuff to early, make sure to get another portfolio check 4+ months down the road. A weekend job is always a good idea if you rely on money, also makes you want to achieve the other one more.
The tip about focusing on realistic hero models is a really good Idea I will definitely take this to heart and focus. I know I'm behind but that's life I guess. I will keep trying, thanks.
I was interested in 3D from as early as highschool, so by the time I finished college, I knew a lot of 3dsmax (I used to make school projects in 3dsmax not Rhino like requested), and parts of the industry workflow (baking, UV'ing, texturing, after gathering every resource I could find). After you land a job, you'll get up to date with the industry in a couple of months (in a week of work at a job you'll get more done than in a month at home). The advantage you have is the eye for composition, colour, form, etc from the Industrial Design background, you can apply that to the props you make to get them interesting enough to catch the eye of any employer.
If you want to go 100% 3d, the best advice I have is to look at other people's work at websites such as artstation and zbrush top row and see where the bar is set for 3d. Break down what you see into base components, analyze them, then try your best to raise the bar. Games are becoming more and more similar to movies in terms of 3d, so movies are excellent inspiration nodes too.
Like others have said; really get a good foothold on the PBR process. Cage baking, mesh exploding, efficient UV mapping, materials, how cloth simulations work, water simulations, explosions, blood masks, axis-coordinated textures and so on, and how they all fit together within a game engine, and interact with the 3d assets that you make.
good luck!
Also with being behind, I guess I will just be 25, 26 surrounded by 21 year olds when I get my first job right? is that really that bad besides wasting a few years, or do people only hire young?
The advice on doing props and single hero pieces is solid too
a degree in industrial design sounds quite nice on the CV for an environment artist, so I would work on stuff where you can use the skills you have learned from that, at the moment you should focus on simple stuff and get the basic workflow right though.
Age is irrelevant (unless you're 80), because you're not on some kind of timer where you can only work up to age 35 and then be barred from the industry. So you're not BEHIND anyone. From my experience, you're not gonna be surrounded by 21 year olds when you get a job. And hell, if you're gonna become super insecure about your age at some point, you can just freelance from your bedroom chair. Harder to do that as an engineer and having to watch hot young new engineers being hired at your company!
As far as you "having what it takes", the question should really be "will I be able to put in the necessary work?"
There's no innate "having it", it just boils down to the number of hours put in. To check if you're already there, simply compare your work to current games and go back to grinding your skills.
What you have, is roughly in line with what the industry was doing 10-15 years ago. What I see is barely acceptable for mobile platforms today and not at all acceptable for current development for consoles or PC. BUT I think you have a good foundation to spring from.
Your portfolio and art needs to answer questions that an employer will have. They have fears and anxiety about your ability and your portfolio needs to address those fears and answer all of their questions, so they are confident in your ability to walk in and knock it out of the park. Most places aren't looking for someone to get their foot in the door and train up while on the job. They want someone who meets or exceeds their expectations. Keep in mind that each place is a little different but there are some common things.
Having been on the hiring side of things here are some things I would address:
How is it constructed?
Based on the shots I'm looking at, I'm not sure how you make your assets.
It's not just about dropping jaws with final polished shots, but your methods need to be clearly laid out and solid. It helps to see the wireframe overlaid the model. This lets them know how advanced you are at modeling. What you know about topology and how you deal with difficult areas on a model. Do you use a lot of conjoined models or separate pieces? Do you understand why this is ok on high poly but frowned upon for the low? Do you know the difference and how to bake? Will the models be easy to understand and edit by other artists?
UV's?
It helps to see how you layout your UV's. Do you waste space and use giant maps with tiny details that won't down-res well? Do you know how to mirror UVs effectively and deal with seams? Do you know where to place seams? Can you deal with stretching effectively? Do you know when to straighten pieces, even if it introduces stretching?
Materials and Shaders?
I see a lack of material definition and very basic shaders. I don't see a solid understanding of reflection or normal maps. I see a lot of flat materials with a lot of of detail in the color Chanel.
Engine preview and working knowledge?
I don't see anything that indicates that these assets have been put in a game engine. This raises flags that you might not be familiar with some of the core features of an engine and you might not be familiar with working inside of one. Again it's not impossible to train someone in this regard, but that just means you will need to be really strong in another area to make that training and ramp up time worth it. Answer this question, so they don't have to worry about it.
Each game and engine is different and you can't be expected to know something that is strictly proprietary to their company. But there are enough free or near free engines available that will help check that off the list. They have a lot of common threads between then and it really helps to know some of the common pitfalls of working on realtime content. It helps you avoid a lot of issues and if you don't have that experience it shows. Again this can be "on the job training" but then you have to be amazing in another area that more than makes up for this.
I would start a new project and follow a correct pipeline.
I suggest following this tutorial made by Polycount's very own Millenia. It is an older video so the texturing pipeline is pre Physically Based Rendering. Follow his tutorial from High Poly to low poly modeling, his UV methods, and how he bakes that detail down. After UVing you can watch his texture process however keep in mind the industry has shifted from DNS or Diffuse (with Ambient Occlusion stored within the texture map), Normal, and Specular to PBR which is Albedo, Metalness, Roughness, Normal, and Ambient Occlusion. (Follow the references provided below.)
Weapon creation tutorial - Part 1 (high poly model) - Millenia
Weapon creation tutorial - Part 2 (low poly model) - Millenia
Weapon creation tutorial - Part 3 (UV & baking) - Millenia
Weapon creation tutorial - Part 4, final (Texturing) - Millenia
Some great reference for PBR texturing:
http://www.marmoset.co/toolbag/learn/pbr-practice
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Fb9_KgCo0noxROKN4iT8ntTbx913e-t4Wc2nMRWPzNk/edit
http://blogs.unity3d.com/2015/02/18/working-with-physically-based-shading-a-practical-approach/
http://www.artisaverb.info/PBT.html
As an environment artist for modern games, you'll also want to know when and how to properly use tiling textures and multiple UV sets, albedo/diffuse/colormap (diffuse generally had more lighting information baked in vs modern albedo/color), tangent-spaced normals, spec&gloss or roughness, metallic, AO map, lightmaps or emissive maps, etc. As an example a building may make usage of multiple tiling textures for their materials on UV Channel 0 or 1 (depending on how the engine names things), and have a second UV set strictly used for the baking of lightmaps or ambient occlusion.
There is also the ability to make things like buildings modular in nature as an environment artist, whether that be having the models be easily swapped out with other texture sets, or built so that they can be snapped together like legos if you were a level designer. (Bethesda's games are a prominent example of this)
I'd also switch to Unreal Engine 4 over the UDK as that is an older game engine (UDK is Unreal Engine 3), or learn CryEngine/Unity 5, or all of them a little while specializing in one. I used to use the source engine a lot when I was younger for level design, but frankly unless you're working for Valve Software or are making assets for the TF2/CS:GO/Dota 2 marketplace you likely will never find another studio that uses it in comparison to say how many studios today that use Unreal or Unity. Everyone seems to be using a pbr workflow these days or are catching up to it, so I'd learn that ideology. Even if you end up working for a company that uses more dated technology or a simpler handling of rendering or something like a mobile game, it is still important to show that you can create art in the most modern workflows.
One last thought is that generally the larger the company you work for, the more specific job tasks you will have. IE some large studios will have lighting artists, foliage artists, weapon artists, vehicle artists, etc. I'm not sure if you're clear on this but I'll get this out as it was one of my misconceptions at first : Level design is usually thought of as separate from an environment artist's position as one is to make fun and interesting levels, and the other is to take that level without altering it's general flow and make the visuals look compelling. The smaller your studio is the more likely it is that you'll be taking on multiple roles. IE I think someone who worked on one of the Far Crys said they had what they called "Level Decorators" or something of that nature, where they didn't actually build the main layouts of the levels but focused on adding in things like props, foliage, set dressing, etc. That's also a very very specific job however so I'd say just focus on making really nice "hero" models/props for now like the above suggested.