When to call a project done or move on?

Joebewon

Hey Polycount, 

When working on your own personal projects, how long do you usually work on it until you call them done?  Or just get sick of working on them?  

Personally I've been stuck on building an environment in UE4 to try to familiarize myself with the engine.  But, after I've created lots of props I've been wasting so much time trying to set dress and light the scene.  And wondering if I would just be better off moving on.  

Looking forward to feedback!  Thanks!

Ged

if you have the perseverance I recommend doing something else for a bit, eg make something in a completely different style or make a character sculpt etc then come back to the environment when youve had some fun and got that out of your system

garcellano

Yeah, I would agree with @Ged just try doing something else for a bit and then get back to it when you're ready. 
I did something similar on my polycount tower last year. Stopped for a bit, making some props for the handpainted art jam, then got back to the tower. I did give myself a bit of a deadline to at least have it done by the end of the year to call it done.

ExcessiveZero

Don't torture yourself over it, because that is in the other extreme but I think commiting to finishing projects is a huge milestone, it is easy to start a project when it's all fun and you got a ton of energy and enthusiasm but you can't quit when it's hard, when you got to throw on your headphones hit the music and start UV unwrapping a huge piece.

But if you feel a project is really holding you back, see what you can salvage and demonstrate and then try to realize why it is failing to meet your expectations at a reasonable pace and what you need to improve still.

Joebewon

Hey guys, thanks for the feedback!

@ged & @garcellano I've definitely been taking breaks in between with it doing other work, it's just one of those things where I feel like it's close but I just keep hitting roadblocks when trying to wrap it up.  

@ExcessiveZero: That's a huge reason I want to call this project finished.  I've been a part of too many group projects that just fall apart when it gets to be too much.  So I really want to see this one complete.  I did some renders of some of the assets I thought turned out well, and I'm going to revisit it again at a later date.  

Appreciate your input guys!

Deathstick

While I agree that working on something else for a bit (preferably something smaller and quicker, as to you can bang it out complete with polish before you end up fiddling and second guessing too much) can help when working on a large project, I just wanted to chime in and say knowing when and how to finish a project within a set time frame is an important part of being a production artist. Not to mention a happy feeling!

Though of course personal work is usually either portfolio work to show your highest level of skills, work built for improving said skills, or work for the sake of making art/producing something of your own, so it's really up to you in the end on when something's considered done. If it's stuff just for portfolio building, I'd say until you think it's met or exceeded the quality bar of whatever studio you'd like to work for. If it's stuff where you're trying to get faster while maintaining quality simply set deadlines or challenges like the one-month environment challenge or the concept-a-day threads.

Personally I believe a project is never technically "done," as you can always come back and improve or change things. If it's for a project, production, or portfolio it's more a feeling of "presentably done" in that it's hit the set milestone and has a coherent polish to the whole area. And it's not just art that has to deal with this problem. I've seen and heard of programmers who work on improving their code so it functions are expanded, or go back and rewrite parts simply to improve efficiency. I also knew some friends who are programmers who complained about other programmers that would go back and start randomly rewriting code solely for the purpose of "improving it" while in actuality ended up breaking everything, and that was in the business software industry! I guess a metaphor for sometimes you can overwork a singular project something to death as well and not see any significant improvement until the next one.

Just my 2 cents anyways, take from it what you will or won't  

Joebewon

that is some pretty solid 2 cents @Deathstick!
appreciate your perspective! :]

iadagraca

I just know every time i start a new thing it's going to be better than the last thing i finished, no matter how much time i put into the last thing.

So as long as the new thing is better looking than the last thing, it's probably done and it's time to move on.

In all other cases, i just asses if i'll ever want/be able to dedicate time to it again after it's reached the "technically done" phase. 

Bedrock

It depends what the project's for. If it's a portfolio piece then keep working on it until it hits the quality you are aiming for. If you are testing whether you can model something in X amount of time, well, that should be obvious. If you are unhappy with your project and it feels like you are stuck and can't think of a way to improve the scene without doing it again I'd probably move on. It depends on what you need really.

Joebewon

@iadagraca: I get that for sure, I'm definitely trying to push out better looking things each time I move forward. Its just something that I know I should wrap up, so it's a "start something new" or "try to finish up this on going project". 

@Bedrock: It actually started off with me wanting to sell all the props through an asset store, but now I'm more inclined to just make it a huge portfolio piece.  It really just comes down to set dressing and making it look good in engine, so i might take a chance at a different engine and see how it goes.  

Thanks for your input guys!

iadagraca

so it's a "start something new" or "try to finish up this on going project". 

@Joebewon Yeah i get that, another metric i use is how much time something took, for me i'm usually aware of how long a project should take. If I've long exceeded my expected time I asses if it's time to start something new or start over. 

Like for instance, for me modeling a basic head should take around 30 minutes and modeling a basic figure a couple of hours at most. When ever i exceed that time i usually find out i'm doing something terrible like making something overly complex, or maybe understanding something wrong . Then i'll scrap it, and do it again in half the time and much better than before.

For me something taking too long is a sign that it's being done badly.