[Portfolio] tyddynroger....yet another graduates portfolio

tyddynroger

Hi guys,

just after some feedback on my portfolio, I'm going to apply for jobs that I've had my eye on this week. my next step is to start on some environments. Anyway here's my site:

http://dalerogers3d.carbonmade.com/

thanks for anyone who takes the time to view and leave feedback.

Rockley Bonner

not bad, but not impressive. All of these could be better Mabey add some grim on the bed or a wrinkled blanket, peeling paint. Get on those enviroments man. keep it up!

Wesley

I think your mesh construction is probably the weakest aspect with all of these. Wasted polys, too many spent on assets, etc.

tyddynroger

@RJBoner thanks! I kept the mattress and bed separate so they could be used as individual props in an environment.

tyddynroger

@wesley thanks for the reply on what specific model or all of them?

Strkl

Hi there, the props are good, but I think it's a waste of time put each one in its own 'folder', and I don't think the screenshots of the wireframe inside UDK is really meaningful

You got some nice props, you could totally do a litle scene with those, do a plank, a table, a light, duplicate, enjoy (sounds so easy...)

tyddynroger

@strkl thanks! tbh i put each one in its own project folder because i felt that if i had one project folder titled "props" it would look a little empty.

these props where actually made for an environment for someone else, so i suppose i could knock something up, but im sick of the sight of them tbh! i'm currently working on an environment, when i'm at a decent point i'll post a thread.

cw

Good start, as mentioned the geometry could be much better balanced - uvlayouts too could be optmised better and the objects given a bit more character - overall the surfaces are a bit plain and consistently treated.

My advice would be to do a 2nd pass on each of them, and get feedback as you work on that process to help you tidy up the modelling, UVlayouts and texturing.



Good start!

System

Textures are a bit murky and so is the rendering. Don't be afraid to throw in some coloured lights and play around with shadows till you get something eye catching.

Are you using ambient occlusion in your textures? If so I can't really detect it, might be a blending issue.

Nothing much to say about the modelling except try to tackle some more complicated objects.

Watch your uv's and try to pack them wisely! The bed for instance I could put on a 128x128 texture and still come up with a better detail texture than you have on your 512x512 map. Overlaying uv's and going for 80-90% coverage of the whole texture tile is the way forward.

tyddynroger

thanks for all the feedback guys very helpful!

Lennyagony

Not bad tyddynroger,

Negatives

Your texture sheets in some cases (bed's a good example) are badly packed, leaving more wasted space than needed.

The wireframe shots need to be clearer, i say this because on some of your assets (operating table) the mesh appears far to dense in some areas and less so in others, this effects my opinion of every other wireframe shot i brows over after the table and end up presuming your other assets are the same due to the presentation of your wireframes.

Pretty boring subject matter - uninspired diffuse texture maps. Would likely fit into fallout 3, i guess.

I would like to see polycounts and texture size.


Positives

I can see you understand most of the fundamental process, this is great. High poly, normals, diffuse, spec and low poly.

I like that you show the asset in UDK.

High rez models are good.


all in all i would say a solid start, would love to see something a little more complex.

cgartland

I think more variety would suit your body of work.

Try setting up a whole scene, or just making more and more models.

Your portfolio should represent only the finest of a large body of work, with every model you create you will get that much better at it.

dii

You should really pick more interesting subject matter and start building completed scenes... Modeling chairs and desks is a good modeling drill but makes for a distinctly unremarkable portfolio piece.

You're on the right track, just pick subject matter that is going to stand out more and as everyone else already added, pay more attention to optimizing your geometry and uvspace, and do LOTS of material study and texturing practice.

tyddynroger

thanks so much guys this is really useful stuff, as i said i'm currently working on an environment, when i'm done i'll post an update here and then look at doing a second pass on these assets.

thanks again!

-Em'-

I have the feeling that your normalsmaps are inverted in your UDK renders.
The chair and the surgeon table doesn't match to your highpoly models... or is it just me ?

http://uppix.net/e/a/2/fbbe20513f81fdea2b66f578f748e.jpg

tyddynroger

hey guys,

after your comments which were really helpful i decided to just work on some new pieces to improve my portfolio and skills, so i thought i'd model a gun.

i know! i know! its been done a million times before but i wanted to give it a try and improve my skills, this is what ive got so far:





i need to sort out some tweaks here and there and add a trigger and rear sight but i thought i'd post to see what everyone thinks. i know most are sick of seeing guns and sci fi levels but i'd appreciate any feedback!

cheers!

tyddynroger

Big shout out to Millenia for his tutorial, it was very useful!

tyddynroger

just a little update, the trigger and housing are not done just a rear sight to add, ive altered the shape slightly and sorted out some smoothing issues.

Blaisoid

can't help you about the gun, but i think your models could use better presentation.

renders that you have in portfolio are all very dark and they seem to use only one light source. this just doesn't emphasize models' value as functional (even if simple) assets.
you also seem to use unique uvw for lots of parts that probably aren't important enough to need it. but i guess people mentioned it already.

tyddynroger

@Blaisoid thanks for the reply, i was using a 3 point light set up in udk and just adjusted the position of the lights for each model, maybe i should play with the levels of each light a bit more. thanks for the feedback!

Millenia

Looks like you're having some accuracy issues. Are you using more than one reference picture? Helps to get a lot from all angles.

tyddynroger

Millenia wrote: »

Looks like you're having some accuracy issues. Are you using more than one reference picture? Helps to get a lot from all angles.

thanks for checking out my thread!

i have a few ref images, which parts in particular? or is there too many to mention!haha

i still have some parts to add, just wondered if i was heading in the right direction.

PixelMasher

hey man. your comment about putting everything on its own page otherwise it would feel empty is true, but when someone hiring looks at your portfolio they are gonna figure out you spaced it out due to lack of content anyways.

I would say you should try to get a couple actual environments in there, props are good but way less impressive than overall environments that are detailed and lit properly. thats another thing killing your work is the lighting, its really flat and bland with no shadows or color to it.

also, a lot of your unwraps seem pretty inefficient and could use a lot of work to maximize space, for example, the bed frame could simply be a tiling 128x256 texture and you would get more out of it. one of the biggest mistakes I always see people starting out is they feel they have to uniquely unwrap everything and when smaller tiling textures can come in very handy and be used to make a whole set of props.

Finally, I would try to get something more interesting in terms of subject matter, everyone has seen rusty beds, chairs and desks before in 9/10 portfolios out there, something that stands out is going to help you a lot, even if the execution on these was top notch, my impression would still be "meh" because the items themselves are just not too interesting. get something unique and cool and it will help spice up the portfolio. hope this helps man
Cheers

Rurouni Strife

PixelMasher is right, when I started out I uniquely unwrapped stuff that should have been tiling. It's a great habit to get into, saves memory, and you can create so much from a small set of textures.

dpadam450

Is this the high-poly or low? You really are wasted a ton of polys by not baking that diagonal arm (the one that I assume lifts the thing up.
http://media.cmcdn.net/16625012/940x734.png

I would post your specs on these textures and the polycounts. If the textures were low res for a reason such as mobile phone intended art, then it might be ok. But if those are 1024 or higher (even 512), they just seem mediocre.

I believe someone else mentioned this, but your chair is not packed at all with the UV's. If you combined all the black pixels into a square grid, you'd probably realize that 1/4 or more of your texture space is wasted.

Design wise: Your pictures are way too dark. If you can, condense the images into thumbnails so that I don't have to keep scrolling and scrolling.

North

Hi Dale

Its nice to see other graduates posting work on polycount; I myself recently graduated in May as well.

It might help if the portfolio was 'faster'. the people who are going to be going through your portfolio have to go through ALOT of them, so if they are not impressed within that initial 10 seconds, you are probably not going to get another chance to hold their attention. I have always had luck with scrolling portfolios because you have more control over what the viewer is seeing. Sometimes I prefer the layout you have when there are actual environments to investigate by clicking the link, but in this case I am just led to a page which shows off the inefficiency of your texture maps. You may be better off just not showing your textures.

As far as the work I would say your portfolio isnt holding up to much of the job market mainly because of the content; If you are looking to get into the industry as an environment artist, it may be helpful if you actually had some polished environments in your portfolio. Ive always made it a point to not call out individual assets unless theres something that sets it apart from the rest of the body of work.

Hopefully some of this feedback helps. I know you are in the same boat as many of my graduate friends who are looking for those few entry level positions.

Good Luck!

wester

I would have to agree with nerf bat. Your passion is definitely reflected in your work. It seems like you don't really care, and are just making props as fast and generic as you can to fill up your portfolio with content.

People would much rather see one incredibly executed prop than 7 bad ones.

One of my biggest issues with graduates and all around polycount new comers is when people put "just another generic......yet another.....some stupid...." in the titles of their threads. It pushes people away and i promise you will get many more views if the title is just what it is....nothing self deprecating no matter how subtle.

We realize that there are alot of portfolio posts on here and won't avoid clicking on them if they are in abundance, but we will avoid clicking on them if they say things like that in the title. Just something to think about and hopefully avoid next time.

tyddynroger

cheers guys i know there is a lot of work to do, but im going to keep at it with environments in mind.

thanks again all who have left feedback!

tyddynroger

update guys http://dalerogers3d.carbonmade.com/

mp5 is there plus an environment let me know what you guys think

Blaisoid

well, mp5's grip shape seems far from accurate.

whats_true

Your environment is a bit uninspiring. The lighting is flat and way too dark. I can barely see anything in some of your shorts, and when i want to see something; the statue, the detail on the mountains, its to dark to see. Do more than one point lighting to get some type of secondary light in there, or better yet, rotate the overall direction of the light. Increase the contrast too. Everything seems grey flat because the lighting is just to dark. If its a night time scene, then make those torches bright and have spot lights on areas to highlight areas of interest. Get more color in their! The fogs to bright and to thick too. It’s the same brightness all around. The tiling is very noticeable with the brick. Your meshes are simple and boxy, and you have to few of them in the scene. The most interesting piece in this scene are your mountains, but again, you can barely see the detail on them, and when you do, the detail is very little and noticeably tillable. Your materials are not worth showing the break down because it doesn’t look like you did anything unique. More layering with the atmosphere to give it greater depth. All you have is blurry background with the FOV. You need more than that to sell that this is a range to me.

tyddynroger

whats_true wrote: »

Your environment is a bit uninspiring. The lighting is flat and way too dark. I can barely see anything in some of your shorts, and when i want to see something; the statue, the detail on the mountains, its to dark to see. Do more than one point lighting to get some type of secondary light in there, or better yet, rotate the overall direction of the light. Increase the contrast too. Everything seems grey flat because the lighting is just to dark. If its a night time scene, then make those torches bright and have spot lights on areas to highlight areas of interest. Get more color in their! The fogs to bright and to thick too. It’s the same brightness all around. The tiling is very noticeable with the brick. Your meshes are simple and boxy, and you have to few of them in the scene. The most interesting piece in this scene are your mountains, but again, you can barely see the detail on them, and when you do, the detail is very little and noticeably tillable. Your materials are not worth showing the break down because it doesn’t look like you did anything unique. More layering with the atmosphere to give it greater depth. All you have is blurry background with the FOV. You need more than that to sell that this is a range to me.

thanks very much, this is the sort of critique I was after! i'll make another pass over the environment and make the changes you suggested.

thanks again.