Asset creation speed?
polycounter lvl 14
Hey guys,
So I was wondering what a good time frame for certain models are.
I am mostly doing character art and for some reason when I think about speed for characters I think it should be 1 week. (5 days 9-5) Is this the proper time frame in a production environment?
'Cause I have noticed that whenever I work on a character I always go over a week and I work 7 days on it, some days more productive than others, and work way more than 8 hours a day. (Honestly.. Sometimes I just get sick of working on game assets.)
Am I just too slow? Or was that 'one week' time frame that stuck in my head not accurate?
I feel like that what is holding me back is my crappy laptop as well.
Its a 4 year old system, I still run vista (32bit). Has about 3 gb of ram an intel core2 duo at 2,4ghz and an ATI mobility radeon 3470HD.
Why I think this is holding me back? My laptop cant handle sculpts that are over 2,5million polygons. So I am forced to model most of my details instead of scultping them, which obviously takes more time.
Basically my question is.. How long should it take to complete a finished mid. detail (accesories, not the 'generic' shirt and jeans or suits, possible props like guns, knives, handbag rucksack and what not) 'next gen' game character in a production environment?
So I was wondering what a good time frame for certain models are.
I am mostly doing character art and for some reason when I think about speed for characters I think it should be 1 week. (5 days 9-5) Is this the proper time frame in a production environment?
'Cause I have noticed that whenever I work on a character I always go over a week and I work 7 days on it, some days more productive than others, and work way more than 8 hours a day. (Honestly.. Sometimes I just get sick of working on game assets.)
Am I just too slow? Or was that 'one week' time frame that stuck in my head not accurate?
I feel like that what is holding me back is my crappy laptop as well.
Its a 4 year old system, I still run vista (32bit). Has about 3 gb of ram an intel core2 duo at 2,4ghz and an ATI mobility radeon 3470HD.
Why I think this is holding me back? My laptop cant handle sculpts that are over 2,5million polygons. So I am forced to model most of my details instead of scultping them, which obviously takes more time.
Basically my question is.. How long should it take to complete a finished mid. detail (accesories, not the 'generic' shirt and jeans or suits, possible props like guns, knives, handbag rucksack and what not) 'next gen' game character in a production environment?
Replies
What I've been hearing is two weeks for the really good stuff at some places.
4-6 Days tops at others.
2-4 weeks movies.
Wouldn't it be called current gen by now? or is that only when a next-gen is underway?
Also yea an upgrade would help but in reality you could probably get away with making each piece/accessory 2.5 million and actually be alright, you could never see all the pieces together though until you've already baked your pieces into the game res mesh.
or screenshots mixed together in PS.
Your call but usually an upgrade is your best bet, hopefully more peeps will come along to help you out.
What ever time your allowed by the company?
for example you could be making a strategy game character in a day, and a huge bossmonster in more then a month.
anyways, you should never rush things because you have the feeling you are not fast enough.
quality always goes over quantity, escpecialy with characters.
whut? Because people see the enemies in an FPS much better than the environment? ^^ Also, deadlines. Speed always go over quality, no game ever shipped with perfect assets across the board. Deadlines is what will always decide how much time you have : )
For example, if you have a 40 hour asset your milestones might look like this. -16hrs highpoly, -8hrs lowpoly model and UVs, -8hrs bake, -8hrs texturing. This is only an example and it really depends on what you are making, but I find subdividing my tasks and having clear cutoffs really helps hit timelines.
For people practicing who haven't hit that quality mark, they need to focus on making decent stuff before they focus on speed. They can get themselves in some really bad habits that are hard to break by focusing on speed too early.
No one will hire someone who makes horrifically bad models but does it really fast. Once you prove you can do the quality, then it shifts gears to getting it done on time.
Make crap models slowly, don't get a job.
Get fast and still make crap models, don't get a job.
Get good, get fast, get job!
Of course the quality bar for some studios is quite a bit lower and easier to reach but those typically aren't long-term employment. The higher the persons quality the more they can shop around.
Yes, that is true, but he specifically stated in a production environment, so thats what i was talking about. For people trying to land a job or doing personal work its obviously very different yea : )
For portfolio work...however long it takes to make them look really nice. For studio work...you will probably be given time limits.
Another one that I know is Blur's average time for the human characters in the Far Cry 3 CG trailer, which was about 30 days and included textures, shaders and hair. It also included some re-use like the base mesh for the anatomy parts (body, head etc).
Mind you this is high poly and so a bit different kind of work.
These studios are both considered to be top class, too, so quality was probably paramount in both cases.
Then I recently started noting the time, every props takes from modeling/texturing and everything... Meaning, Now I record all the time, I spend on anything...
I think the competition is not with others, but with yourself.. Improving yourself.. Keeping record will at least help me know if I am doing better or not...
And if you are working for a company, you are surely given a deadline[no choice].
Thanks for the replies everyone, this definitely put my mind to ease a bit.
Now I don't have to feel bad when I give someone an estimate of how long I think something would take me and spend allot longer on it and give them a more realistic time frame.
It´ll be nice, not to be bound to my computer 24/7 either =]
1) Gives you time to breath and rework something if you need to.
2) Makes you look like a machine because you finished ahead of schedule if it all goes according to plan.
If you ever end up creating schedules for other people this is critical to avoiding burn out, over time and an armed insurrection.
Too little time to fix some details, thus lower quality work.
Makes me look like a slowpoke.
I am feeling the burn out slowly kick in right now for myself.
Some breathing room is definitely needed.
What is a good "longer estimate"? Times 1,5? Times 2?
Anyway, from now on my estimates for characters will be at least 2 weeks and some days extra.
If your building a portfolio I would do the best you can do, don't rush it. But generally a 4 weeks is enough time for a good folio character, several months and your lazy or over ambitious lol, a week and it's probably rushed.
In a studio environment it is entirely based on the project and character.
Bigger studios Can obviously spend more time to make higher quality assets than smaller studios, there's also the technical specs, importance of the character, prerequisites specific to project = gibs etc. The pipeline of the studio, base meshes, specific workflows to follow etc.
There's also planning for extra time, encase real life butts in, changes & tweaks.
You'll learn speed with time and experience.
I am not really worried about my speed tbh. I just recently started doing some freelance work and promised to make characters in a roughly a week, since that was what I thought something should take. (I do not know how that stuck in my head..)
But yeah I figured I should verify how long it usually takes with more experienced guys.
One, so I don't work myself to death trying to finish something in a certain time frame. Two, so I do not mess stuff up for other artists by giving unrealistic estimates, like the 12 year old offering to make assets for 5 bucks.
If it's impossible, try talking to your client about extending deadline a bit. If I were one doing the hiring last thing I'd want is someone blowing deadline OR receiving assets that are getting progressively worse because artist is burning himself out and cutting too many corners to deliver on time.
Alternatively, take a look at your workflow. Identify areas that are eating most of your time and try addressing those issues. Invest in better retopo/uv tools, optimize your baking workflow, if your PC is interfering with your work upgrade it etc etc.
I intend to finish this piece in a time and let my client know that I have over estimated my own speed, and thus in the future I would need more time.
MPH = Models per hour.
I usually operate at 4 million MPS. Sometimes though I have to cut it back to about 2000 MPH because people die.
Like everyone else has mentioned, all depends on what your working on, but sometimes like Snefer said, there's deadlines and they just have to be met. I was approached at about 2:00pm in the afternoon to come up with a 'giant dragon boss' that needed to be done by 'tomorrow morning' thats my shortest deadline ever. I'm not sure it will ever be eclipsed. No problem though because anythig less than 1 MPH is idle speed.
I cant even make 4 primitives in 1 second. ='[
Don't worry, you just have to learn a bit of scripting so you can make the "Generate Awesome Models" script and bind it to a button. Then just Mortal Combat spam the button and you will become awesome in no time!
then another 5 days for the rest ie low poly plus textures. I rarely get the chance to have more polish time on characters but my last project for a commercial was pretty good time wise.
In advertising I generally only get asked to do the modelling then it is passed across to other people. times range from a few days to 5 weeks depending on what it is