Fell off the bandwagon!

Mattb22

Hi guys,

So I decided last year during my study of games design at University that I would leave without my honours degree and accept the ordinary degree that I had. I did this because I realised my real passion was in Environmental 3d Art and spending another £3500 on a year at University wasn't worth it since degree's arn't worth as much to employers as a good portfolio is.

So I decided what I would do was get a job so I could afford to live and build my portfolio around this. Well I fell into the typical trap of getting a full time job and putting my portfolio off in the in my free time.

Well ive really decided I want to jump back on and get my act together and build my portfolio up around my 40hours a week job. I am a little rusty after 6 months out of it!

So a few questions im wanting to ask...

I feel im quite a way off industry standard so I could do with some books to help me learn some new techniques. So i'm looking for suggestions

I was taught in 3Ds Max, Zbrush and Photoshop. Should I be looking into learning other programs ? Such as Maya and Mudbox or is this more down to preference.

Also I was obviously always taught for modelling in games but I would like to make my portfolio broader and create some 3D showcase properties/rooms for since I know a lot of interior design companies look for 3D artists now. My question is how much different is it? I understand there is a lot of difference in rendering/lighting/polygon counts.

I know my weakest areas are rendering/lighting/shaders these are areas I could really use some help so any references to some good reading on these would be brilliant.

Many Thanks,

Matt

maximumsproductions

I believe your base 3d program of choice is always preference when it comes to modeling, I know a lot of people here who start to recognize their programs limitations will delve into creating/buying scripts for more complex and faster modeling technique in which case you may want to look into.

Mattb22

Thanks for the reply, so I guess sticking with my known software is fine. Can anyone else help me out a bit here?

Boyso

Stick with 3ds, Zbrush and Photoshop, and try online classes.

Target_Renegade

I'd say stick with the software you already know and concentrate on that. Art-wise, focus on quality, not the amount of time it takes at first. 1 room, tells a story, props, lighting. Get to the base of what makes textures really appealing, don't worry about size of textures, amount of polygons. Start with selling a scene.