Failed art test-Technical Question
Hey all,
I recently applied to a startup studio as a character artist. The studio consists of many modders of the elder scrolls games who I have worked with/spoken with in the past. Unfortunately, the man who is the art director and I have had issues in the past, when I attempted to give him critique, and has since seemed to try and persecute me (though, I enjoyed being a part of the community and simply tread those waters with care instead of reporting him to his superiors)
I was not given a time frame, nor concept artwork to model from, but I concretely had, from the date my computer arrived in the mail, to the time they reviewed the art test (est. 1 week). I spent my time studying up on the anatomy and possible topology of the character, spoke with them about the art style and budget, the engine they were working with, etc.
I worked on my art test for four days straight (till the midnight prior to art test review) and came up with something I was very proud of given the time frame.
I'm rambling, apologies. the predicament.
My biggest worry was deformation, so I (with my limited knowledge) tested the deformation on a very rudimentary rig built around individual areas (arms, legs, head and neck, etc). All was well, I exported, packed, and sent out my renders, texture presentation, and files for dissection.
I received a response later on telling me that while my work was impressive, they could not use me due to the fact that my model was "broken" and "unsalvageable". Needless to say, I was upset, especially when the animation reel was released the next week and I saw the piece that was used instead of mine.
I was appalled at the differences and became angry, so I did another test with the file I sent them to try and justify not being hired. I built a whole rig and spent quite a bit of time on it. Some of the vertexes just would not grab, no matter what I did, there were areas that would not be held by rigging despite my efforts.
Is this on my end, or is this somehow a file corruption on export? The original 3ds file deformed just fine. Did I miss an art test due to a technicality?
Forgot to mention, the delivered file was a .obj exported from 3ds max. The topology wasn't great (first time modeling a quadrupedal creature), but deformed well enough for the purposes of posing.
I recently applied to a startup studio as a character artist. The studio consists of many modders of the elder scrolls games who I have worked with/spoken with in the past. Unfortunately, the man who is the art director and I have had issues in the past, when I attempted to give him critique, and has since seemed to try and persecute me (though, I enjoyed being a part of the community and simply tread those waters with care instead of reporting him to his superiors)
I was not given a time frame, nor concept artwork to model from, but I concretely had, from the date my computer arrived in the mail, to the time they reviewed the art test (est. 1 week). I spent my time studying up on the anatomy and possible topology of the character, spoke with them about the art style and budget, the engine they were working with, etc.
I worked on my art test for four days straight (till the midnight prior to art test review) and came up with something I was very proud of given the time frame.
I'm rambling, apologies. the predicament.
My biggest worry was deformation, so I (with my limited knowledge) tested the deformation on a very rudimentary rig built around individual areas (arms, legs, head and neck, etc). All was well, I exported, packed, and sent out my renders, texture presentation, and files for dissection.
I received a response later on telling me that while my work was impressive, they could not use me due to the fact that my model was "broken" and "unsalvageable". Needless to say, I was upset, especially when the animation reel was released the next week and I saw the piece that was used instead of mine.
I was appalled at the differences and became angry, so I did another test with the file I sent them to try and justify not being hired. I built a whole rig and spent quite a bit of time on it. Some of the vertexes just would not grab, no matter what I did, there were areas that would not be held by rigging despite my efforts.
Is this on my end, or is this somehow a file corruption on export? The original 3ds file deformed just fine. Did I miss an art test due to a technicality?
Forgot to mention, the delivered file was a .obj exported from 3ds max. The topology wasn't great (first time modeling a quadrupedal creature), but deformed well enough for the purposes of posing.
Replies
Best thing is just to move on. It sounds like the relationship with the AD wasn't good to begin with anyhow. There are other opportunities out there.
I initially made my block out sculpt in Sculptris, exported the file, popped into zbrush, dynameshed it and finished up the sculpt, retopo'd in max. Eventually exported from max as .obj
They're hiring again early october and was told to try again than, but I am terrified at the thought of this happening again.
Yeah, it sounds like you dodged a bullet. Just keep on truckin'
Dodge the bullet, or attempt a second art test?
This will be my first industry job if I can land it a second time, and I've been working on my portfolio like mad to land a job...
Sounds to me that whoever wrote this reply is in no way involved with the game team and is certainly not the person making the call on applications. No professional would say that a model is "broken" and pass on an art test because of that. More like, "hey, your file is corrupted, could you send it again ?"
And of course you have to ask them what they will be viewing the asset with, to check it out by yourself. On the other hand ... they really should have provided that information in the first place. By all means, this doesn't make that studio seem like a very professional place to work at !!
(I'll attach a comparison of my render and the final model they used)
I also believe that the concept art that I drew up, was circulated to the other artists as a basis for the art test, as demonstrated in the similarities between the two pieces.
I do agree, I thought to myself, if something is that broken, that is cannot be used whatsoever, yet, you are aware of the artists abilities, why assume to such an extent instead of delaying the hiring process another day to clarify the issue?
It sounds like you dodged a toxic work environment. You said the art director actively dislikes you and tries to sabotage you? He's your boss!
Try to get in at established studios, startups are very risky and you need an experienced eye to see the warning signs.
But anyways, as Justin said, it seems like toxic place to work at in the end.
Yes, my model did have quite a few problems, including a few edge loops that should have ran in other directions, I did not do an exploded bake which resulted in quite a few baking errors, among others. I was in a rush to complete the test due to having less than half the time of other artists, and did not feel I could do my best work. I am unsure of whether or not to include this piece in my portfolio due to its rushed nature, or whether or not to take the time and redo it, despite the irrelevance to my portfolio...
[EDIT:] If you ask me.
{Another Edit:] And I definitely don't see anything "Unsalvageable" about it. At least not immediately obvious. I mean, this is 3D; most things are pretty salvageable.
+1 totally agree, sounds like an odd reply. If you don't have a good relationship with the AD anyway, forget about it, that's probably not gonna be a fun place to work at.
Justin made some good points. Keep working hard on your portfolio and you'll eventually land something.
Don't go for that man. It's usually BS. You're better off spending your time working on your portfolio than doing stuff like that, don't waste your precious time.
The exact same deal happened to me when I started doing 3d for games, Me and a friend helped a "startup company" with the same kind of promises, I worked with them for a month before realizing that it would never go anywhere. He on the other hand stuck with them and kept trying hard. He stuck with them for 2 years, with nothing to show , it never went anywhere while by then I already had 1 - 1½ years of industry experience.
So no, don't do it. It's not worth it. If you wanna join a mod-team , join one that are very serious about what they're doing but don't limit you in any way. It should be a healthy and fun experience. :thumbup:
My number one studio to work at, is Bethesda Game Studios, I first decided I wanted to be a character artist slightly before the release of Oblivion and spent most of my time modding it, working for various bethblog featured art teams. I never released any mods myself, due to my lack of actual modding skill, all I've ever been good at was the art aspect. I've spent the last five years honing my skill strictly in the gamebryo engine due to hardware limitations (even those games ran at under 25fps).
I've never had a website prior to this, nor the technical know-how to really do any render setups, and now I'm working day and night to build a portfolio that's worth looking at. My father forced me to turn in a hodge podge of screenshots from oblivion to bethesda as a portfolio, I didn't even get a response. Not that I expected one given what I turned in.
Fortunately, I am determined, this is what I will spend my life doing, and I will enjoy most of it. Unfortunately, this leads me to desperately lunge at just about any job opening that isn't from a "AAA" studio, but that's mostly due to feelings of inadequacy.
It's much better to go for a startup that at least has some form of funding behind it, or something that you know can at least pay you for your time
even if they stick to there word, which most intend to do, it is still a huge risk. Very good chance they will go bust before release, and you dont get shit for the work done.
I feel you're better off focusing on your own portfolio work to make sure you're doing stuff that is at the quality it needs to be to get to a more established studio. You know what type of stuff Bethesda does, so if that's your ultimate goal you can focus the content towards the work they do. They do more realistic work, so your portfolio would be useful to apply to many other studios as well. You've got skills, just need to keep pushing and adding more quality pieces. You'll get there eventually.