Junior Environment Artist Portfolio Crit
polycounter lvl 9
Hey everyone, I have been working on my portfolio and have just started applying for jobs as the new year came in, I would love some feedback on what you think of it so far and some tips about the industry would be super helpful.
portfolio: www.ryanbowen3d.com
portfolio: www.ryanbowen3d.com
Replies
- The normalmaps (under tileable textures) doesn't look correct as the color is all wrong. I don't really know what is going on but the colors should look a lot more saturated like this.
- The scifi corridor really needs to be broken up somehow. You could add some windows, side-doors, ventilation, fire extinguishers or something to add some more interest as the repetition is just too obvious.
- Post all related assets together (tileable textures, fire post HP and LP)
The western scene is definitely the best of the bunch, great job on that. I'd say the lab is pretty good as well but to be honest the rest is pretty forgettable. I would remove the fire hydrant and maybe the dumpster as well. I'd remove the corridor as well in it's current state as well, but I believe it could be improved upon.
I think he color with the normals is because after the bake i then used the Ps normals filter and overlay'd them over, i think that may by why the color is a little off.. the seem to work fine when i use them but i will have another look at them when i get home.
and a quick question about the the fire hydrant, corridoor and dumpster. Shall i remove them straight away or just replace them with better content? because i am always working on something new, I just wouldn't want it to look like I dont have a substantial amount of work to show. what you think?
It looks like there would be major problems if you were to test them with an otherwise blank material (no spec or diff texture).
I would just remove the dumpster and fire hydrant right away and keep the corridor for now. I'd keep the corridor as it is technically a decent environment even though it is very generic and boring at the moment. I would try to phase it out or improve it as soon as possible though.
When testing them. And I will make the emmendments late tomorrow.
It looks more like you're overlaying an AO map or something else on top of the normalmap which results in the strange colors.
Normal map using the nvidia plugin, then overlay the details over my normals. Besides hiding the blue channel am I missing something?
Maybe add links to the resume on the home page?
As for the work, your strongest scene is the salon. The rendering is good, the assets look nice. I think the scale of the building is smooshed-it's not really all that rectangular the right way. I think the scene could benefit from using the assets you have and creating the feel of there being more buildings to the right and left. They don't have to actually be there, but the idea they are there could really help sell the idea of it being a salon instead of this bar in the middle of nowhere.
Nosslak is right on with the crit of the corridor.
The lab doesn't really do it for me. It feels flat and uninteresting. It's very grey too. Look at the Mass Effect games for the next sci-fi work you do and see how they use hints of color on a lot of different surfaces. It's just enough that your eye is never bored of grey and gives each item or area a touch of importance through the use of color.
The best free photo to normal map software in my opinion
It is amazing I recommend downloading it instead of web browser for quicker access
and rurouni strife, I totally see where your coming from the piece i'm working on now will hopefully be much better. I'll post that too soon I will use those tips you gave me.
I think it's a bit more complicated than that, you have to normalize the normal map after you make any changes to it, and if you want to overlay details on them in the correct way you're supposed to use something like CrazyBump.
By the way, you wrote in "About me".
[FONT=Play, sans-serif]"Xnormals[/FONT]
[FONT=Play, sans-serif]Adobe Illistrator "[/FONT]
I think it should be xNormal and Illustrator
Cheers!
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Still up pretty high when I was taking shots, (i guess i didnt realise ) so I it washed out the color.