Sketchbook: Ryan Gatts

RyanGatts

Hi guys. I'm Ryan Gatts, 24, working in Seattle. I'm an animator/ effects artist/ technical artist kind of guy. Not sure what variety of things you'll see here, but I'm open to critique on all of it. Even if you don't know the math or specific steps involved in fixing it, an outside eye is always helpful.

So here's some stuff I did recently:

Art Direction:





Animation Stuff:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJ_dpYWxi2c"]Ryan Gatts Reel 2014-03-16 - YouTube[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5v6Dc5AIbw"]Fighter Girl Turnaround: Idle Animation - YouTube[/ame]

Tutorials and Demos:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhMJXtNfp0U"]Post GDC Projects Update 2014-04-15 - YouTube[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmjntIQkfcs"]Particle Effects for Unity 01: Making Looping Smoke Sprites in After Effects - YouTube[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hj1anzBxWF0"]Particle Effects for Unity 02: Wispy Smoke Texture Painting - YouTube[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hj1anzBxWF0"]Particle Effects for Unity 02: Wispy Smoke Texture Painting - YouTube[/ame]

RyanGatts

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BT2pora5pbk"]"The Fields" Asset and Gameplay Demo Ludum Dare 29 - YouTube[/ame]

To play The Fields, follow the link below. Don't forget to read the instructions!
http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-29/?action=preview&uid=29430

The Fields is about a colony of bunnies (one at a time) trying to make their way across the mine-laden no-mans-land of a WWI battlefield.

Make your way across each field and try to sidestep or jump over any landmines in your way. Dig to learn how close you are to a landmine: red is one block away, yellow is two.

Themed after the costly and muddled nature of the war effort in WWI, The Fields is game about managing risk with limited information. You will very rarely know exactly where every landmine is, only that there is one nearby. Some levels are easier to complete by sacrificing a bunny to learn more about which bombs are where so that the path is clearer and safer for the next one in line.

Ryan Gatts: Art, Game Design, Programming.
Nick Cooper: Programming, Game Design.

Discussion on /r/gamedev : http://www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/comments/299acp/the_fields_ludum_dare_29_jam_game_demonstration/

Read the poem:
http://www.greatwar.co.uk/poems/john-mccrae-in-flanders-fields.htm

My main reference points for RSRM development were these two:
Rust ltd Alloy Physical Shader Framework:
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/alloy-physical-shader-framework-by-rust-ltd.212354/
Josh Ols's blog (the posts I was looking at turned out to be early development for Alloy, it turns out it's a very small world):
http://n00body.squarespace.com/journal/2010/11/7/radially-symmetric-reflection-maps.html
As far as I know, RSRMs were pioneered by the Double Fine team working on Brütal Legend. They have a paper you can buy out there somewhere, but I reverse engineered the technique, so I'm probably not doing it exactly the same way as anyone else (though, there's only so many ways to skin this cat).

As far as PBR reading, I looked at the guide on marmoset, though their maps are exactly what I was annoyed by when I said I wanted my maps to be "human readable". http://www.marmoset.co/toolbag/learn/pbr-practice
At the bottom of this marmoset page are a lot of PBR links, all of which are worth reading: http://www.marmoset.co/toolbag/learn/pbr-theory

Sean Murphy's GDC talk is up on the vault, if you have a subscription.

US Claire Force

As far as your concept art goes, I like the style and craftsmanship. I would say that your first piece is the strongest, because the image makes it very clear to the viewer that it's a concept for a ship. The second piece is weaker and looks incomplete (that's not to say it's bad, it just looks empty). The last two are more illustrations than concept art- they're well made no doubt, but I'm confused if they're a concept for an environment or a character.

Hope that helps!