Setting Deadlines and Goals For Personal Projects

mats effect

Update

mats effect wrote: »

Thanks for the post beefaroni forgot to reply!

Sorry to drag up a post again but though it was better than starting a new one but I feel like I am constantly spinning tires and not moving forward the way I should be.

This moves away slightly from the original question towards portfolio type stuff but I am wondering if I just aim too big and should be more focused on ultra small type scenes/props to build up a decent portfolio and try and get an entry level position?

The brutal truth is I haven't finished a scene since early 2014 since then its been a lot of fapping about going nowhere fast.

Posted links below to my "current" and unfinished previous projects both of witch have gotten to the stage that its very hard to work on them and the same bits get re done over and over.

http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=138987

http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=135917

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Just wondering how some of you lot go about setting deadlines/goals for personal projects or make sure things don't get dragged out way longer than they should take.

I find sometimes I can stick to a personal deadline really well and get something done in or around the set time I wanted, but others it gets dragged out forever and I end up re doing bits over and over because I realize how crap it looks all of a sudden.

For example the thing I am working on now has changed in form and scope so many times I have just had to say to my self "forget about the rest of it and just finish this one really focused thing and post it no matter what".

Anyway just wondering if anyone else had any thoughts and or tips on this topic.

cheers

Spoon

I write the deadline in my calender, with subgoals inbetween. As in "Finish highpoly" on a sunday, and then the next sunday could be "UV'ed low poly" etc."

For some reason I still have trouble seeing my own projects till the end. Always get moivated doing something else, and leave the project in early wip :O

Joost

I only recently got my first job and I haven't finished a personal project in months I might try just setting strict deadlines.

mats effect

I guess that's the one advantage of an education environment or working in a studio you have a deadline and no choice but to meet it.

As much as I love working on larger environment's I think I am going to have to focus on small stuff until I can land a job as my portfolio needs to be totally updated.

Chimp

the very best way, in my opinion, is to take it out of your own hands - to use peer pressure to your advantage:

You of course need a schedule as people above have said, but in addition to that, I involve somebody else - I have friends that I show a lot of my work to, and I make them aware of when I want it done by and to what standard.

These friends don't fuck about - they're brutal and straight with me about the quality and the time its taking and that pressure keeps me on track.

Left to my own devices, I will take too long, but when people I respect are watching I tend to work harder, faster and get stuff done.

Obviously, I offer the same back to them. It works really well - highly productive, mutually beneficial professional relationships

skylebones

Each day when I get to my desk at work I write down everything I need to get done for the day on a post it note. When I'm done planning work stuff out I then write down what I want to get done with my personal art that night at the bottom. Just a little bit at a time and those big projects will eventually get done.

IchII3D

I personally found deadlines to be counter productive for myself on personal work. Life is just too unpredictable. I found my lack of productivity with personal work was down to a lack of focus, I would sometimes sit on my PC thinking about doing work. Then realize I have spent the last hour reading news websites I had already looked at or watching pointless Youtube videos.

The biggest hurdle for me is barrier of entry, as soon as I have been doing work for 5-10 minutes I just zone out and go at it all day. I would recommend changing your mentality rather than setting a deadline. Think to yourself... "If I am on my PC I must never have a moment where I am wasting time or repeating something I have done that day, do I really need to check the news?" Then open a 3D application and file you worked on recently and do something, anything.

Once that barrier of entry is broken you just roll with it.

JordanN

I use to do this. In fact, my history of being on polycount from Jan 2014 to June 2014 was trying to set deadlines for projects.

The problem I found was everything I did started to age really badly. I find it's better to just work on something you really want to do, right away. That way, you're always up to task and you can make updates more frequently without worrying about falling behind or putting it off to another day.

chamade

It helps me, especially to re-focus and prioritize important aspects of the projects. I do it daily before starting work on something in order to avoid noodling too much. This way I have a clearer vision of what needs to be done that day....eliminates some of the unnecessary guesswork and noodling during the day.

chrisradsby

I just work everytime I sit by my PC in my workroom, which is most of the time. This however only happens when I've started a personal project. I have no real deadlines, I do have pen and paper and write down things I want to do.

It's really just down to discipline, treating it and approaching it professionally. Some days you feel like working , some days you don't, either way, you sit there and do the work that is needed from you.

VPrime

trello is a great way to manage personal and professional tasks.
https://trello.com/

mats effect

Some great advice in here thanks guys I quite like trello but might try using a note book for a wile to keep tack of things as its a bit more free form.

Think I need to just make sure I keep focused and not get thrown off when I mess up or get a bit demoralized and keep that clear focused vision in my head.

Tobbo

Something that you might think about is joining a monthly/weekly community challenge and use that as a deadline for yourself. Contests are also great projects for hard deadlines.

I think it's important to at least try and get in the habit of working under time constraints. Because that's what you will be expected to do at a job.

This is something I'm still working on and trying to improve myself.

Bedrock

+1 For contests, although if anyone knows of a website (or thread) that keeps track of up and coming 3d contests that would be great.

Trello is great if you travel a lot because it syncs between your browser and mobile versions seamlessly, but it's not that different from using an excel spreadsheet.

You could try and post threads on polycount or create a blog. Tell yourself that you would post/update on a daily or weekly basis. When you do a summary so often it's easy to spot where you are dragging out too much. For example you start modelling on Monday with the expectation that you will be finished with the high poly by Sunday... you will feel the pressure on Friday when you are still just blocking out!

I've noticed that I tend to get a lot more "creative" under pressure, really taking advantage of shortcuts and doing things dirtier than I would like. However at the end of the day the difference is negligible but I've progressed more than I would otherwise.

ExcessiveZero

This is the hardest part of game development for me, deadlines will come and go, I start with a list usually and write down the allotted time I would like to have it done by.

But deadlines can't always be met, they are a target, but you can't always hit the target, one thing I set aside a week for took me half a day, then I have ran into other problems, some stuff you just run into complications, and then there is hardware failures, unforeseen circumstances etc, can always push your idea of when it should be done back or even rarely speed things up.

my key largely is I make a list I write the time that it should take and I start crossing stuff off the list, and if I cant make my personal deadlines try as I might, I keep my morale high in the knowledge that its getting done regardless.

Just don't let things turn into a cluster fuck where you are putting doing shit off, try and stay organized and you will be fine.

wizo

Here's something to keep in mind while working on personal stuff :

Why are you doing the project?

It should either be for your portfolio or practice.

If its for your portfolio, have a good idea what you will be showing, etc.... dont detail out things that will never be seen. Or at least limit the time on the unimportant stuff.

If its for practice, know what you are practicing. If its lighting or mood, build your scene with about 70% focus on the that, and leave the other 30% to the other stuff like textures, modeling etc...

Just concentrate on one thing at a time and switch to something else when you feel bored or unproductive.

It's all about not wasting time and being organised. oh and also, once you have a plan, try to not turn it around half-way thought the project, espiecially while browsing the net for inspiration, it might feel like all the other artists are making way better work but really put the effort on sticking to your original plan, having confidence and finishing.

leleuxart

This is something I need to work on as well. It's difficult though because I have to work 40 hours a week at a retail store with fluctuating hours, so I have to squeeze work in any time I can, which makes it hard to get into a nice routine. Or even finish something in a decent time frame.

I used to have multiple sticky notes around my desk for a checklist, which I found to be pretty helpful when doing things without a deadline. Physically crossing things off and having the reminder of what you've done/what's left to do has helped me in the past.

mats effect

Thanks for all the awesome reply's, loads of great stuff that has got me thinking and starting to focus better. Totally agree that putting your self in some sort of position where you are accountable to other people helps a ton.

@leleuxart yeah I totally understand the retail thing that's what I am doing at the moment too. I guess it motivates me in some ways too because it reminds me I don't want to do this shit for much longer and I need to get out asap.

beefaroni

Hmm. I try not to set strict deadlines for myself.

I have this program procrastitracker installed (http://strlen.com/procrastitracker/). As long as I'm getting about 8 hours of work done a day I don't really care how long something takes as long as it looks good.

For my most recent project, I was really learning how normal maps worked and wanted to get a good bake as well as mirrored UVs. I spent a long time figuring that out but I think the benefits were worth the time spent. I feel that if I was on strict deadlines than I would have probably taken the easy way out of normal mapping (whatever that is..) and the project would not have turned out as well.

I do plan on implementing deadlines once I understand the entire game pipeline fully though. It'd hard to say "hey, I'm going to spend 1 week texturing this thing" if you've never actually done really high level texturing.

mats effect

Thanks for the post beefaroni forgot to reply!

Sorry to drag up a post again but though it was better than starting a new one but I feel like I am constantly spinning tires and not moving forward the way I should be.

This moves away slightly from the original question towards portfolio type stuff but I am wondering if I just aim too big and should be more focused on ultra small type scenes/props to build up a decent portfolio and try and get an entry level position?

The brutal truth is I haven't finished a scene since early 2014 since then its been a lot of fapping about going nowhere fast.

Posted links below to my "current" and unfinished previous projects both of witch have gotten to the stage that its very hard to work on them and the same bits get re done over and over.

http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=138987

http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=135917

SuperFranky

It's hard to set deadlines when you encounter a new obstacle every week. So I don't do it, but I also try not to linger on one thing too much. I guess with more experience setting clear deadlines will be much easier.