I can either click a few buttons to make rusty metal plate in dDO.
Or I can download/utilize a few ZBrush alphas and make it that way then bake it.
Or I can download/utilize Photoshop brushes that do the same thing on the texture anyway.
Or, you know, paint the damn thing in MS Paint.... or not.
The problem isn't if it's cheating or not but "if the company that employed you doesn't have quixel, can you do the same work by yourself or are you dependent on quixel ?" If you own capacity is nowhere near quixel i wouldn't used it on my portfolio, if you can achieve something similar but with more time, use it. It's like selling yourself as a cook when you only know how to cook frozen food, don't based your portfolio on one pricy software that most of company doesn't have.
I know this may be a problem for some companies but are most of studios really that against allowing artists use their own software?
The question is not if automation is cheating, it is if you understand what you are accomplishing.
Are you a production/corporate artist - because if so, then you balance the purity of the art against constraints of time/budget and needs of the project. The best production artist, will do it well, will do it fast, and do it with consistency. In that respect, so called 'cheating' is absolutely a goal, if not a necessity.
If it's about the purity and art, mastery and understanding is the ultimate goal.
But in the end, there is nothing wrong with shortcuts that get you exactly where you need to be.
Replies
I can either click a few buttons to make rusty metal plate in dDO.
Or I can download/utilize a few ZBrush alphas and make it that way then bake it.
Or I can download/utilize Photoshop brushes that do the same thing on the texture anyway.
Or, you know, paint the damn thing in MS Paint.... or not.
I know this may be a problem for some companies but are most of studios really that against allowing artists use their own software?
Are you a production/corporate artist - because if so, then you balance the purity of the art against constraints of time/budget and needs of the project. The best production artist, will do it well, will do it fast, and do it with consistency. In that respect, so called 'cheating' is absolutely a goal, if not a necessity.
If it's about the purity and art, mastery and understanding is the ultimate goal.
But in the end, there is nothing wrong with shortcuts that get you exactly where you need to be.