need to see some thoughts about my odd art test

myakmyu

I applied to a online game company with my portfolio which is low-poly model with hand painting stuff, but they gave me a realistic art test. I already said them I do hand painting, and they said they haven't specify any art style yet, so I've done it as much as I can. 
another odd thing they ask to render it with Mental ray, V-ray, or Corona only. no allows for other render tools.
not a big deal to follow the instruction, but I'd like to ask you guys' thoughts about the point of the test. 
do you have any idea? thanks!
 

ZacD

That does seem very odd, is it a large studio? Does the studio focus on game art? What's the job title you applied for?

myakmyu

it's not a big studio, but growing fast. they just started an unknown 3D game project and I applied for 3D environment artist. (I don't see any published 3D games on their website. the other games are in stylized art, and that's why I applied to the company. I haven't expected I'd get a test with realistic theme.)
The test is making a scene based on a concept art in a week. well on the test doc, they will see my ability of sketch, texture, and composition&lighting based on the concept.
I've never used any of those render tools at my past work/art test, and I think I explained well this at the interview. I'm doing this anyway.
However would like to know that is it common to render final scene with Mental ray in 3D game art test? I mean in general..

Eric Chadwick

No not common. Weird in fact. 

Joost

Maybe part of the test is checking whether you'll ask questions  

xvampire

possibilities
- they don't have  stylistic art test  in stock.
- they use external render such mental ray vray,or corona to bake light + texture information in their pipeline. instead of 100% hand paint.

some game look very very stylistic but in fact they are  3d, almost no  hand paint. but i just speculate since i dont know what company you applying for . 

Zack Maxwell

They haven't released any games before, they don't know what art style they want to go with for their current game, and they're taking a very bizarre and unconventional approach to testing you.

Those all sound like a very large red flags to me.
I'm also assuming that "small but growing quickly" was a line they gave you, which could easily mean 2-3 people trying to start their own studio.

cptSwing

Maybe they're working on a game with pre-rendered backdrops?

myakmyu

Thank you a lot for all comments. sorry for that I can't say what company I applied to but all of things you guys mentioned helped me to figure out some things 

lotet

This all sounds like questions you should ask them.

Neox

many of the best selling mobile or browsergames use prerendered 3d assets, so knowing any of these renderers might just be due to their output. It doesnt have to be running in realtime.

Stinger88

Sounds to me like they might have a new project that requires a more realistic art style in the works.
Or, they could be seeing how you do outside of your comfort zone. Smaller companies require artists that can "do it all"

slipsius

Sounds like they just want to make sure you can be a flexible artist, especially if they are a small studio. Hiring a guy that can only do one style, when they could potentially do other styles wouldnt make sense to them.

Add3r

Neox said:

many of the best selling mobile or browsergames use prerendered 3d assets, so knowing any of these renderers might just be due to their output. It doesnt have to be running in realtime.

Also as @Stinger88 said, as I have worked in a smaller studio where I was required to wear ALL the hats even remotely related to art.  I was required to do everything from concept to full in-game asset creation, including rigging, rendering, shader creation (for both pre-rendered and real-time).  I would be more surprised actually to hear that they didn't see if you were flexible outside of your comfort zone.   Really depends on the studio though, and something that you can ask about (or should have asked about in initial interview).  

It could definitely go either way though.  That they are sending you an odd request and don't know what they want, or they are purposefully putting you out of your comfort zone to see how you cope as a generalist.