Are there differences between 3D Prop Artist, Jr. Environment Artist, Associate Environment Artist?

kevingamerartist

Hi all,
So from the title of the topic I had this question. So I'm aiming to start off at an entry level position, and I'm just wondering, is there a difference between a 3D Prop Artist, Jr. Environment Artist, or Associate Environment Artist?

I don't know if they are all basically the same type of job, but just a different title name, or if a Prop Artist is the very basic entry level position?

Any feedback on this is greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Marshkin

Generally the jobs themselves will contain a link to a description that lists exactly what is expected for the role. Is that not the case with this company? 

kevingamerartist

@Marshkin Well this isn't necessarily for a specific company, but I'm just asking in general. When I've looked at some companies' websites, sometimes they will have 1 of the 3 jobs listed. I've taken a look at the description when the job is listed, but I'm just curious if they are all basically the same thing, or if 1 of the titles I mentioned is a very basic entry level position?

Marshkin

I've found it to vary between company and company.

For example a prop artist might create prop after prop where as an environmental artist might be responsible for assembling the props in the scene, handling the lighting, etc.
In other companies, lighting for example falls under technical artists and environment artists also handle prop modeling themselves, as well as assembling.

The job description should list which position is junior depending on how much experience the ask for going in (1-2 years vs 4-6 for example)

kevingamerartist

Hmm, ok. Right now I'm just looking for an entry level position to get my foot in the door, to get some experience. A Prop Artist would be the best job for that correct?

Add3r

Junior is usually looked at as more or less right above intern, very closely behind associate (associate usually starts to get bigger tasks, and as time progresses will slowly start getting mid level responsibilities as they move into that mid position).  So, intern < junior < associate < mid.  

Difference between prop and environment is just that.  Environment works primarily with set dressing, large building blocks for the env, material creation (depending on size of studio and specific role on the team, some larger studios have senior staff and dedicated mtl artists), and working directly with lighting artists on establishing composition, color palette, and time of day/skybox/vista.  They also usually have a hand in prop work, and determining what props are needed, which then gets passed off to dedicated prop artists.

Prop artists and Environment artists should both capable of filling either role, especially the smaller the studio.  Some production environments have very specific needs and thus will separate the env and prop teams for specific tasks.   

Kevin Albers

Any of those job titles could be a fine entry level position. As others have mentioned, the specific position will just depend on the studio. In fact, the role might change substantially between the time you interview and the time you start. Those all sound like 'environment artist'.

McGreed

Another difference is that prop artists might working more with unique textures, where environment artists work more with modular models and textures, which does have a slight different approach to how to do some of the work, because it has to come together in a whole. Also, I believe that environment artists might have more access to level editors, but don't quote me on this.

blankslatejoe

This totally depends on the company.  And these might not be entry level jobs.

Prop artists usually are entry though, because props are simple, isolated tasks that are easily digestible for new artists. They may get tasks from the environment or character pipeline as the backlog/workload requires.

Environment artists are often much more integrated specifically into a single game's unique pipeline...and so the description changes per studio. Their job may involve work in the level editors, particular with lighting, materials, and set dressing, but also the modeling/texturing work is often heavily modular, using repeating textures, trim-texture techniques, shader-tricks, etc. A good environment artist is often at least moderately technical as well. At it's most conventional, environment artists will make "hero pieces" for environment art: big statues, centerpiece architectural elements, unique large scale props.

Usually an Associate Environment Artist is kind of an "environment artist in training". They'll usually gets a lot of crappy tasks that can't be avoided: building collision meshes, making "broken versions" of things, making variant meshes (make a snowy version of an environment set!), making LOD meshes, making batch meshes for lower draw calls, iterating on levels with changes that need to be done in a thousand places...etc.

Of course, it all depends on the workload and the skill level of the individual. If there are a thousand collision meshes that suddenly need to be redone, the entire environment team, from juniors to seniors, may be jamming away on that for a week. If an associate is REALLY good at lighting, they may be swapped into a traditionally more senior role. A good studio will do whatever it can with the resources it has to get the best results.

Steppenwolf

Those naming conventions are a complete mess nowadays, differing from company to company. Wouldn't surprise me if env artists are the sound designers ten years from now, so yea just read the job description for each open position.