Question For Environment Pros

ChromaWitch

Hi! I'm working on my portfolio for environment art. I've been reading a lot of articles, forums, and watching videos of what companies look for in a portfolio. So since I'm aware I'll likely start as a junior artist, I'm working on a bunch of props and one fully playable environment level. I say fully playable because a lot of companies ask for that, including one that's not far from me. 
Now here's my question: If it's "fully playable", do I need to model and rig a character for it? Or can I use the default UE4 character? Because I suck at character modeling, and my computer crashes anytime I try to rig something, so.... It worries me what a company might expect.

JordanN

I've never heard of fully playable being a requirement. If you're going through the effort to create a game from scratch, you might as well just appoint yourself CEO at that point, heh.   :*

Maybe they mean they want proof of real time or demonstrates it's an environment that can run on mobile/consoles/PC? Because that's far more realistic and fits within the responsibilities of someone who makes environment art. There are other jobs in the industry that specialize in modeling and rigging characters.

hmm_rock

Agreed, you don't need to worry about characters if you're pursuing environment art. In fact, as a junior you don't really need to concern yourself with anything more than still images, nice break-downs of props and well lit in-engine shots. Fly-through's are nice, but definitely not necessary, a lot of people will never bother to look at them. That being said, you're on the right track with the intention to do a full, in-engine environment over ~just~ props. I think it's pretty common for junior artist to be tasked more with world building more than asset creation and having environments shows your composition and lighting skills. 

Jonas Ronnegard

If a company is asking for a fully playable level they are probably a really small team and they looking for someone to do everything linked to art, nothing wrong with that but it might not be what you are looking for.

for bigger companies I would be surprised if anyone have ever gotten that request.

Tobbo

Yeah if they are asking for a playable level, odds are they might expect you to do level design/world construction as well. I wouldn't sweat creating a character, unless they specifically asked for it.