Importance of grooming a 3d character if want to get into the industry?

focus_method

Hi,

how much is important for a companies to see grooming skills of a 3d character artist? 
and i assume they prefer haircards grooming?
i see a lot of professional work on artstation but those characters are assembled by various artists. But i guess that's the case when you already get into a company/industry. But what if someone is trying to make their path into the industry? 
is it enough if you are lets say really good in everything else, sculpting characters, ability to make detailed characters, retopo,uvs, cloth,props, texturing ?

oglu

The more you know the better. But grooming is not a requirement for a Junior. 

Neox

grooming will become more and more important over the years. we are closing in on the VFX side of things here. just look at stuff like meta humans.

the majority of haircuts in games are still haircards for realistic, or sculpted for stylized or something inbetween. but real grooms will come i am pretty sure about it.

but i fear we will have to split productions more like it is in VFX, so there will likely be specialized groomers and grooming isnt part of the "normal" character artists job. more like volume sculpts for reference and approval.

just look at what the guys at airship images are doing, they already are pretty much specialized in doing her, and their stuff is really really good.

thomasp

Hair cards is already a specialist job. I have done nothing else commercially for years now. And I know a few others who work the same way. If done well it takes so much time that at the end of it you're exhausted anyway, zero desire to work on other parts of a character. Just bring on the next hairstyle...

If you can do it well you don't have to search for work.

Grooming looks like it'll be the same way. It's probably going to be easier for a lot of people to do ok hairstyles with it though. So for a time it may make things easier. Then the quality standards will simply be pushed further and the specialists will be back in business. Looks like making LODs will be less of an issue though.