Do i have to do grooming to be a candidate for 3d character artist job ?
polycounter lvl 4
Hi,
i find myself struggling trying to do grooming of the characters , also xgen is buggy af.
Trying to make realistic hairs with haircards is pure hell.
Is it ok if i avoid this part on the character?
Do i need to learn grooming in order to be a candidate for 3d character artist job ?
Replies
Just apply for a Job with styliced sculpted hair. And if you need to create xgen hair in the future you will get help from the studio.
And if you are forced to learn something you are lacer focused. Its no problem to learn xgen in some days if you realy need it.
if you find work like that to be too tedious i'd forget character art altogether and focus on something else.
However, every 3d job requires a healthy dose of tedium - it's not something you can escape. Try putting things into perspective: we are talking about a few hours of clicking a mouse, right? Better than pouring concrete for eight hours in the heat.
It's worth powering through because, for instance, it may take a month the first time to get good results from hair cards, but once you know how to do it then it will only take a few workdays (or less) each time.
i understand, you are right,
but i can't find anything related to 3d art.
Applyed on hundreds job ads and nothing.
If they at least answered me with "hey, you suck, you can't get a job" i would be grateful on that,
ok what to learn then to get a job. Nope, nothing.
Now im forcing myself again to focus more on archviz and graphic design, at least i can find job there.
Of all the studio's I've worked at, the character artists did not do the groom. Mind you, they've all been animation studios and not game studios.
you don't get that reply because it would cost hundreds of dollars to send it
doesn't help I know, but hopefully it explains why
i'd say we're still in the very early days of actual grooming for games. as in one hair is one hair and not a line on a haircard. for now, chances are haircards will stick around for a while. and if it is as lods to hyper realistic grooms, such as used by metahumans.
from what i have seen, this industry will likely specialize more, like vfx does as the amount of work on hair can be just as much as for the rest of the character. look at studios like airship images, they showed that they can do really good haircards and grooms, so most of their portfolio by now is almost exclusively that. they can do more, but as this is a speciality they showed of really well, thats what i assume they get hired for the most. and it is impressive, but its a specialized position, not a one character artist does the thing from start to finish anymore.
i think if you need a realistic haircut for your asset, find good stock work and be open about it, or go with the classic gamey bald look.
to be completely honest, start doing what your nickname implies and focus on ONE thing and get it done. you have a bazillion threads on a bazillion topics, and while its likely all interesting and might cross your path, as props or character artist. how about actually doing the work first?
your thread history is so convoluted that i can only project that onto yourself. focus, pick a topic, execute it. a prop artist will likely not work on characters, a character artist will likely not work on any non character props, they will very likely also not rig stuff, meddle with shaders in substance (just go pbr standard for now). it doesnt matter if you start your retopo from the thumb or the eyeball, if you wanna do hair for games you dont need vray, concept art and 3d art are already a blend in many cases, as a game artist you dont need a better renderer inside zbrush...
man focus, take one step at a time, don't take the next step before you finished the one before!