Does "3D sculptor" basically mean "character artist"?
polycounter lvl 4
Is there a 3D sculpting job that doesn't involve making characters, humans, creatures, rigging etc.?
Is there a 3D sculpting job that doesn't involve making characters, humans, creatures, rigging etc.?
Replies
Regarding the question in your title : No
Regarding the question in the body of your message : Yes
In other words ... these questions do not make any sense. What is it that you actually want to know, without beating around the proverbial bush ?
Sculpting is usually used for organic shapes. And characters like humans and creatures is one of the most needed organic shape in 3D.
Is there other stuff that you can sculpt? Sure. But a sculptor without the skills to shape a character will have a hard time to find his niche.
There are many games with stylized art, like mobile games, fantasy and such (like games from Riot or Blizzard), where everything is sort of "organic". When they hire people, do they describe job positions as 3D modellers, 3D sculptors, or do they hire character artists to sculpt buildings like those in Heroes of the Storm (yes, I know it's dead, it's an example)?
Low poly stylized content is usually not sculpted, but polygon modeled :)
I don't mean low poly, I mean stuff like this guy does: https://www.artstation.com/orb
Hello,
Again ... what do you actually want to know ? Or rather, what are you trying to do that makes you think of asking this (somewhat odd) question ?
There obviously isn't one single term to describe a given job, so no, you will not find some kind of lexicon that will say "a job posting for someone sculpting X kind of models will have to written this way." However, the job description itself will always clearly state if a position if for a character team, or an env. team.
So :
On most projects, artists working on animated characters are usually part of one team (the Character Team), and artists working on sculpted environments assets are part of an other (the Environment Team). And no, even though sculpting/modeling characters (that will be players or NPCs) and sculpting/modeling statues used for environments sounds similar, it really isn't at all for a whole lot of reasons that go far beyond the scope of a single thread.
Now if your actual question is : "Can I get hired as a ZeedBrush sculptor even though I am not very comfortable/interested in doing characters that look alive and with tight topology, but I kinda like sculpting statues though", then the answer would be ... that it still isn't a relevant question either, because people are almost never hired to only sculpt, but rather to deliver solid models crafted from start to finish (all the way to the final textured ingame low).
why would anybody want to hire a person who only sculpts... what, rocks? and actively avoids anything technical in a tech-based field?
It's not weird or sophisticated question to ask. I just noticed that a) there are no job offers for "3D sculptors", and b) someone has to sculpt all that organic, stylized stuff. So I asked who is the guy.
"a) there are no job offers for "3D sculptors""
Because regardless of what the short title of the job offer says, what matters is the actual job description.
"b) someone has to sculpt all that organic, stylized stuff. So I asked who is the guy."
Yes, someone has to do this indeed. It's the guy who got hired after answering a job offer that listed in the description that the studio was looking for someone to sculpt stylized environment assets.
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If you simply asked the direct question of "what would be the title given to someone who sculpts stylized rocks and the like at a game studio", then you would have gotten the answer "environment artist". And the detailled job description would stipulate that the game in question has a certain look, and therefore that the person needs to be skilled in creating stylized assets in X or Y style. That's all there is to it really.
You're running in circles because you are assuming that there is some kind of universal unique title with "sculptor" in it for specifically that. There is none - and as a matter of fact studios will likely avoid that term altogether, because by listing "sculptor" they would get replies from applicants how only know ZBrush and are unable to create their own final, clean game assets. That is to say, having to train someone who might be reluctant to do the most important part of the job.
Now there can be some rare "ZBrush-only Wizards" positions at some studios, but this would be more for previz work. You really don't want to have any Zbrush divas within a game art team really, because that means someone would have to redo most of their work since they wouldn't know how to create clean topology or have no idea how to do a clean bake.
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The TLDR is that "sculptor" wouldn't properly represent the skillset of someone doing stylized environment assets. So yes that guy exists, but he isn't called that because he does many more things on the job.
And TLDR#2 is that if you are looking for a job doing "Zbrush only", then you likely won't find it at a game studio, because there's much more to creating game assets than just merely sculpting their surface.
Well, that might explain why most stylized games are so generic and bland.
... what ?
That's the low poly stuff that i mean. In this case there might even be some sculpting involved. But this can also simply be done by some clever texture painting, completely without any sculpting.
As Pior pointed already out, there is no special job for 3d sculptors. Sculpting is part of the 3D job like cutting onions is part of cooking. And worth nothing when you cannot manage the rest of the pipeline. When you create characters then you are a character artist. When you create environment then you are a environment artist. And sculpting is just one task in the whole pipeline. Like texture baking or retopo. Ever heard about a retopo artist or texture baker? :)
What do you expect? That every game prop has its own style? Of course the props are fitting to each other, and are consistent in style and look. If this is not the case then you do something very wrong. And to prevent repetitive look is also the job of the level designer and game programmer. And there are some limits to take into account. The hardware of the user for example. You cannot model every cobble stone to look unique. It's always a trade off.
perhaps in overcoming the technical challenges that you don't want to engage with, the necessary final output become what you call, "bland."
kind of lame to talk shit from sidelines though. if you are contender in the ring then you can say whatever you want - you might still be an asshole but at least least then it is fair.
I just meant that stylized 2D games tend to have a much, much higher variety of artstyles than stylized 3D games. There are many 2D games that evoke "wow, now that is a unique style"-reaction in me (like Loop Hero, Cuphead, Death Crown). I can hardly remember a 3D game that did the same. 3D artists tend to be fixated on technological advancement rather than artistic one, even those that work in stylized art.
You know the wrong games ...
this thread took a weird turn from what sounded like "can i work in games by just sculpting" to "every stylized game looks like orb"
and to be fair, to some degree that is actually true. Michael has set the bar for this kind of sculpting look and feel and it does get copied a lot.
it's not unlike many cg movies looking very similar, and every company that is not disney and pixar tried to match their look and feel for years. just more recently, now that some key players are gone and they experiment with styles more, it does change up a bit.
I just wonder how long this will go on like that, considering like the latest disney movie tanked, that on first stight feels more like designed and produced by the people behind hotel transilvania or megamind.
i absolutely love that they are playing with styles now, red, or luca are adorable and by their own standards very daring. i hope this can go on and doesn't change back...
Isn't it obvious its in the name sculptor sculpt , if there is sculptor in job title/description that's what you do , high res sculpt
Sculptor and character artist are no the same thing even tho character artist is suppose to know how to sculpt and sculptor mostly do figurative art , subject is base on personal preference and specialization or client whims
Of course there are you could do collectables [environment pieces ] sculpting rocks , jewelry , toys , car bodies are sculpted as well ,anything for printing and casting , prototypes for goods and on
I am not a 3D artist. We do work with a studio however and was told that it is much more difficult to make a 3D model of a sculpture than even a complex ornate building. What do you artists think about that?
As some have already said I don't think there are many "3d sculptor" only positions or if there are then they are not advertised for whatever reason. I think it is somewhat similar to Texture artist positions. Many of the texture artists positions are not just texturing, they want modeling and sculpting as well.