Are Weapon/Hardsurface Artists In Game Studios Like Activision Using CAD?

Bozurk

Hello,

Just as the title says.  Are weapon artists in these Triple A studios using CAD to save-time? And no, I'm not talking about Junior 3D Hardsurface/Weapon Artists, I'm talking about Senior level here. I'm sure a senior who has a lot of experience can, or probably should be allowed to use the software of her/his choice if it gets the job done faster. I've heard from someone that most outsourcing studios are using CAD programs like MOI3D or Fusion360.

sacboi

"Are weapon artists in these Triple A studios using CAD to save-time? And no, I'm not talking about Junior 3D Hardsurface/Weapon Artists, I'm talking about Senior level here."

This fragment is a misnomer. Bearing in mind that seniority doesn't always necessarily supersede the former in terms of expertise generating quality content but rather, would typically have already accrued sustained experience working within high end production environments. So yes, in answer to your question there are people who utilize, double precision solids within their personal workflow. In fact a hard surface - weapon artist, an active member on these boards attained his first job at Infinity Ward (progenitor studio for the CoD franchise) four or five years ago, atm escapes me when exactly?! however most if not all advice he'd posted was bang on the money! occasionally helping me out, as well plus taking into account was a fair while, prior to accepting an Industry role.

EDIT:

I assume result of which was a motivating factor, he also switched over to working with CAD data.  

Bozurk

sacboi said:

"Are weapon artists in these Triple A studios using CAD to save-time? And no, I'm not talking about Junior 3D Hardsurface/Weapon Artists, I'm talking about Senior level here."

This fragment is a misnomer. Bearing in mind that seniority doesn't always necessarily supersede the former in terms of expertise generating quality content but rather, would typically have already accrued sustained experience working within high end production environments. So yes, in answer to your question there are people who utilize, double precision solids within their personal workflow. In fact a hard surface - weapon artist, an active member on these boards attained his first job at Infinity Ward (progenitor studio for the CoD franchise) four or five years ago, atm escapes me when exactly?! however most if not all advice he'd posted was bang on the money! occasionally helping me out, as well plus taking into account was a fair while, prior to accepting an Industry role.

EDIT:

I assume result of which was a motivating factor, he also switched over to working with CAD data.  

Sorry, I wasn't clear enough about the seniority requirement. What I actually meant by that is, When getting hired as a junior weapon artist, they don't allow the junior to be rather flexible. And use different software/tool and stick with the standard. But now I know that it is not really required to use the standard software as long as the assets meets quality expectations and standards. Thank you!

Klunk

I don't think it's common practise, if at all, if you need someone to pick up half way through for some reason (illness, holiday, leaving etc) you don't want to be loading custom softare just to see the progress, hey boss I need a license for AutoCAD to see Joes mg. And everything saved on the servers must be accessable to everyone else for obvious reasons.
Though I've worked in studio's where some have "lied" about experience with particular software, and have installed their own versions of a different package to do the work 

Bozurk

Klunk said:

I don't think it's common practise, if at all, if you need someone to pick up half way through for some reason (illness, holiday, leaving etc) you don't want to be loading custom softare just to see the progress, hey boss I need a license for AutoCAD to see Joes mg. And everything saved on the servers must be accessable to everyone else for obvious reasons.
Though I've worked in studio's where some have "lied" about experience with particular software, and have installed their own versions of a different package to do the work 

Interesting! Thanks for the heads up Klunk, Is Maya used more in game studios? Or Is it 3DS Max still?

Klunk

https://polycount.com/discussion/222631/whats-your-primary-3d-app-these-days#latest

pior

"I've heard from someone ..."
Who was that ?

"... that most outsourcing studios"
That's a very bold claim

"... are using CAD programs like MOI3D or Fusion360."
Just because CAD might be suited for a a given task or production, doesn't mean that it is suited for all.

And even though they are both CAD packages, MOI and Fusion are completely different beasts in the way they operate. MOI is very intuitive and is very tightly designed, but it is 100% destructive. Fusion is completely parametric in nature, but comes with an incredibly badly designed UI/UX that can be very detrimental to one's workflow (and sanity) - but of course people who never experienced anything else will be 100% convinced that it is "just fine" and will act as evangelists.

Anyways. All you have to do is to remain curious and willing to use the best workflow possible. And don't worry about things "you've heard" if it doesn't come from people who actually have production experience.

"I'm sure a senior who has a lot of experience can, or probably should be allowed to use the software of her/his choice if it gets the job done faster."
Not necessarily. A studio may be paying for a certain piece of software because it comes with a support package that another doesn't have. Or perhaps a studio has some strict IT policies for software deployment, even if it is free or open source. Every place is different, so don't worry about it. Just focus on doing the best possible work.

Bozurk

pior said:

"I've heard from someone ..."
Who was that ?

"... that most outsourcing studios"
That's a very bold claim

"... are using CAD programs like MOI3D or Fusion360."
Just because CAD might be suited for a a given task or production, doesn't mean that it is suited for all.

And even though they are both CAD packages, MOI and Fusion are completely different beasts in the way they operate. MOI is very intuitive and is very tightly designed, but it is 100% destructive. Fusion is completely parametric in nature, but comes with an incredibly badly designed UI/UX that can be very detrimental to one's workflow (and sanity) - but of course people who never experienced anything else will be 100% convinced that it is "just fine" and will act as evangelists.

Anyways. All you have to do is to remain curious and willing to use the best workflow possible. And don't worry about things "you've heard" if it doesn't come from people who actually have production experience.

"I'm sure a senior who has a lot of experience can, or probably should be allowed to use the software of her/his choice if it gets the job done faster."
Not necessarily. A studio may be paying for a certain piece of software because it comes with a support package that another doesn't have. Or perhaps a studio has some strict IT policies for software deployment, even if it is free or open source. Every place is different, so don't worry about it. Just focus on doing the best possible work.

Thank you for taking the time to write this insight Prior. I will keep that in mind, I've heard from my friend who is learning from freelancer, or a professional (I dot know, don't quote me), And that person told my friend that in Activision, the weapon artists most of them used CAD software to create those modernized complex weapons. I've made this thread because I'm at the moment choosing my tool and trying to become (Industry Ready) if need be, I know how to model and use Both Maya and Blender and Zbrush but, at the moment I'm learning 3DS Max and I've been tempted to jump into cad modeling with Plasticity. (Which by the way, is a new kid in the block for CAD workflow). Should I stick with Maya? Thanks!

Klunk

the weapon artists most of them used CAD software to create those modernized complex weapons.

possibly, but it may  be as simple as  they get the CAD drawings from the manufacturer.

pior

Well I think that when people mention CAD in this context, it's pretty much always about the benefit of being able to add/cut in details without worrying about meshing. So in that regard the OP is on the right track (as indeed these workflows *can* be very useful).

@Bozurk I'd say simply focus on being as efficient as possible with mesh-based modeling, while *also* practicing the CAD package you feel the most comfortable with (very likely a pick between of MOI, Fusion and Plasticity. And perhaps Solidworks if you have access to it. There's also Rhino, but MOI is pretty much its spiritual successor).

In my experience MOI is absolutely the most intuitive to pickup and opens up great workflows very fast. Fusion is very powerful but as said I also find in incredibly awfully designed in terms of UX, making some simple operations infuriatingly frustrating to perform. Plasticity seems extremely promising, especially with the way the author seems to understand that CAD applied to game art/scifi fantasy designs involves a lot of freeform input (like drawing guide lines directly in perspective), which is something that both MOI and Fusion are quite poor at by default.

sacboi

@Bozurk

My apologies, lately more often than not misinterpret what I read or become fixated upon a certain train of thought, too the detriment of all else so frankly a to be clear what I wrote was wrong. 

Not absolutely sure is related to a diagnosed mental health condition incurred when a lot younger since I'm not a trained healthcare professional although do regularly attend therapy sessions.

Again, disregard my earlier comment.