On the job: Time spent on asset creation/revision?

Erol

Hi everyone,
I've got a few questions for those that are working in the studio environment (well, for freelancers as well).

How long do you/are expected to spend on creating models and appropriate textures for them?

This is for those working on props and environment elements and those working on characters and creatures (I guess that covers everyone, eh?) When you have milestones to hit, does your time get delegated by the lead artist on a per asset basis, or are you given a deadline to have all assets done and are trusted to have them all done at that point? What kind of review process goes into them, and how does that affect the schedule?

Thanks!

Ruz

from my point of view all I can say is it varies enormously, depending on the type of model/texture.
After months working on a particular kind of asset I pretty much know how long that kind of task will take.
You tend to refine/hone your processs to accomplish the task that much faster.

Rick Stirling

Depnds on too many things. Timeframe, workload, polycount, texture size, latform.


From 1 model a day built/mapped/textured and rigged to 1 a fortnight.

Ryno

Yeah, there's no real standard. For example, let's say that you need to make a car. If this car is just a prop in a game, and won't be driven, it might be very quick to make. Maybe a few hours, or a couple of days at most to make it. However, if you need to make a car for a racing game, and need to do the interior, engine parts, nice wheels, detached pieces with pivots set and hierarchically linked so that the doors and other parts open and interact correctly, set up shaders, do LODs, damage states, ensure that the drivers fit in properly, etc., you could end up spending weeks on a car. The same thing holds true for other props, buildings, characters, etc. There's just a lot of variance, depending on the project.

Erol

Thanks for the responses, guys.

Well, since you're always on a schedule, and you have an idea how long something will take you, how does your own day-to-day task list get approached? Is it loose, provided you get what you're working on done when it's due, or is it pre-determined Microsoft Project style? Or a mix of both? I'm sure this will vary company to company/person to person, but I'm curious what each of you have come across. Any particular method yield a less or more stressful project?

Thanks!

MoP

Mine's a pretty loose schedule. I start working on stuff fairly early, but i never spend more than 2 hours in one sitting ... I'll go and take a break before coming back. I don't have a rigid timetable set, but I pretty much always make deadline

Erol

Thanks, MoP. It certainly seems that people are left to their own devices (which is why 'work independantly' seems to be stressed in every job posting).