Graduating Portfolio Demo Reel

nick!

I just finished putting together my demo reel for graduation (which happens in just two weeks now). I posted pieces of it in an earlier thread but since then I've added an entirely new environment, click the pic below to check it out:



Some additional images of the new scene and props (click the thumbs):


Everything in the portfolio has been captured with FRAPS from realtime gameplay in Unreal Engine 3 (using UT3). At this point I'm looking for job opportunities and openings for environment/prop artist positions. Crits and comments are welcome.

edwardE

Hey, man - I think it turned out REALLY good! I was quite entertained while eating my breakfast (usually demo reels aren't that exciting) - your turnarounds and wireframes had a nice pace, too; enough to see the technicals of your work, but not so long that I wanted to fast-forward. Great variety of colors in that first enviro, too.

Really nice work, I liked it.

The_Kozmonaut

I wouldn't think you should have much trouble finding a position. You work is probably the best I have seen in a long time of someone straight out of school, and knowing the unreal engine is a big plus. No real crits just keep working hard and making new stuff

oobersli

Hey nick, I really like what you've done. Great way to show your reel. Sure you won't have any prob finding a job with this. Good luck and grats on graduating.

JDinges

Very awesome I totaly did not expect you to start shooting the fish market up.

You'll have no problem finding a job.

gamedev

Your work looks good. Demo real was a bit long but well paced overall. You showed your material well nicely too. Only weak part for me was some of the lighting and materials for your second environment. Things were a bit flat, and some better pools of light would have helped.

Out of curiosity, are you using the game breakable actor for your destructibles? Are you looking for a prop / environ job, or do you want to do more level design, kismet work?

-Tyler

Ged

wow really cool work, no idea how you got all that breakable stuff to work so well and the other models look really professional too.

Cubik

I was plesantly suprised by your style, very cheerful and reminicant of the lastest Ratchet and Clank game. The reel was probably twice as long as it needs to be, I think that you can trim down the destruction part as it felt quite unfocused near the end as you aimlessly ran around (a shot from a camera pulling far back in a spiral around the scene could be effective, you could be some extra stuff then like detaching one of the balconies and letting it fall into the river).

The model spins are a bit too highspeed for my taste, I can't really focus on anything.

What kind of games do you want to work on? Cartoony or photo realisticall stuff? Either way I would remove the second enviroment from your reel, it lacks the character of the first one, looks sloppily textured, poorly modeled and just plain boring. You might want to keep the artillery prop and the truck in there though, they look nice at this resolution.

And a small nitpick, do not forget depthbiasalpha on your smoke particle materials, I can see the clipping .

Firecracker197

Wow yeah what school did you go to, and when can I transfer! This is awesome work, your gunna make it pretty damn hard for anyone else to get a job over you! I wish I had some critique but, I only have praise! Good job!

Jesse Moody

Nick I've said it before to you over pms. Great work again. I don't think you'll have a hard time getting a job thats for sure.

Good to see another AI kid cranking out top notch stuff.

Sage

Great job.

Alex

Tumerboy

Hey man, great work, but the demo reel isn't great.

The FPS stuff is cool, and it's nice to have a bit of that, but I didn't need to watch you shooting fruit and bricks for nearly as long as I did. Also keep in mind that many people can't handle watching people play FPS's because they get disoriented/nausiated because they don't have control over the camera, and thus can't predict where you're going to be moving. So any time you do an FPS video, it's important to move slowly and fluidly, without any sudden spins and such.

The turn tables were too fast. I think the length was good, but you could have each item spin 1 time during that duration, and just transition to wireframe part way through. If I can see half of a spin in full render, and half in wireframe, I can usually figure out what the other half would look like in the other mode.

Like I said, the work itself is great, but the demo reel could hurt you if someone gets bored/nausiated at the beginning and just FastForwards through it, or quits.

Having said all of that, I'll forward this on to HR if you're interested.