Should a character artist bother with hard surface modeling (weapons, etc.)?
polycounter lvl 13
Character artist is an exaggeration in my case as I'm more of an aspiring artist still learning the nits and bits of human anatomy and organic sculpting.
My questions to you guys is should I even bother with learning how to model weapons and other hard surface props? If so, how is it going to improve my modeling capabilities? I am thinking of taking a CGWorkshops course on weapons modeling to get a kick-start. I see myself benefiting from the course because I've never done UV mapping, baking, or texturing and it covers all that. As far as I know, those essential things apply to characters too (real-time engine/game art).
Or would you say I should just focus on anatomy because obviously I'm not there yet?
Any input is appreciated!
My questions to you guys is should I even bother with learning how to model weapons and other hard surface props? If so, how is it going to improve my modeling capabilities? I am thinking of taking a CGWorkshops course on weapons modeling to get a kick-start. I see myself benefiting from the course because I've never done UV mapping, baking, or texturing and it covers all that. As far as I know, those essential things apply to characters too (real-time engine/game art).
Or would you say I should just focus on anatomy because obviously I'm not there yet?
Any input is appreciated!
Replies
Building clean meshes with decent edge flow is a skill that will translate to whatever you're modeling, so learning how to model and unwrap a gun doesn't mean you can only model guns. It applies to characters, props, vehicles, whatever.
I think taking a course in it is a bit extreme, there's plenty of kits on 3D Motive, Eat3D or Digital Tutors which should give you a great understanding of good modeling and unwrapping skills.
You don't need to take the course to learn that stuff. But you're right in that those are fundamental things to know for any 3d artist. If you want to be a character artist, you will need to know how to do hard surface stuff as much as organic.
I think I saw the description for that course, and it seems as though it's a good introduction for beginner-intermediate artists. Again, it is definitely knowledge worth having. The only "downside" I can see is that you'll be spending time doing something, that while beneficial, isn't your main focus.
I'd say go for it.
Longer answer: Character artists should be well versed in all ranges of character creation, which means being able to model say, a mech character, or as previously mentioned, a character with armor. Also, a character can be more interesting with additional props & weapons, which won't always be organic. Being able to model both hard surface as well as organic for characters will only add to your skillset and make you that much more marketable.
"Theres no such thing as a Junior character modeler"
Seriously, it doesn't get more to the point, and CORRECT than that.
*slowclap.gif
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Just quoting the completely bloody obvious here.
But to be helpful ;P I would also suggest if you are primarily a ZBrusher, to check out Eat3D's hard surface modelling DVD.
[ame]
I don't care what anyone says, I love the Eat 3D theme tune.
A lot of the basic principles of good character design have to be applied to such models as well: powerful shiluettes, good proportions, expressive gestures. As good as they are, vehicle and prop and environmnet modelers usually aren't experienced enough in these fields to be trusted to model such characters. Even is someone can build the perfect assault rifle, a powered exoskeleton could still be too much of a challenge because it requires different skills and experiences.
So yes, even if you want to specialize on characters, you still have to be pretty damn good at hard surface modeling.
If you keep working on characters to improve you'll definitely run into things that will require skill in hard surface, so learn as you go. Do full characters for practice and get better at everything in tandem instead of focusing on just anatomy or just hard surface. If you approach it that way you learn hard surface, organics, baking, uv'ing, texturing, everything you'll need. If you approach everything separately it will be longer before you are production ready and making full characters.
not trying to offend but I've been studying anatomy for the better part of 5 years and I DONT KNOW SHIT.
there's no end to learning anatomy, so just learn what you can and keep advacing as a character artist, meaning a person who models characters, whether their wearing a loin cloth or power armor.