First 3D Portfolio (Student)
Hey, I'm looking for some feedback on my portfolio that I just finished putting together. I'm a second year University student, I'm looking for internships at the moment but I've got plenty of time to do more portfolio work before applying for any kind of big career position.
The link is: http://jamesclarke3d.com/
Please include any feedback you can think of (be constructive!). Most importantly anything you think I need to add or remove from the portfolio.
Cheers,
James
The link is: http://jamesclarke3d.com/
Please include any feedback you can think of (be constructive!). Most importantly anything you think I need to add or remove from the portfolio.
Cheers,
James
Replies
The SCAR feels very new. Like..just off the factory line. Most people will tell you to dirty it up more.
That is about all I can think of off the top of my head. Good stuff though.
For the AK, I would not use that wood as a texture. It looks like it was directly chopped off a tree and then tacked on the weapon. Also, you might have a tad too much wear-n-tear on the weapon. Someone did not take care of their rifle well. I would refine that a bit more. Sometimes less is more. In this case, go for a more subtle look.
Seems like you got some shadowing errors on the SCAR-L on the screengrabs. The forward-collapsable sight needs more work. The specular needs work too. Instead of making the normals from a texture, maybe you should have made a high poly then bake. It will give you these great normals instead of the texture-to-normal technique.
Good luck, I like the layout of the webbie.
some recommendations, nothing big:
-i perfer vimeo over youtube for uploads, because at the end of your video on youtube itll display links to randomly related videos and possibly distract and divert the viewer away from your site. where with vimeo - it'll freeze on your last frame and display the title etc once the video comes to a finish. keeping it more clean looking : ) but thats more of a personal preference i guess
-the bikers face needs a new expression for sure
-like the car and bike, minus the seat to the bike.. just doesn't look right to me
-also get some bigger maps to display for your bike, similar to the size of your guns - try to keep everything uniform !
Well..you learn something new every day.
First, you should decide where you want to focus. Right now you have characters, vehicles, and an environment..do you want to sell yourself as a generalist? or are you looking towards environment art? Whatever you shoot for, you should focus your portfolio mostly on that.
PREPARE FOR A WALL OF TEXT!!!!
sooo as far as your work goes:
The character: can use work. The face is definitely off, as other people said. I'm guessing that you are looking more towards environment/prop art since this is the lone character. If that ends up being the case...remove this guy.
The motorbike: I dig.
AK47: You've got way too much contrast on that wood. Also, I would take another look at your wear and tear on the metal. It looks way too damaged/scratched for my taste, but thats just me. In your first person view, the corners of the metal barely look scratched. You should have more damage on the corners than on flat areas. The ejection port looks like its glowing, it doesn't look like metal at all.
FN-SCAR: your lighting is a turn off for this gun. You should have some sort of fill light so parts aren't completely black from darkness. Also, the upper image has some sort of artifacting thing going on. Perhaps your key light is too harsh and your getting some stepping? Not sure. The texture is the opposite of the AK, like others have said, its really clean/plain. It looks like you just painted flat colors and mulitplied the AO map...then spent 5 minutes adding the numbers, danger sign, and slight scuffing to the barrel.
Viper: I definitely dig this. I got a little annoyed when watching the youtube clip, as I was expecting to see a full turnaround of the model before the wireframe. The way you go between the model and wireframe makes it difficult to get a full grasp on the model itself. Also, the driving up is a little odd, and the images are kinda cheesy/unnecessary.
Chinatown: I saved this for last because this piece has the most promise to me.
This is not chinese...its Korean. No bueno! Make sure you are actually using chinese characters...Korean is noticeably different from chinese. Some of the text on other signs may be japanese as well, but I'm not sure.
I like that you showed the individual pieces used to make up the scene, and the lighting only shot is cool as well. Also showing your textures was cool. I think that compared to the walls, the ground is a little bare. The boxes help, but I still think that you could add some more interest. Maybe a few small props or something. Also, the fountain makes a good focal point. I think it might be cool if you try to get some running water in it.
Comparing your lighting only shot to your final shot makes me think you did some photoshop work on top. Is that the case? Looks like you may have lit up your signs in post, as you don't have any self illumination or bounce lighting from that light in your lighting only shot, and your lamps seem kinda hyperreal compared to your lighting. Also, looking at your texture sheet there is no self illumination map for your signs. If that is the case, I'd fix that..you are trying to sell this as a real-time environment, yet your adding major lighting changes in post. If I'm wrong for some reason, then I'm sorry...feel free to slap me
Your lighting (I'm only going by the lighting only shot for the reason listed above) is off to a good start. I'd get the glow from the lights/signs in there..you can get some nice subtle bounce lighting in your bake from them. Also, you could probably push the reds a little bit more, like in your concept images. You can also up the resolution of the light maps a bit for presentation. Looks like you also have some lightmap seams in between pieces on the building walls and the ground.
Ok, now for the website itself.
I personally am not a fan of the front page. It looks well done, but it took me a few seconds to realize where to go for your portfolio. This might sound like a stupid thing to point out....but your going to be sending this to people that review hundreds of portfolios a day. If they don't immediately get to your work...they might just pass and move on to the next one. Most people just have their portfolio as the home page for that reason. I will say that the chinatown environment right up front was a nice way to grab my attention, though.
Your about page: Not really necessary. Some people have them, some dont...but the information that you put in your about me should be in your resume/CV anyways. Also, lose the picture. You want employers to judge you based on your work, not your good looks. Even if they don't mean to...it can sway their opinion on you. I would just have a page for your resume here. Honestly, not seeing that you have a resume page from your links made me wonder if you had one up at all...the link is sorta hidden there...you want to make sure its super easy for an employer to get to it.
Your contact page: You have "CONTACT" in big bold letters at the top...and it just redirected you back to the same page. Honestly, you could put your polycount, 3dbuzz, phone and email info right there...thats a more appropriate spot for it.
Also, not completely related to your website but.......what is up with your email address? It appears to be random letters and numbers...I suggest coming up with an easier to remember, more professional email address to be contacted at. Using your name or something would be more fitting.
*whew*
Overall, I will say that your off to a great start, especially since you are still in school and have time to tweak things. Keep it up!
I will definitely go in and implement your suggestions! The SCAR model could actually do with a complete re-texture/re-render, I did it quite a while ago. I've recently been redoing the AK so need to go in and polish/tweek that. The viper video clip was rendered a while ago, I might just take it out all together to be honest.
With regards to the lighting in the chinatown scene, the lamps, lanterns and the signs use emisive textures, I just forgot to include them in the texture picture.
Thanks again for the comments, I will be making quite a few changes over the next few days!
I don't really have anything to say than the things already brought up. You're on your way, but I think it's time for you to start focusing on one thing.
You've got:
- a character
- a weapon
- small environment scene
- two vehicles
I think it's time to start specializing in something, what do you want to do? in most bigger AAA-games these days they have people specialized in each area. Give it a think before your next project