[Portfolio] Just finished my site

downarmy · Feb 2010

I just graduated from a 3D school in Quebec and this is my portfolio

i just finished uploading it today, and now i will be looking for some junior artist position...

i know i dont have a lot of quality piece but in time i will get better

i am looking for advice and critiques

WWW.fm3d.info

rollin · Feb 2010

The first thing I did was watching your reel.

And what I see is a tank driving incredibly slow around.
And the problem is, this doesn't help you because the whole
scene doesn't look that good

directly show the turntable of the tank
and it would be cool to have a progress bar for the video player so I have more control over the playback.

When I'm on the front page and I click on "portfolio" the size of the font does change

Don't use so many different "cool" fonts on your page. Your page will look more consistent if you just use 1 or 2 fonts.

The Thumbnails aren't that good. I wouldn't use these gradients. And don't put your art on a black background (even if there is a gradient in there)

So this is a bit crit for the moment.

And of course, do more more more stuff. You definitely have to get better, esp. when it comes to texturing.

But I'm sure you're heading in the right direction!

cheers
:thumbup:

PredatorGSR · Feb 2010

Your site design is solid. The only change I would make is to have the default page be the portfolio instead of the reel. I'm guessing you'll find that most people won't look at your reel, and just look at your portfolio instead, I know I did. You could also improve the layout of your prop image as well.

The weird thing is your reel is much better than your portfolio, and the tank and buildings in your reel aren't in your portfolio. Why? That is your best work.

Honestly, your work isn't good enough yet to land a job. Your texturing skills need a lot of work. You need to put a lot more thought and detail into your textures, where they would be worn, etc. Post up your work individually on 3d forums such as this to get feedback as to how to improve.

Also, presentation is hugely important. Key to this is the lighting. Your lighting is terrible. Your unreal screenshots are so dark you can't even tell what is in the images, and the maya software renders (looks like) have such flat lighting that your props just look bland .

At the very least I would download the free Marmoset engine to render your props with. It is a modern game engine with decent lighting and effects, and it is very easy to use.

Tying into the lighting, you don't seem to be using spec maps very well. Creating proper spec maps will make your textures look a lot better.

You'll need to really buckle down to work on new stuff and improve your skill before you will start getting responses from employers.

Finally, you probably aren't going to find many junior positions in the industry right now. There are a lot of experienced devs in the talent pool right now, so you are competing against people with experience for a job. Experience isn't a huge factor as long as your work is as good as theirs, but to get there you are going to need to work on your portfolio full time, because thats what they've been doing at their jobs.

Goat Justice · Feb 2010

First off, why aren't the assets from your demo reel also shown as stills in your portfolio? I think they're probably your best work, and definitely a cut above what I saw in the stills. It would be nice to see the polycounts, texture work, etc.

Texturing is probably the skill you should concentrate the most on developing. I'm going to focus on your AK, since it's the only asset with the textures posted.

Diffuse map: The diffuse for the gun is really flat, and doesn't help to define the shape of the model, or accentuate the normal map. You showed an AO bake for the tank in your reel, so do one for the gun too, and incorporate that for starters. You can also use the wear and grime to define edges and low areas. right now the scratches on the metal seem to be just overlayed at random. use them instead to lighten and define some edges. concentrate on where a real gun would get banged up or collect dirt.

Normal Map: I'm not sure your normal map is actually doing anything. I cant see any details that it is actually creating. (other than sinking in the dark areas of the wood grain which is strange since that part of the gun is probably fairly smooth). All the little rivets on the side of the gun, or grooves on the clip and sight are actually built into your geometry. There could be an argument for doing this on a first person view weapon for a game, but that's more of an exception than a rule. As this project stands, though, you could probably have an identical looking gun at half the polycount.
Was there a high poly that you captured normals from? if so post it.

Specular: I don't think you're getting much bang for your buck here. I don't really see anything catching a cool highlight. Not sure what you rendered the gun in, so its hard to say exactly why.

I know that's a lot of critique, but I don't mean to be harsh. just trying to give you a push in the right direction. Keep hitting it any you will improve. Focus on having each project be better than the last. Quality counts over quantity especially in a student reel.

EDIT: Doubled up on some of PredatorGSR's points since it took me a bit to get my post done. Consider that double emphasis.

Rojo · Feb 2010

I would ditch the reel and use high res stills instead.

Your lighting is too dark and murky, this is ruining your presentation. Remember, your goal is to show off your modeling skills, not hide them in shadows.

Max out the engine render settings to make your screenshots look their best.

Keep it up.

[Portfolio] Just finished my site

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