I'd like to see you go further in depth with the tutorials that you have on your website. It would be cool to hear you talk through your process for both. There are a ton of sculpting tutorials/dvds out there, but few that go over texturing and building animate-able game meshes with nice deformations. Also, I have seen some older school guys do some pretty amazing tricks with UV's and being smart about texture re-use.
Writing and optimizing efficient HLSL shaders for games.
Complex character rigging (especially mechanical, where there's less skinned animation and more rotation/sliding)
check out Ben Clowards DVD's. Really good stuff and works up from simple Diffuse HLSL to animating vertice points in 3rd DVD. (Haven't got 3rd DVD yet but the first two are awesome. Note he does focus on 3ds max but havent had a problem moving to maya. Just need to reference maya HLSL shaders)
complex real "nexgen" topics like muscle systems, advanced realtime shaders and how to create textures for them, hair, fur, modular character design, cloth simulations, ...
Blended/morphed normal maps (for facial expression) As far as I know, only Cryengine is the only widely available engine that does this right now, though, yes?
Biggest thing I think people need to learn judging by what was taught in school and what is used in the industry is more on Modular Design and use of tiling textures. In schools all they teach you is how to make props and then you see people with there entire folio 1to1 maps not using tilers or trim textures at all and having no understanding on how to correctly use them.
Thanks to everyone for all of the input. It's interesting to see which aspects of game art people are most interested in. I suppose I'm a bit surprised about the requests regarding modular pieces, both in environment art and character, but stepping back I can see it definitely makes sense.
I agree on the Ben Cloward DVDs! Pick 'em up! I'm lucky enough to work with him- smart dude!
penrod - Those are pretty old school tutorials. I don't think there's anything on my site newer than 2.5 years old. I've been so busy with Star Wars - hopefully I'll have some time to get stuff up soon. Working on a new iteration of the course, full figure based, so will have that for show soon.
I agree I think modularity is a good topic to cover. It seems to stump a lot of people and even if they get the concept there are a lot of tips and tricks that take the headaches away. It's hard to keep it app generic because it seems like each app has a unique way of dealing with the same problems, so it could be pretty challenging to buckshot teach, or spend a bunch of time teach it all.
Alot of modular environment making is the same as just prop tutorials. Maybe something that focus's on working with grid snapping or how to maximise uv space when you have a normal map to bake, etc.
Im still for rigging. especially when part of being an environment artist means knowing how to make animated set pieces, which I am not comfortable with yet.
Alot of modular environment making is the same as just prop tutorials.
I disagree, there is a lot more to think about and juggle when building modular pieces.
Making sure everything lines up so they tile correctly, this normally involves a bunch of snapping.
Making sure the pivots are aligned to the grid and that the grid matches the scene builder grid.
Baking AO and normal maps that take into account the pieces on either side, even though the pieces can change.
How small do you make your modules? Is each module a building, a story, a 512x512 tile or a handful of tiny pieces?
How do you make corners and transitions?
How about variant pieces using the same assets?
How do you manage and package textures sheets?
With a prop, its normally pretty self contained. You might use modeling tools the same way but there is a bunch of stuff to think about with modular design. It often requires a truck load more planning, and the more you plan the better things are going to be.
I second Vig, modular environment art is hard and not only that, there's a lot of tips&tricks and small stuff that you should/need to know in order to don't fuck up and end up with headaches.
The shitty thing is, to learn this, you need to learn with your mistakes. So, it would be great if someone could write a very detailed article / tutorial about this topic, someone who has already been through those harsh times. Cos that's the way it works, a lot of people learn stuff the hard way and move on, cos not everyone has the time to mentor other people.
IMO there are more than enough tutorials out there to choose from that cover ultra-realistic next-gen models. I would LOVE if you made some tutorials on hand-painted / WoW / Torchlight style texturing. The mobile gaming sector prefers this style as well.
I understand painting is more of a skill that must be practiced. But any tips/tricks/shortcuts to speed along the process would be awesome to watch. Plus just watching people traditionally paint textures is cool.
Replies
i find props bit difficult to model
Basemesh would correct,but when sculpting. eg:- double side face
Hair
Modular Assets/Buildings
Animating Characters :P
Complex character rigging (especially mechanical, where there's less skinned animation and more rotation/sliding)
Long fur.
Mechanical rigging
check out Ben Clowards DVD's. Really good stuff and works up from simple Diffuse HLSL to animating vertice points in 3rd DVD. (Haven't got 3rd DVD yet but the first two are awesome. Note he does focus on 3ds max but havent had a problem moving to maya. Just need to reference maya HLSL shaders)
Hair and fur
Blended/morphed normal maps (for facial expression) As far as I know, only Cryengine is the only widely available engine that does this right now, though, yes?
planning UV space smartly for modular stuff
I agree on the Ben Cloward DVDs! Pick 'em up! I'm lucky enough to work with him- smart dude!
penrod - Those are pretty old school tutorials. I don't think there's anything on my site newer than 2.5 years old. I've been so busy with Star Wars - hopefully I'll have some time to get stuff up soon. Working on a new iteration of the course, full figure based, so will have that for show soon.
Thanks again all!
Me too, mainly because it's where I lack the most.
Making props is fine, there's not a lot of reusing, making uv's are pretty straightforward, etc.
but environment art (architectural stuff) can get pretty complex and I still have to establish a good workflow for this, cos atm, i suck.
Im still for rigging. especially when part of being an environment artist means knowing how to make animated set pieces, which I am not comfortable with yet.
I've always wondered, what do you guys mean by 'custom rig'?
Making sure everything lines up so they tile correctly, this normally involves a bunch of snapping.
Making sure the pivots are aligned to the grid and that the grid matches the scene builder grid.
Baking AO and normal maps that take into account the pieces on either side, even though the pieces can change.
How small do you make your modules? Is each module a building, a story, a 512x512 tile or a handful of tiny pieces?
How do you make corners and transitions?
How about variant pieces using the same assets?
How do you manage and package textures sheets?
With a prop, its normally pretty self contained. You might use modeling tools the same way but there is a bunch of stuff to think about with modular design. It often requires a truck load more planning, and the more you plan the better things are going to be.
The shitty thing is, to learn this, you need to learn with your mistakes. So, it would be great if someone could write a very detailed article / tutorial about this topic, someone who has already been through those harsh times. Cos that's the way it works, a lot of people learn stuff the hard way and move on, cos not everyone has the time to mentor other people.
We have this, but it's not enough.
http://wiki.polycount.com/CategoryEnvironment
I'd love if someone like Eat3d or whatever came up with a tutorial about modular environment art, it's something a LOT of people would buy for sure.
Physics of the gun, character, bullet distence between the wall or a mesh and its gravety at the end point.
umm..Collision detection.
Real time rendering in game engine
Oh wait you are just talking about game art. heh!
That's all the smart person stuff. Me dum artist.
:P
also clothing , costume
1)Texturing:
b. WOW textures
c. Props
d. Metal, wood, brick, etc.
e. Vehicles
f. Fabrics
g. Organic textures
h. weapons
b. sculpting with zbrush
c. modular environments
3)2D Skills:
b. Character design
well, at the very least these are my goals:)
I understand painting is more of a skill that must be practiced. But any tips/tricks/shortcuts to speed along the process would be awesome to watch. Plus just watching people traditionally paint textures is cool.