[Portfolio] Gary Matthews - Environment Artist

EvilPixills · Aug 2013

Hey Polycount,

I am at the point now in my portfolio process where I am ready for some honest feedback. Would like some input on layout/design, ease of navigation, useful information, image loading time, resume, work quality and anything else that comes to mind will viewing my portfolio.

www.gmjr3d.com

Thanks guys.

silver_hoodlum · Aug 2013

really nice pieces, like the first two, i would suggest to reduce a bit the breakdowns, it seems there r many

Thaurdol · Aug 2013

Its just something I noticed and I might be wrong but my eyes say no there definately is a problem there. Its one of your shots on The Hideout where you show a wooden structure piece. This piece I could not see anywhere in your actual scene renders and the wooden structure seems to have ngons in them.

http://www.gmjr3d.com/hideout_breakdown/WOODFLOORMODELS.jpg

I hope they arent ngons and if they arent I would still consider taking the wooden structure off your site as it doesnt contribute as much to your scene.

EvilPixills · Aug 2013

Thanks, silver_hoodlum. I ended up taking a few images down from "The Hideout" breakdown.

Thaurdol, you are absolutely correct. That was my own rushed half-assery and since none of my renders show that part of the floor I have taken it down. Thanks for the catch man.

lukepham101 · Aug 2013

Hi Gary,

I think you have a good layout to your portfolio, congratulations on that it's easy to read, no nonsense and good breakdowns of your assets.There's a few typos here and there withstanding like specualr but that's alright, that's an easy fix. I think you have a solid understanding of sub-d modelling and for the most part you're pretty good, but we want you get fucking ace so time to criticize the shit out of your work.

Lets start with your Sci Fi scene. Your modelling is pretty good, but your assets are lacking in texturing department, your bakes are not getting the full extent of the AO, so look into combining ways to get the maximum amount of detail out of your bakes, like combining Ambient Occlusion with cavity passes, and just generally making the shadowing in there pop out more. Also your material definition could be better too in terms of utilizing glossiness in order to properly define metal, and getting reflections using environment maps in order to further bring that metallic feel out. In terms of lighting it's really flat, I feel this scene really suffers from not enough contrast, there needs to be more flares from the glowing lights, steam needs to be more prominent and shit just needs to shine more. I think you get how to do it looking at your computer console and coke machine, you just need to apply it to a whole scene.

I would suggest too that the same applies to your Hideout scene. The problem I feel with this scene is that it's simply just not interesting in terms of story telling. It suffers from "it's just another hallway" so you'd need to make something about this a point of interest. I also feel with this scene your modelling is weaker than in comparison to your Sci Fi scene. For example, the fire extinguisher and the desk immediately jump out to me as not looking right such as bump being too strong and texturing details not being right.

Personally too, I think if you're doing hard surface poly renders, it's better to have a point light in there to combine with your AO passes in order to bring out the specular highlights in there. They're fine at the moment, but it just helps you read that where the creases and edges are easy. In comparison though, I think your scene stuff is much more higher priority.

I see lots of potential in you so keep at it man! There's just some corrections and little things that will push you over from being good to freaking awesome! I hope this helps, and I hope to see you succeed.

EvilPixills · Aug 2013

Thanks a lot, Luke. This was what I was looking for. Thanks for catching those typos. Sometimes I type too fast for my own good. I went ahead and corrected the typos.

I will go back and do some more polishing on my textures and materials with my two scenes. In the long run I may end up replacing the hideout scene as it is pretty much more hallway fodder. But for now I can give it some love.

Thanks again for the honest feedback and kind words.

DougClayton4231 · Aug 2013

Great work and your site is very easy to navigate, which is always a big plus!

DWalker · Sep 2013

The third and sixth projects seem unfinished, and I'd recommend pulling them down until you've added their textures. The final project, the rock textures, doesn't seem to add anything that isn't covered by your scenes; I'd recommend pulling that as well.

Remember that with a portfolio, it's quality rather than quantity that counts. Two or three (or even one, for that matter) really good projects is much better than 7 or 8 mediocre ones. Not only do hiring managers tend to focus on the weakest piece, but having a highly polished piece shows that you are willing to see a project to completion, rather than stopping once diminishing returns set in.

EvilPixills · Sep 2013

DWalker wrote: »

The third and sixth projects seem unfinished, and I'd recommend pulling them down until you've added their textures. The final project, the rock textures, doesn't seem to add anything that isn't covered by your scenes; I'd recommend pulling that as well.

Remember that with a portfolio, it's quality rather than quantity that counts. Two or three (or even one, for that matter) really good projects is much better than 7 or 8 mediocre ones. Not only do hiring managers tend to focus on the weakest piece, but having a highly polished piece shows that you are willing to see a project to completion, rather than stopping once diminishing returns set in.

The projects you are referring to are meant to be high poly renders only. I wasn't intending to texture them. I have taken down the last model as I decided it was the weakest and least interesting of the lot.

I have rearranged my thumbnails on the home page as well as added a short video clip of the monitor's animated material in real time.

As for the rock textures, maybe having an actual model using the textures will be more presentable? I just wanted to show some texture work.

Thanks for the feedback, DWalker!

[Portfolio] Gary Matthews - Environment Artist

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