Portfolio Critiques and Advice

David Somers · Feb 6 2024

Hey all. I'm venturing from mods to look at landing my first full time gig. I've worked in mods for many years and am wanting to finally break onto the scene. One point that was brought to my attention was that AAA studios are wanting to see maximum details (pushing even further than current in-game standards), so I already am planning out another piece for my Artstation... https://www.artstation.com/epifire

I started getting into modding back around 2009, so I feel like the goalposts changed a decent bit since then. With things like Nanite that can render insane amounts of polygons, my old methods of minding polygon/drawcalls leave my work feeling dated. I used to be told that employers wanted to see a good working knowledge of retopology and budget constraints but I'm being told that's really not the case anymore.

I'm also really confused about a certain point. I used to be told to avoid marketplace assets (which I've stood by for a long time). But if I'm modeling out locations and want to lean on scanned materials, is that still really frowned upon? Mind you, I'm only wanting to lean on real world scanned materials; not photogrammetry models. For instance, I'm planning an industrial spillway exterior and I want to build out the terrain with a combination of sculpted assets and scanned materials. I really want to combine displacement maps alongside my own assets to really fill in the detail level. I don't have a good camera setup, so sourcing the assets in the real world isn't an option for me right now.

And for my last question. Is my work (quality, style or otherwise) even worth trying to apply around with? I had a lot of ideas of what it took to get with a studio but frankly I don't know anymore. For some context, I work a seasonal job so that I get the Winter off. I'm trying to figure out if I should just focus my time on applying around and reaching out to contacts I have at companies; or if I should just go back to the drawing board and focus 100% of my time on more portfolio scenes?

It's a tough call for me, so any opinions or crits are wholly welcome.

zetheros · Feb 6 2024

nanite and marketplace assets haven't made good topology or making your own assets obsolete. Nanite is an edge case that has limitations on what you can and cannot do with it. I can see it being useful with high detail rendering, but for most video games I don't think it's worth using. Marketplace assets are good for prototyping, but in the end you'll still want your own assets or your game will look the same as any one of the thousands of asset flip games out there.

If you're looking for a job, don't stop applying. Keep improving on your UV and material work, also make sure you're up to date with lighting. Don't feel discouraged if no one's biting, you're competing with thousands of freshly laid off professionals right now

Ruz · Feb 6 2024

i think you are doing well, the work is of a good quality, but there seems to be literally not much GI in the renders, ie no bounce light, just black shadows

Re the suitcase I think you chose the worst of the renders to display as the thumbnail, some of the others look like they have more impact, ie the one with the US flag .
If you sort some of the lighting out you will be on to a winnner

David Somers · Feb 7 2024

Ruz said:

i think you are doing well, the work is of a good quality, but there seems to be literally not much GI in the renders, ie no bounce light, just black shadows
Re the suitcase I think you chose the worst of the renders to display as the thumbnail, some of the others look like they have more impact, ie the one with the US flag .
If you sort some of the lighting out you will be on to a winnner

I'm not sure I follow. Did you mean the ambient lighting shot for that briefcase? I didn't have any full color renders besides the main one I used, which was why I was confused.

Admittingly, I habitually choose a darker lighting theme because I prefer the more moody shot (I can't imagine my years on The Dark Mod had anything to do with that 😋). I like to have the range of lighting range as wide as possible. Meaning from my brightest points at light sources, to just above black in the darkest corners.

I'm staging another project scene as I type this. Thanks for the crits, I'll definitely keep this all in mind as I move forward! 🙂

Ruz · Feb 7 2024

I was just suggesting more bounce light in some of the shots, was n't really being critical of the overall mood. Even dark shadows can pick out detail

as long as they are not totally black. In the reference for that boiler room shot for example, the light behind the pipe has a nice warm glow, where it's slightly cooler/ greener in the foreground. might be good to look at warm and cool contrasts in your lightinng . I think the blown out highlights don't really work too well either.

It may as you indicated just be a matter of preference, but its was something that struck me as I glanced through the work.

I do think you can push the lighting further and that will really sell your work

David Somers · Feb 7 2024

Thanks for the explanation, it's much appreciated!

Portfolio Critiques and Advice

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