Showreel Plan

 Indepent Studies - Environemnt

For my show reel I plan to incorporate various work produced during my time at university, the main set pieces I plan to use will be produce during my independent studies where I will be designing and developing an environment inspired by the critically acclaimed The Last Of Us, I will produce a scene directly from the games prequel comic book series, Using the artistic style from Telltales  The walking dead which is known for its comic book art style.

As the Environment is yet to be developed for my show reel plan I will produce a block out show reel using various concept arts used for The Last Of Us, this will allow us to see what I plan to accomplish, As I want to plan fly through for my show reel to really show of my finished Environment, So for my block out show reel I will use an environment produced in my second year of university This will allow me to show how I plan to use the fly throughs, although its not my finished scene the technique will be the same.

 An example for my independtent studies I will take a scene to create from here, using the comic book style, this will be within my show reel, showing off modeling techniques aswell as a unique style of texturing. (Environments may vary to indoor to outdoor depending on chosen scene. This environment will be developed during my independent studies.






Skills Shown

• Demonstrates how I can work from a piece concept art.
• Demonstrates working in various art styles this offers out my skillset.
• Showing polycount, represents how I can develop my 3D assets, also shows how I can optimise.
• Showing texture maps and their resolution 
• Showing Wireframe mode with no texture allowing for breakdown of my scene/assets.

 Steps for showreel 

1.  A fly through will be incorperated witin my show reel showing off all scene sections.
2.  Slow down time to show more unique assets.
3.  Still Shots from dynamic angels.
4. Possible unique assets on turn tables show all angles in textured mode and untextured.

Skills shown

• 3D assets creation
• Texturing skills in varied visual styles (Including diffuse, specular and normal maps)
• In-game engine skills, Showing martials including Shader setups (Using UDK Unreal engine)
• Demostrates good sense of lighing techniques, including light maps.
• Examples of high poly to low poly work.
• Examples of outdoor/indoor environments
• Showing overall skillset within Game engine (UDK, Unreal)

Advance 3D - Environemnt 

During my last semester alongside working on my independent studies, I will also be working on another project (Advance 3D) where I have to create another environment, I have to choose a piece of concept art anything I want then try to my hardest to replicate the chosen concept art.

This will be dipicted in my show reel, I am yet to choose a concept art, I am planning to choose a smaller environment as this will give me the time to focus on smallers details, I plan to develop from an outside environment with Tree, foliage and water. I hope to gain more skills in this section as this will allow me to strive as an environmental artist.

 Steps for showreel 

1.  A fly through will be incorperated witin my show reel showing off all scene sections.
2.  Slow down time to show more unique assets.
3.  Still Shots from dynamic angels.
4. Smaller environment on turntable

 Skills shown

• 3D assets creation
• Texturing skills in varied visual styles (Including diffuse, specular and normal maps)
• In-game engine skills, Showing martials including Shader setups (Using UDK Unreal engine)
• Demostrates good sense of lighing techniques, including light maps.
• Examples of high poly to low poly work.
• Examples of outdoor environments
• Showing overall skillset within Game engine (UDK, Unreal)
• Animated textures (Water)
• foliage modelling techniques
• Possible post-processing techniques

My next post will include images that will be used within my block out show reel, with captions of what I finally intend to design, doing this will not only show my understanding this will allow the viewers to understand how I have worked and how I've planned to design my show reel.

Showreel, What to do

Presentation 
Presentation is key to selling yourself first things first think about who is viewing your portfolio, what sector are you aiming towards is it the game or Film industry very similar deepening on what your aim is, when you send out your portfolio to studios and companies various people may see your portfolio they can range from Human Resources to artist to even the producers and management so keep in mind who is viewing your portfolio, present yourself well don't clutter and keep clean and understandable as said before maybe someone who does not know the art will be viewing this portfolio.

Keep it simple 
Keep your show reel simple clean and precise, make sure each shot has slow and smooth camera movements this helps the viewer take in the detail, Make sure the shots are not cluttered the scene should have only what is needed to make the scene realistic and believable don't over complicate your shots.

Camera and time
Camera and timing plays a vital part of the showreel production, camera movments should be very precise when showing of portfolio work, when using fly throughs within the show reel I need to make sure that its very smooth and not sluggish this could really hinder my work, also the speed of the camera needs to be the perfect amount of time used to show of certain points of the chosen environemnt this allows the view to take in the extra detail, panning shots work very when needed to focus on certain details, If working with characters turn tables are pefrect for showing off the character in question, make sure that the character is posed in a realistic way and not just in standard T-pose this helps your character come to life and show personality.

Work in game engine
showing of work in a game engines does not only enhnace the quality of work but shows the viewer that you have the capabilites of working within game engines, this can really help their overall decision.

Style 
Personally the style choice is dependent on the designer I can't see there being a style which we should all pursue the style is our own, It boils down to how we indiviually present our style, it should represent us as whole and above all keep the style consistent across the show reel otherwise this can cause confussion towards the viewer.


Sound
Sound can be a massive issue, Do not make your show reel around the sound, you need to make sure your show reel works without sound, although it can bring life to your show reel, for example if you have a environment scene maybe atmospheric sounds will help define the environment but background music of actual sounds or something similar doesn't really work well and can come across over dramatic, when all you need to do is fully capture the scene as itself. Also if you create your show reel based around a song or music, the viewer may not be able to hear the music which makes it irrelevant and may make the show reel inadequate.

Work within show reel
All the work depicted within the show reel should be own developed work, unless stated otherwise this may be for example someone who has woked in the industary and worked on a game which other artists have worked on, make sure the work is rendered with the best light to show of the assets and the detail. Do not just show models without textures this can be used but make sure you should textures, as an artist we have to produce both 3D assets and the textures relevent to those assets, Some people would argue that any one could learn to model 3D assets but to texture takes that little bit extra skill and is why we are known as game artists, so make sure eveything is textured.

Portfolio Research

These posts will focus on online portfolios which have caught my eye for either bad or good reasons, I will compare them and note the pros and cons of each and how they can help my own development when producing my own online portfolio and show reels. The portfolios I will be targeting will be solely Environment Artists, as this will relent more to me, I will not be subjective towards the actual 3D work only the design and presentation of the portfolios and show reels if reverent.

http://www.michaeldunnam.com/index.html




















Michael Dunnam environment artists, I really like the home page it stands out and really pushes his work in the viewers face but in an elegant way, Its not cluttered and its very clean and professional and it seems he know hows to highlight his best work.

As looking further in-depth into his portfolio I found that some of his assets allow the viewer to highlight over the asset and it changes the asset to untextured which looks very nice but I feel that he should of added wire frame overlay so then that gives us the visual feedback of how he constructed this asset. Also it seems that only a select few images are enabled to have a size increase when clicked, I feel that having a more detailed render should include a higher resolution and size image, which is not offered below only the full size asset image is enabled to do so.

Fig.2

Fig.1

Fig.3

http://timspanjer.com/index.html

Fig.1 Homepage

Tim Spanjer is also a 3D environment, as with the previous portfolio this one is very straight to the point,clean and precise, As he has added renders of the wire frame as said previously this allows us as the viewers to understand how they developed their assets.

The below image is the project section on this portfolio, I really like this layout But I feel this layout works better if it was the set homepage and these links then bring you to the individual assets images, aside from the overall presentation of each piece of work is perfect in my opinion each image shows of the assets I feel the lighting and the viewing angle really work on here.

Fig.2 Projects section

Fig.3

This image shows of the asset In very great detail, I like how he has also shown of each texture map used this allows us to understand how they are gaining the effects on this model.

Neither of these offered a Show reel, I feel this would really push their work especially their full environment work and allow the viewer to get a real feel and atmosphere in their developed environment.










Bibliography

Tim Spanjer, Environment Artist - http://timspanjer.com/index.html

Michael Dunnam, Environment Artist - http://www.michaeldunnam.com/index.html

Games Industry Job Requirements

Game Studios And Their Requirements

Crytek - 3D Artist

Responsibilities:

• Creation of 3d art assets to demonstrate the power of CryENGINE.
• Assists production of Technical Demos and SDK projects.
• Advocates the needs of licensees' requirements toward internal technology development projects and ensures tech development supports the needs of engine clients.
• Work with programmers to develop tools, scripts, plug-ins to streamline the animation workflow for different software packages (3ds Max, Maya and/or SoftImage XSI).
• Prepares teaching material for training both internal teams and external partners.
• Contributes to documentation related to asset creation.
• Additional tasks in the area of training.
• Additional tasks in the area of a technical support.
• Show a strong passion for customer service and satisfaction.
• Directly responsible for adhering to all company policies and procedures.
• Takes initiative and is willing to expand own horizon.
• Safeguard company assets including source code, art work, tools, game design information and technical know-how.

Requirements:

• Strong knowledge of Photoshop and at least one of the following software: 3ds Max, Maya, SoftImage XSI
• Excellent problem-solving skills.
• Adopt existing development processes and look for improvements.
• Be proactive and self-motivated, work without direct supervision.
• Willing to travel to meet the demands of the engine business.

Sega Europe - 3D Artist 

Job Title	3D Artist
Job Description	As one of the leading interactive entertainment companies, SEGA cultivates creative talent worldwide with offices in America, Japan and our European HQ in London. Our acclaimed UK based studios include Sports Interactive and The Creative Assembly who are responsible for award-winning titles and iconic franchises such as Football Manager™, Aliens™, and the Total War™ series. Hardlight is the newest UK studio in the SEGA family - we are the team behind Sonic the Hedgehog™'s latest adventures on mobile platforms Sonic Jump™ and Sonic Dash™. SEGA's much loved blue hedgehog mascot is a true global brand crossing over from video games into toys, stationary, apparel and much more. We are located in a brand new, open plan office in the heart of Royal Leamington Spa - a thriving town with a bustling game-development scene. A small dedicated bunch with drive, passion and creativity – right now we are looking for a few key people to come and join us on our next exciting games. SEGA has a leading benefits package and flexible working environment that make this a relaxed and friendly place to work. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. ROLE OVERVIEW This person is responsible for general 3D art production on a variety of different game projects of varying different genres and styles. They will be working within a small team and be responsible for a large amount of environment and asset construction pipeline including, modelling, texturing on both 3D and 2D game titles. DUTIES •    Work with the art production team across various projects showing a diverse style and high level of quality •    Model, Texture and Render 3D models to meet the requirements of the projects artistic direction •    Assist other team members in a diverse environment including crossover with other art disciplines where needed. PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES •    Pro-Active, Self-driven individual with good organisation skills •    Able to work well in a team while standing out as an individual •    A good communicator and keen ideas person. ESSENTIAL SKILLS & EXPERIENCE •    3+ Years experience with 3DS Max and Photoshop •    1+ Shipped titles on Console or Mobile Platform •    Excellent modelling and texturing abilities delivering performance and quality •    Diverse portfolio of game designs including both 3D and traditional 2D work •    Able to demonstrate Character rigging and show basic character animation skills. SUGGESTED PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE (NON ESSENTIAL) •    Extensive knowledge and experience using Unity Engine a big plus •    Developed 3D models on a variety of mobile platforms •    Development from pre-production through to Beta •    Use of ZBrush or Mudbox for detail map generation •    Maya, XSi or other 3D packages a plus.

Tackling an Interview

During a lecture as a group we split up into teams of three and we had to interview each other, we had to rotate and take on each role as the interviewer, interviewee and the note taker, this was a really good way for each of us to understand how an interviewer thinks and how us there interviewee should act during and interview.

 Key elements needed during the interview 

 Being Passionate and confident shows that you have the ability to trust yourself and what you know a company/studio would not want to hire someone who isn't confident in themselves, showing how passionate you are will really shine through to the interviewer.

 Keeping eye contact and being generally friendly breaks the ice with the interviewer straight away allowing for a smoother experience during the interview which can then lead to the interviewee's calmness, pushing forward your own ideas really shows how passionate and creative you are things like this interviewers will remember.

Keeping up your overall presentation to really sell yourself plays a massive part of the interview, be engaging and speak clearly.

Things not to do during the interview 

Being nervous is okay as no matter who you are when going for an interview they will always be nervous but being overly nervous to the extent where it freezes you up and stops you from talking this is really when being nervous can ruin your chance of a job.

Being over confident can also ruin your chances, you can come across very arrogant and working in the games industry you will always be working in a team so you have to be a team player, being arrogant and acting like they need to hire you will look as if you only care about yourself and would not be very loyal to the company and the team you could potentially be working in.

The UK Games Industry, Then And Now

The United Kingdom is where I would persoanlly be based so most of my industry research will be more relvent to the UK.

1970s is where the video games industary first began with the first release of the arcade genre, in 1971 Atari released the first commercially successful video game which was Pong which sold over 20,000 arcade cabients of thsi version. one of the most noted sales occued during 1978 when Space invaders first launchedit went to sell over 350,000 arcade cabinets worldwide and buy 1982 generate a revenue of $2 billion this increased in the1980s known as the golden age of video arcade games, the arcade machines/cabinets in America increased from $50 million in 1978 to $900 million by the time of 1981 this was a massive point for the video games industry, the most successful video game to be released within the 1980s was Namco's PacMan massivly known even now which sold over 400,000 arcade cabinets at this point in time video game arcade cabinets were still a massive part of the games industry.

The 1980s saw the first home computer ZX80 which was priced under £100 within the United Kingdom, it brought forward the home computer industary massivly, sales of the ZX80 hit about 50,000 which was massive as this never happened before for previous home comptuers, this was because it was set at a very affordable price at that time, Next was the ZX 81 which was very successful and sold over 400000 units. The introduction of coloured home computer system was seen in 1982 from the ZX Spectrum which was developed by Clive Sinclair, over 5 million were sold this encouraged other various compaines to produce home computer such as the BBC this made for a bigger industtry and then led to small companies which were just starting out to produce software.

 The 1990s the video games industry saw its first massive technological advancement which including the first Cd based storage and software which was avalible, 3D graphics adapted within the video games alongside advancment in GUI based operating systems, We also saw the first time we had mobile gaming although it was very basic, its where it bagan and now its one of the most popular and most accessible gaming options for consumers.

The Games industry Here and now

The United Kingdom is Europes leading video game market and is the third largest in the world regarding our overall success, America and Japan are the top to largest in the video game market sector, In 2009 the UKs profits grew to a massive extent where they exceeded that of the film industry, The UK as a whole offers over 7000 jobs within the UK industry, there are many well known fanchises which have been are are being developed within the UK, in-turn this will bring foruth more job oppotunities. Canada overtook the UK with empolment growth in 2010. Tax breaks the UK games industry will hugly benefit from a 25% corporation on the tax relied rate.

The industry in its current state seems to be growing and growing espeically with the growth of Indie studios developing more and more games with the help of the Next generation of console gaming witht he Xbox One and Playstation 4 we should see an overall increase in software and jobs within the UKs games industry.