Professional 3d designer looking for a job

#1 Very good work. How much do you want per model or per month?

#2 It depends on what's being made, how long I spend making it, if it's animated, etc.

E-mail me specs on what exactly you're looking for me to do and I'll get right back to you.

-Kahenraz

#3 Matthew be carefull on what your selling man. I just had a closer look at your work and, although i think you have some nice work there, it is still pretty far from what i would call "professional". You have to keep in mind that nurbs modeling is quite different from low poly game modeling and although you have some low poly models in there, they still have quite some room for improvement on proportion, use of polys and UVW mapping...

Please don't misunderstand me i'm not trying to put your work down and i'm sure you can make quite a few people happy with your work as it is now but selling it as "professional" 3d art wouldn't do the proffessional artists her any justice. Also the fact that you need detailed concepts and characture sheets doesn't add to you professionalism. I know this all might sound a bit like an aimed RANT which isn't my intention.

There is always room for you on Realm Wars, might be a great way to work on your skills, not just modeling and texturing but also exporting.. Exporting is a very important part of doing a model and a must if you ever want to do payed work for any Torque project.

I hope you can make some positive use of my little comment here and am looking forward to see some more of your art in the future..

#4 No worries. Thank for your input. I list myself as professional in places I know arent really professional, because neither am I. But I do know that I have exceptional skills compared to a large portion of the non-professional community so (confused yet?) I then list myself as a professional unprofessionalist in unprofessional places. :)

I always like to look on the optomistic side of things so input, appear it well or bad, I read and learn from. I've been invited onto many different teams and through all of it my skills continue to grow and progress. ;)


Btw, I sent an e-mail to Realm Wars and got no response. S'ok.

-Kahenraz

#5 I see a lot of professionalism here, a rounded out portfolio, (good and bad) lots of info about the general art work.
I think "scaled drawings" should read "extensive concept drawings".
I agree with pascal on some comments about exporting. This will be very important to projects that use mostly internet/telephone as a means of communication, using TGE.
I also agree with pascal that there is a difference between nurbs and creating low poly game content, using nurbs and then converting through to a dts is possible, but i doubt the results would be "proffesional game content".
What modeling program/s do you use, and what are your reasons for useing them?.
Advise optional:
Try to combine (imo) some good traditional art training/interest (you seem to have) into 3d scene,s dont "cheat" with lighting tecniques, most engines dont support all that.
Experiment with how the engine or application your creating content for, *interprets your art?.
If i was a programer i would say , "beta test your art against your engine/enviroment,"
Oh and forget nurbs.

#6 Matthew, I like your positive attitude. That's the first step to success I guess. I'm no expert but I liked your portfolio as well. So good luck!

#7 Thanks all for your input and compliments.

Just to clarify, the nurbs models are typically for rendered scenes and cinematics.

My greatest obstical for my portfolio is to be able to create my own concept art.

#8 Sorry must have missed you mail somehow thatseems to happen to much lately, please excuse me..

I agree with Mike, you have a very positive attitude which is a big plus.. If you want in on RW let me know we have a lot to do =O)

#9 LoL. I shoulda done this a long time ago. Shoot me an e-mail with the specs at your own leasure. :) I'll just be pleased to be working on a project that actually has some momentum and potential.

-Kahenraz

#10 Just a quick tip from a programmers perspective. As a professional programmer, If I'm looking at working with an artist, I typically expect them to be able to:

1) Create something from thier own mind OR
2) Use a good concept

Typically, there isnt always a concept sketch, so its a good idea to be able to just try things from your own memory or idea's. Dont be afraid to work without a plan view every time, even though they help. If it helps, just sketch a simple layout yourself, if your sketch skills arent there, I'd suggest taking some life classes and learning, its ALWAYS nice to see sketches and ability to visualise in an artist.

Ok, so getting back to modelling, other things I'd be looking for are:

1) Attempts to keep polygon and texture space to a minimum, this takes quite a bit of trial and error and shows experience. Some of the models youve shown can improve there quite a bit, with practice.

2) A keen eye for quality, and knowing when to push for more detail and in which area's. For instance, knowing that putting poly's in really small details wont work, but using them to make nice curves does. Again, experience helps, but also thinking about HOW the final model is drawn does too, remember, you can use texture to your advantage, so if you have say, a bumper on a car, use a nice texture to make it look real.

3) Ability to produce a FINISHED model, i.e. one that works entirely in the engine of choice, taking no other intervention.

4) Ability to turn these things over at a great rate and still keep the quality.

Just some tips from the trenches vis programmers needs from artists.

Great work.

Phil.

#11 Thanks Phil.

Ever since the day I finally grasped polygon modeling, (at the end of last summer) I've been working hard to improve and work rapidly while trying to keep polycounts down. One day into max and I produced this little dude.
Three weeks later I decided to tackle a dragon! To my own amazement, I succeeded and, in three and a half hours produced the dragon you see up top @ 3500 polys. Wanting to continue to perfect my dragon I ventured into UVW mapping, stumbling upon such plugins as Chiliskinner and texporter.
Some time later I tried my hand at Michel Roger's Joan of Arc tutorial. I spent days working on it but instead of completing it, I used the new techniques I learned to tackle other projects. I later revisted the same image, but with a low poly count in mind. In ~3 hours I completed the female model you see above in my original post. She has been my foundation for experimenting with bones and character animation, allowing me to produce the following: (1)(2).

All along the way I busied myself with misc. projects, making spaceships and weaponry. This is only a small portion of what I have encountered and accomplished along the way and I'm very proud that I have been able to progress so far in so short a time. Fortunately, I've only begun to scratch the surface of my career and there is plenty of room for improvement by far. Hey, at least I wont be bored. ;)

I would also like to recognize all those who have been struggling where I seem to have just slipped by. I have to confess that during my two years of NURBS modeling I tried time and time again to tackle polygon modeling and failed failed failed! But now I have succeeded :D. To help all those who are in "the learning curve pit", grab yourself an icepick and start the ever tedious scratch scratch scratch at you glacier tomb and soon it will hit you too like...like...a ton of pillows filled with bricks! If any body need some help just drop me a line (if you ever read down this far in the post).

-Kahenraz

#12 Matthew,

Like the other people posting in this thread, I really like your positive attitude. Learning 3D isn't the easiest thing on the planet, and I'm glad to see that you are trying to improve your skills. I'm also happy to see that you are willing to share what you have learned with others who are just starting out. You often learn new things and reinforce what you already know when you teach others (I teach animation and 3d graphics for a living, so I can vouch for the that).

Your abilities appear to be progressing nicely, but, as you stated yourself, there is room for improvement. Here are some recommendations to help you with your learning (some of this might be a repeat from previous posts):

1) Learn figure drawing. You do not need to be a master illustrator, but it really helps to have some knowledge of human anatomy. This is important both with modeling and animation. You need to understand correct proportions, how muscles and joints move, skeletal structures, and many other things in order to produced "professional" quality characters. Figure drawing classes are ideal, but books will work ok, especially if you only want simple visualization skills. One good book that I've used is Christopher Hart's "Human Anatomy Made Amazingly Simple".

2) Learn how to do rapid visualization. What I mean by this is knowing how to do create quick, rough sketches. This does not mean you need to do photorealistic drawings or even be able to create watercolor paintings. What you should be able to do is quickly block out proportions on characters, volume and structure of objects, simple schematics of character rigs, etc. This will help you visualize what you need to build in 3D, and you will not need to be so reliant on detailed character sketches.

3) Take an animation class or pick up some books on animation. I looked at your sample animations, and they are far from professional. I am sure that you are learning more about character animation, as evidenced by the images of the woman character, but what you have now would not passable on any project. You need to start with the principles of animation -- squash and stretch, weight, timing, anticipation, followthrough, etc. -- and apply them to your work. Richard Williams' "Animator's Survival Kit" is one of the best books on the market. I use it for my animation classes as well as for my own reference.

4) Post work online and ask for feedback. The best way to improve is to get critical feedback from peers and professionals. Use these forums, find other online forums (www.cgtalk.com is a good one), contact people directly (you're welcome to email me), and get feedback on the work that you are doing.

5) Represent yourself accurately. As others have already stated, be very careful how you advertise yourself. You listed yourself as a professional 3D designer and then said the opposite. You then continued to say that you only say you're professional in non-professional environments. That type of deception (for lack of a better word, no offense meant here) will only reflect negatively on you, no matter what your work looks like. In this business, your behavior and your attitude are equally as important as your skills and your work. Do not misrepresent yourself or your work. It will eventually come back to bite you in the a$$. Be open and honest about yourself and people will treat you with respect.

Like I said earlier, you are off to a very good start and you have a great attitude towards learning 3D. You're still very young, so you have plenty of time to become a professional. Just remember, the learning never ends.

#13 Amazingly easy ;) I love the sound of that!

Thanks for your input Danny. I will definately drop you a line about a number of things. I plan to major in 3d graphics and minor in teaching. The more and more I think about 3d, the more I want to teach it. I'll be doing two things I love.

If anyone else if following this career I would very much appreciate any info.

Btw, after all this talk I want to change the topic name to "Semi-professional" or something. But it's too late for that.

-Kahenraz

#14 C-can I learn some too?

#15 Wow.. this post is three years old. This is so much fun reading this. I was such a fool. ^^