This is what the final version of my show reel looks like. I started with a short cinematic of the game splash dash and then move it on towards the characters I made in the form of turntables. I showed them rendered and with the wire frames on after another. I then moved the show reel onto showing the advanced 3D rendering scene that I had created
I also looked at websites that allow the creation of online portfolios and one that took my eye that I thought was interesting was a website called carbonmade. It looks simple to use and easy to get work online where you can link it to other people so they can see the work easily. Here is the websites home page
I looked into different ways of which I can present my work and a website is a good way of doing so. I created a template so that I could get across my basic ideas and the basic look and feel of how I would like a website with my work on to look like.
I've put this together so that my show reel is the centre of the portfolio and is the key focus that people will see when they go on it. It will play when the website is launched to then draw people in. The boxes below are split into categories then which people can click on to see larger picture of each topic. If I make any items in my spare time they can also be added to a new category below the existing ones and i can always move the more important better looking work towards the top end of them.
For my final exit plan I realise that my portfolio isn't strong enough for me to apply for jobs. Therefore when I finish I will take on work with a group of friends developing a game. By doing this me and my friends ensure that we are there to keep each other on track when doing work and can push each other towards different goals. I will use the assets created for the game we make to then add to my portfolio and develop it. Also while working on the game project I am going to be working on my own individual project by creating an item set for the game Dota 2. This is a increasingly popular title and a researched earlier in the blog there are plenty of opportunities to develop onwards from that area.
When creating the game we plan on doing it over about 6-8 months giving us enough time to get a nice looking well polished game. We have had talks already about different types of games we could make and created different documents such as mood boards and charts to help us visualise ideas. The individual project that I will be creating will run along about 7-9 weeks as i want to give myself plenty of time to do it and seeing as it is my first time I will be learning the process of it. When I do similar projects like it in the future the time it takes me to create such things can be a lot shorter as I become more familiar with the process
Other projects that are interesting are also the monthly challenges on the polycount forums. There are many different ones such as the monthly character challenge. The monthly Environment challenge and the monthly Dota 2 challenge. The monthly Dota 2 challenge takes my internet the most as it could be the perfect thing to help me ease my way into creating assets for that game and can be a good area to start in with help from other people via the forum.
I started to set the characters that I created onto a turntable and render them ready to go into my portfolio. I rendered one normal version of the character with the textures on it and I also rendered the exact same movements but with the wire frames of the characters showing. Here is an example of the characters showing a render and a wire frame.
I will render these one after another and get it so the wire frame one blends into the first one and try to make it look like a smooth transition. I also plan on including this trailer that we created for out game in the first semester.
I decided to go back and take a look at the characters that I created for splash dash so that I could touch them up and get them into my portfolio. I already started to create a higher poly version of the characters face that never got into the final game so I have been polishing it up to make it look better. I also finished up a woman character that I was working on trying to get into the game before the final deadline, although I have also touched the details in the texture up on the character and got it finished ready for my portfolio. Here are some images of what the characters currently look like. These are not rendered shots however so they don't look as good as they could.
This is the woman character that I created. I was gutted that it didn't make it into the final version of the game because we lacked time to animate it, although I think it fit the style of the other characters well and would of looked good marching around the streets with the other business men. I will however use these in my portfolio for my showreel now as I think they have come along nicely
For the start of this week I did some research into people that have been creating items for the game dota 2 and how much money they make from doing it. one article claims that you can "make a living" by doing this. The business model adapted by dota 2 is similar to how the business model works for team fortress 2 which currently sells hats as in game cosmetic items which players buy. Except dota goes about it by letting people create a set of armour for any character they like in game. There was a competition held by valve on polycount which was stated to have a winning cash sum of $45,000 to the winners. so there is some serious money in the area. There are also threads on polycount which are monthly challenges for people to create a certain in game item for a character, This gives people the opportunity to practice making an item for a character without the pressure of having to make a whole set and with the guidance of other people.
here is an example of one of the threads : http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=130739
Here is the article below which I read about : http://uk.ign.com/articles/2013/04/16/how-to-make-a-living-selling-virtual-hats
Here is a short video of someone showing a insight of the process they use when making a set for the game. using zbrush and then texturing the asset in Photoshop.
From last semester I had a blockout version of my show reel that included many different environments. There was a street with buildings in it and a turntable of a car. Although I have changed how I am planning on setting out my show reel. I plan on having a trailer of the game which we created last semester to start off my show reel. I want to leave university and be able to be an environment artist even though the work I made for game development is nothing to do with environments. I chose to include these because I think they are among some of the strongest work that I have created so far and it would be a shame for me to see them go to waste. This however doesn't mean that I will not be including any environment work in my final show reel as I do plan on including my advanced 3D rendering cinematic in my show reel.
My exit plan has also changed slightly. I plan on joining with friends and creating a game together still. However I am interested into moving onto attempting to make item sets for the game "DOTA 2" I will attempt to make a set for one of the characters in the game and see if my entry is good enough to be considered as an asset in the game. If the item you submit gets into the game you can possible earn money from the sales it creates which you get a cut of the profits from because you are the creator of the set. It would also be nice to work with a concept artist to colab with to generate these items and it is something that I look forward to doing as it is something that interests me.
