catwiltshirefutureworks-blog

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This video walk through of what I created for my second assignment for Specialism XB2178

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Tutorial for creating grass in Unreal Engine 4. Using Maya and Photoshop and the foliage tool. 

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Researching modern design as reference for my final specialism.

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DD2000 Presentation Proposal.

Where do I see myself after University? For my presentation I will be researching job roles within the art department. My main focus will revolve around prop and interior design, also looking for jobs specification what I would be required for applying to a developer.

I will talk about how I would like to present my work in away that I can send to a developer, Through this I would most likely want to talk about art station and youtube how I would as a showcase make a video walk through as well as beauty shots which I can also showcase through sketchfab, twitter and facebook.

I would like to talk about where I see my my future beginning from the end of second year, throughout honors to after I graduate from Futureworks. Although I have around five months until my third and final year I would like to start the planning for my Honors or find ways I can influence my final project.

I would like to factor in the games that have inspired me and also look at AAA game companies and see what they would need from me to apply and see if there is a learning curve involved for any parts that I may need help in improving. I intend to mention how I would like to look at possible internships as a way to get my foot in the door and if it gave opportunities for promotion at a junior role. I would also have to take into consideration jobs that may take me away from home, Do any of the developers offer support and to find out what perks there are to working for their company.

I believe this assignment will give me the information I need to help me network my way into the industry and try to reach out to other companies and ask them about how they themselves were able to get into the industry. What helpful tips can I take from this.

Overall I hope to keep focus on my specialty and include some of the work I have produced since starting futureworks as I do believe my skills as a 3D artist have improved in the two years of being at university.

I believe it is important to mention other goals that might be at the moment out of reach for me design wise due to lack of experience. I am sticking to prop and interior but I also know that certain rolls i.e Interior Design, may only be around for bigger developers and I would need to work my way up with a few more years of experience to reach my specialty and even surpass that as I would like to evolve and be a jack of all trades when it comes to the 3D department in game design.

My research for this assignment shall consist of job roles and what the requirements and how to apply. I would like to look at some of my favourite triple A developers to see where I need to get before I can reach my ideal dream job.

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DD2000

Although my main speciality is the art side of game design, I have looked into a few other area’s to get my foot in the door with companies if my key role is not available. One developer I looks at for Q&A testing was naughty dog.  These are the requirements they would like to see when applying.  Multiplayer Quality Assurance Tester / Development Support (Temporary Assignment)This position is for a temporary engagement through our staffing partner Yoh Services. Candidates must be authorized to work in the United States for this position. Responsibilities:A desire to be part of the Naughty Dog Team Strong interpersonal, written, and verbal communication skills Team-oriented individual who can work equally effectively alone Creation and execution of test plans with a keen eye for detail Eager to learn new skills with the ability to teach them to others

Willingness to share opinions/feedback with other departments Flexible and adaptive to assignment and schedule changes, including overtime Demonstrable skill set beyond just bug investigation and documentation May be asked to assist departments outside of QA with game development or administrative tasks Requirements & Skills: Prior testing/troubleshooting experience Working knowledge of PS4 system Familiarity with agile development Working knowledge of game development pipeline Analytical and self-driven with clearly defined goals Multiplayer gaming experience Bonus Skills: Formal post-high school education (college, technical school, etc.)Scripting/Programming experience Photoshop/Digital Art experienceNetwork testing experience The first contract period is 6 months and this is a full-time TEMPORARY position with overtime hours expected at various times during the project cycle. Local candidates are preferred but not required (make sure you can commute to Santa Monica, California on a daily basis).

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A brief overlook of what the developers at naughty dog are looking for when applying for naughty dog and what they look for a designer to know. (What are they looking for, how they communicate with each other and help each other.) 

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DD2000

CD Projekt Red Recruitment Process from their careers page   Recruitment process

So, you’ve browsed the career section, found something interesting and want to be a part of the team? Great!

Here are the next steps:

Apply to the selected position by sending us an email at the specified address.If you’re an artist, designer or programmer, please remember to include an up-to-date portfolio with your selected works.

After we receive your application, the following things happen:

We take a thorough look at the submitted CV and portfolio and decide if you meet the requirements for a given position (we only contact selected applicants).

We contact you and schedule a chat to get to know you better. At this stage, you might be asked to perform a task for us so we can evaluate your skills.

If our initial evaluation is successful, the HR representative handling your recruitment contacts you again, schedules the last interview, and provides additional details.

If you’re from Europe, the last interview will take place at our studio. It’s important for us to give you a chance to see how we work and hang out with us for a while so we can get to know each other even better. If you’re from outside of Europe, we can have a longer chat over Skype.

If we decide to hire you, you’ll receive an offer from us. Should you decide to accept it, you’ll become a fully fledged member of RED with all the perks and benefits.

During each stage of the recruitment process we will provide you with detailed feedback and information on what to do next. Even if at some stage we decide not to pursue cooperation, you will never be left asking why—we’ll never leave you in the dark.

We’ve always got your back!

If you decide to hop on board and join the team, CD PROJEKT RED will provide full support with relocating, getting the necessary paperwork done, and finding a place to call home. We take every possible step to ensure you never feel alone with anything regarding the relocation process.

The Perks

Aside from working on games which are on everyone’s lips, we offer you a full array of benefits:

Private healthcare

Multisport card providing free or heavily-discounted gym membership, martial arts classes, and more

20 or 26 days of paid leave (depending on contract / experience type)

Paid sick leave

Bank holidays (13 days)

Two kitchens with all the stuff you need to make the food that you like

Fresh fruit and a selection of teas, coffee etc., to power your work day

A fully stocked canteen for employees

A company library of games and books

So, don’t hesitate and browse all the careers offers now!

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DD2000

Games that inspire me to be a 3D Artist in the Game industry.

I find myself constantly going back in between Fallout 4 and Skyrim, as there is something about these games that have key elements within their art style that I like.  I have always been a gamer who has enjoyed trying to find rare items whether it be for a quest or an achievement, I a big treasure collector when it comes to these games. And what I enjoy about them most is when you can pick up the items and just see the craftsmanship. It doesn’t have to be anything super high poly but it just away for me to think how do I make that. 

I am always fascinated by finding this little hidden rooms and there is always an exploration of this area. It could be down to finding collectables or weapon upgrade stations like Bioshock. By these small props I find I have gotten more out of the game, Such with games that tally up collection points, or items/artifacts. I think creating these props and making them interactive to the player makes games more enjoyable as a player and that is something I would like to bring to the table to future gamer’s and game design in general. Making sure people get what they wanted and more from a game that has more then a great story and great graphics I want to be able to create props/weapons/collectibles that give more rewards to the player. Much like loot boxes do as a congratulations in games such as Overwatch. Or offer a hidden side story.

I play a lot of GTA online with friends and whenever we upgrade to a new apartment or you go theirs I like looking around and seeing what new and the more expensive the place how the style of the apartments change and seeing what you can interact with from the radio, what drinks you can drink.

Interior Design Artist/Prop Artist.

When looking for interior designers for references, I came across an interior designer who posted up on a site called Zach Parkinson 80Lv where he talked about tips and tricks he did to create his third year project of a Scottish manor which he was inspired by Resident Evil and the Last of Us that he created during his time in university.

Included is the website and he has posted images and a youtube video of his work.

https://80.lv/articles/tips-and-tricks-of-3d-interior-production/

His work is fantastic and I inspire to have the skill set he had to be able to make interiors so detailed as that.

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DD2000

Researching Job role I would be interested in applying for that full under my career path. 

Rock Star North Interior Artist.

Responsibilities.

You will help define and request props as well as provide quality control as needed in order to fulfil set dressing requirements.

You must be aware of design requirements and technical limitations.

You will work closely with Art Direction to help develop and implement best approaches to modelling, texturing, dressing and lighting-related tasks.

You will work closely with Programmers to ensure triangle counts and texture sizes are fully optimized for target platforms while minimizing any impact on artistic integrity of assets.

You will participate in R&D of new techniques to implement into production pipeline.

You will proactively seek feedback from Lead Artist, and Creative Directors.

You will ensure that the artistic style is consistent with the defined visual style for the game 

QUALIFICATIONS ·       

  Extensive practical 3D experience and skills.·     

Superior 2D and 3D art skills.  

Possess an in-depth knowledge of cutting edge shader techniques.·   

 Additional education or professional experience with an emphasis in Architecture or Interior Design a plus. 

 Excellent compositional skills and all-around artistic expertise and flare.·  

  Eagerness to learn new software tools and technologies.·      

  Ability to work in a team setting, under deadlines and time constraints.·   

 Expertise in Photoshop, 3dsmax, ZBrush or other technologies utilized in the production of game art.  

Strong technical background with ability to grasp new programs and systems quickly.·        

 Ability to work with a high degree of self-direction and motivation.·         Strong communication and time management skills.·   

  Able to prioritize and multi-task.·  

  Creative nature with strong problem solving skills.·    

 Passion for Games!

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Early Stages Photo’s of my Specialism

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Reference Images for Specialism.  Google images. Livingetc Magazine. 

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XB2178 Specialism  Final Photos

Beauty Shot

Living Room

Kitchen

Balcony

Stairway

Landing

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Reflective Blog Part 2

Evaluation.  Overall for this assignment I focused on my aesthetic the most trying to get it to feel like a library. Although I am not a strong programmer I am happy with what I was able to produce. If I had more time I would of added in sound effects for more ambience and a polished product.  I do feel I have created what I set out to do. To make it feel more like  walking simulator I changed the speed of the character movement as I felt the pace of the level didn’t match the speed the first person character is set to.  I’m glad I was able to get player feedback with the bookmarks as I knew when collecting the bookmarks as the designer I know where they are and did not need that feedback but through play testing I was able to see that some people would ask if that was all of them and i thought having a physical element in front of you was better than a widget.

For my main challenge to the game of the open books I'm happy with how that turned out, one because it was interesting to work with destructible meshes and after evaluating the difficulty of having them re-spawn I think it became the best part of my level and I knew I wanted to reuse it again. Again it would of been good if I could of added in sound so that when it crumbles you hear it. Directional lighting to play key, I wanted to create an atmosphere of a late afternoon so playing about with the colour settings to give it an orange twinge and change the atmospheric fog around to make it seem like something not natural helped to cross that bridge of real life to a fantasy world. It was fun to experiment with the lighting effects as it did change the mood of the game. And as I had a very open glass roof and area’s that were darkened by shadows it free’d up a need for more point lights and spot lights. 

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XB2001 Reflective Blog Post Part 1.

At the beginning of this project I knew I wanted to do a walking simulator as my skills are more focused on the art side. I wanted to incorporate a few mechanics into the level. Although my skill set towards blueprint is not strong I wanted to keep my mechanics simple and not go to ambitious. For the assignment I went ahead and picked the theme of a Library for my level. One reason for picking this particular theme was based on a childhood movie called; The Page Master. The overall part I found myself inspired was how it changed from a live action to a cartoon as the main character finds himself in the library and suddenly is in this whole other world based around different book genres.   When I started to break down what I would like to incorporate I knew I had to think of big walls and space.  Although my level is purely a walking simulator I wanted to player to not only explore the level but also have other elements involved such as a small puzzle or collectibles to be found in the area. When I came up with the idea of an obstacle and how to I change from a realistic perspective to a fantasy one. I did not want to go complex with my mechanics as I was afraid of being too ambitious. But I also knew I did not want the player to be bored. I wanted to incorporate a key element that could be used again.  

What I found after my initial idea's was how important the player feedback is, for myself I know where to go I know how to get over the obstacle so many times but other players might not be able to or I've made it difficult to continue.  I needed to create ways outside of print strings to My iteration of my level became really important when it came to watching others play through it, the bugs I found and how I was not giving the player enough feedback to show they had achieved what they needed too to move on to the end of the level.

It wasn’t only iteration of the player feedback I took into account but also the feedback I took from the design of the level as the more time I spent on my level I started to spend more on fixing small errors I had missed in the basic design format. An example of this would of been parts of walls that seemed to overlap from my original model. This caused me to go back and draw out another design, but extending the length of the Library and opening up the second level that was to be there originally for aesthetic purposes only it made me realise how small my first design was and I don’t think would have worked as a walking simulator. 

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Early development of my level design with the first 3 images.  I have now made it possible for the player to access the second floor of the level and increased the over all size. I have incorperated a more visual effect using the atmospheric fog and lighting.  I have started at this point to work on the first obstacle/Puzzle which I did by creating a destructible mesh, to add a challenge to this.  I have started on the second part to my level which will involve collectibles which you will need in order to place the book your character wants to return down.

Hopefully this week I shall have a few more models put in place the rood completed and the second part of my puzzle finished. 

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3D High Poly Model.  Wishing Well  4K Textures. 

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Specialism Progress.

Having reviewed my propposal I decided with the time frame I may need to cut down what i had originally intended. Still keeping with 3D but adding in some form of blue print. Instead of created a whole interactible level of the first floor of a house I would create the exterior and create one interactible room.  Focusing a lot more on realism and modular design, I want to also focus on lighting too. 

I played about with some different designs when I created my pieces but also altered them in ways to incorporate windows. I have started to look more into modern design pieces that exists and researching modern designers for influence when creating my own, looking at the different materials they use so my aesthetic can be consistent throughout. Here are a few pieces I found online to use as reference.