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3DTotal: You have highlighted the importance of exposure to new technology and techniques which enabled you to learn new skills. How important do you think this process is in your industry and is it something that happens less the longer people stay in the same company?
Tim: For me personally it’s a very important part of the job. I love to learn new skills and find the new exposure liberating. I think it’s crucial for artists that work with technology to evolve with the changes. I don’t think people who stay in same company for a long time necessarily get exposed to less technology,
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or desire less to learn. I mean you can work in a single company your entire career and be exposed to other game engines through modding options if so motivated; it really depends on the individual.
I also think there are roles out there for artists who are less willing to embrace technology. Like any team, a group of game artists working together will have their own strengths and weaknesses and as long as the balance of technically minded and artistically minded individuals is even then things work out well.
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3DTotal: What do you feel are the main skills that you need to have to survive as a character artist in the games industry?
Tim: I think that to survive as a character artist you need to be adaptable, humble and determined. I think artists need to not only have talent but be aware of the realities of business; that you don’t always get enough time to do your absolute best on something, but you do the best you can within the time frame available to you. You need to be able to work collaboratively with others and not be too possessive with the work you’ve done - don’t try to take ownership of it. Having other artists work on the assets you’ve created, or even replace them as the development progresses, is simply a part of the industry and it’s the artists who can be professional and deliver quality work that will continue to survive in the industry.
You need to be humble. There will always be someone better than you, or faster, and if you can swallow your pride and ask them to teach you, you’ll never be lacking for techniques or friends. It’s a really great industry for sharing as every oneout there has different experiences or backgrounds, so no matter the person there is always something you can learn from them.
Of course having the determination to continue to push yourself outside of work is a great quality to have. Nearly all of the character artists I’ve had the privilege to work with have done work in their spare time, either pushing themselves to try new software or simply improving their familiarity with anatomy or painting techniques. All practice is useful and personally I still learn an awful lot from forums when I post my work there for critiques |
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3DTotal: Can you briefly describe your usual pipeline for creating normal mapped characters and the general challenges the job presents?
Tim: I start off working in Max, creating rough low poly meshes for sculpting on in Zbrush. Often I do a quick concept sculpt to help determine the form of the model and use this as a reference for my real detailed sculpt. I still like to do my hard surfaced modelling in Max but tend to do as much organic modelling in sculpting packages as possible.
After the high poly work is done, I often run it through polygon reduction tools before importing it to Max to create the low poly around. I try and reuse low poly meshes as much as possible, but also use the draw tools available in Polyboost to create my low poly mesh directly on the surface of the high. Normal mapping in Max is a piece of cake and I’d bake an ambient occlusion there and also a basic diffuse map too.
I think the real challenge with normal maps is ensuring that your lighting and specular show them off effectively. As games and technology continue to become increasingly complex, the number of dependent factors increases exponentially. Character artists have to rely on either being able to control the lighting that will affect their characters or being informed very early on in the project of what their expectations should be.
The artist can create the most fantastic piece of artwork in isolation, however, if it’s not created with knowledge of how it will be used and in what kind of conditions, then it certainly won’t live up to its full potential when finally revealed in a game. |
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