I couldn't find a lot of advice on Design Sheets for 3D models so above are 3 different Prop Sheets I found online, two from previous students to see what they displayed on theirs. From what I gather from the better Design Sheets are that a render of the final model, fully textured, along with one or two wire frame models from different angles. Finally, there should be 3 different maps on the Design Sheet which include the Diffuse, Normal and Specular maps.
To finish it all off, it has to be presented well on a Design Sheet. The best is the bottom 2, while the bottom is rather neat, the middle is much better laid out as it seems to blend into the background.
I've been looking into the type of audio I could put into my showreel, and want something classical with little or no words so as to not distract the viewer. A lot of online resources believe there shouldn't be music on the showreel as it distracts the viewer, however, subtle classical music is both visually and aurally appealing to the viewer.
I have chosen this song above (How to Train Your Dragon OST - New Tail) as the movie was mentioned on a website for having good music for a showreel, and I both like the film and the music featured in it.
Furthermore, I believe its nice relaxing music to go along with a showreel so should be able to easily have a good flowing showreel.
Above is a video of a showreel by Brent Waller who is a Lead Environment Artist at KMM Games, and is quite a good showreel in my opinion.
It showcases his best work, made even better by the custom soundtrack that the camera follow. The abrupt start to the showreel draws me in, while the camera pans further out through the levels he is showcasing. Half way through the showreel he then starts panning in the camera through the levels, in a slightly different way/angle/different part of the level, which draws the attention back into the level. This method is good as the best bits will be seen of the level straight away and then how they coincide with the rest of the level.
It finally ends with a slight zoom in shot of his contact details. The only change I would make to this is that the contact details should be seen at the start of the showreel for about 2 - 3 seconds so as they know whose showreel is in front of them.
My final showreel will be similar to his, although perhaps a little bit more technical as there is less work to show. So this will include moving shots of the levels I have created, starting at the best parts of the level and moving out, and then changes to the way the level looks, such as wire frame or without textures. Perhaps having a couple of design sheets mixed into the level of parts of the level I am proud of.
One thing that interests me about becoming an environment artist is the chance to work in the film industry, not only is it a bigger industry but I think a much more exciting industry. Although the need for environment artists isn't widely known for the films industry but there scenes that require the addition of environment artists as no such place exists in the world.
'Double Negative' visual effects studio came for a visit last academic year and was rather informative of the films industry and what they do within games.
The above video shows the limbo scene in Inception, which Double Negative worked on.
Other industries that modelling can get me into include the television industry, similar to film industry. The music industry is also a possibility as music artists are getting more and more adventurous with their music videos.
Virtual Engineering is another industry that is possible to get in to. Its basically the use of 3D models to simulate and test different scenarios, good example is say a dam, where the design could be tested in a number of different environments to check how it would cope with different scenarios.
Above is the new brief I think would be a lot better for me as I want to become an Environment Artist and I've already chosen Back to the Future Street for Advanced Rendering Techniques so this is something a little bit different.
Above is the brief (in Google Docs which has changed some of the formatting). I liked my ideas and how they all had a reason behind them, however, brief 1 wasn't liked and that was going to be my major one, whilst the steam punk animals were going to be ornaments for a level. As brief 1 wasn't liked I now feel this module isn't going the way I want it to.
So I'm going to change the brief completely so that I actually like it, which seems a bit extreme but will go in the direction I want. I'm going to email Phil to see if this is alright, and then post what I'm going to do later.
