Portfolio Projects.

[byron.linturn]

Hi,

I just wanted to start posting my portfolio projects in here as I go along creating a bunch of environment sections.

I'm keen to get into a career as an environment artist and I've been thinking a lot about what I might put in a portfolio for that job.

So far, I've thought of about 3 different environments to showcase my skills, each the size and scope of a diorama.

1. Medieval/fantasy setting - a small ruined tower on top of a cliff.
2. Sci-fi setting - space ship hallway/passage. Highly detailed to make it stand apart.
3. Realistic setting - either a defensive position (ww2 style) or even a mountain/forest... why not mix the two?

Anyway, I'd love some feedback on my ideas, maybe any ideas anyone might be able to offer to help me expand on my initial mental concept.

Software wise, I'll be using Substance Indie (designer and painter), Modo Indie 10.0 and Unreal 4.

[ryan.ware]

Hey,

Good on ya, I worked as an environment artist on a few features and I think it was the most fun I had due to the range of tasks and skillsets.

you could go for any of those settings and churn out a nice looking scene.. the biggest challenge will be getting all the elements that comprise the overall scene looking like how they should.

I would consider doing the "realistic" one, or one that resembles our current reality in environments, mainly because it will show a much wider range of skill sets.

Concept art is so incredibly important in getting any environment looking right and helping in your design choices... I cannot stress this point enough, so make sure you have some solid concept work to ground your decision making on.

Now, once that's all done, you need to start thinking of the elements that comprise the scene.. were talking foliage, and rocks.... defensive position aside and honestly you could skip that element and focus on a nature scene with perhaps a contemporary architectural piece - why, because it broadens the range of skill sets your are showing off in that scene - organic / hardsurface....... anyway I've digressed.
ALl those things that comprise the scene., grasses, shrubs, bushes,ferns, trees, saplings, leaves, rocks, fallen branches etc....start with those based off your concept art and what Biome you are placing it in and develop those assets first, as they will take up roughly 70-80% of your time.. getting the translucency of the leaves and ferns working how they should and then figuring out how something like a ground creeper of vines will integrate with your scene.. shader development in this phase is huge and look dev is vital...

Go for a walk to a local forest and catalogue the types of plants that exisit in that environment, heck even start taking leafs home with you and scanning them for use in your scene.. take note on this walk on how everything grows, how the light from the upper canopy effects the undergrowth and how the undergrowth compete for those scares rays of sun.... take notes... and again take notes....

anyway.... I think thats enough for now to give you some ideas on where to start and what to start thinking about..

GL

[byron.linturn]

Hey Ryan!

Thanks so much for the feedback.

A nature environment actually sounds like a great idea! Im actually going to attempt to make a scene for each of those three settings I mentioned, so for the "realistic" setting, a nature scene would actually be great. For the architectural piece in that, I think a small cottage or shack would work perfectly. I have a real love of the natural world in northern Europe, so a birch forest with a stream and some boulders or something similar would really suit that.

On trees - would you have any advice for the best way to model them? Most of my attempts have ended in disaster, with only one workflow really giving me any satisfaction. My happy workflow was basically to create nurbs curves and then extrude pipes along them and finally tapering the ends. Then I would boolean union each set of extrusions and retopologise. If you know any better way to do trees, I would really love to hear!

I'll be uploading concept art into this thread as well for sure! I wanted this forum set to basically be a catalogue of the creation of my portfolio from start to finish, so that other students can see it and take ideas on how they might do it, and also to get some solid advice and feedback from teachers.

One thing I'm worried about with my sci-fi diorama in particular is that it will end up looking too "generic"... Which I guess is always a risk when working in a sci-fi setting, So I'm really trying to think outside the box on this one. Perhaps it will include organic components, HR Geiger style, or be mechanical with an organic aesthetic.

Brace for updates! Concept art incoming

[ryan.ware]

For trees I recommend speed tree or Onyx, failing that you can get some serious good results from Paint effects as well with a little TLC.

High end expensive, but try and see if you can get your hands on it as its quite powerful
http://www.speedtree.com/

incredibly powerful for what is does, ignore the 90's website they still use as this tool is a beast
http://www.onyxtree.com/

Scifi 99% of the time is generic, look at the millions of art station post with their "scifi" hallways and rooms heck pretty much everything after Robert Heinleins Starship Troopers (not to be confused with the horrid films) and Aliens is basically a rip off .. but there are some that take it to the next level... why not try reproducing a a modern Space station and then just add a few years of Technology onto it and that will give you a basis to begin with...

Sometimes it seems like a great idea to come up with this fantastical world when we struggle at creating our current reality. start with what physical exisits, get that looking like it should..... then move on from there.

[byron.linturn]

Those are both a little pricey for me at the moment, so I will endeavour to stay with traditional modelling methods.

Modo has a few great modelling tools I may be able to make use of, such as the draw extrude tool and a few others.

Anyhow, I'll begin concepting the the birch forest.

[byron.linturn]

First up, a pinterest board for some reference!

https://au.pinterest.com/blinturn/birch-grove/

[byron.linturn]

Well, I may have found a solution to my tree problem.

http://xfrog.com/

Xfrog offers a bunch of free tree models, including some of the plants I wanted to use.

The only problem is that they come premade, which Im not totally sure about using for a portfolio project.

Can anyone weigh in on this issue? If it will affect my portfolio in a negative way, I will simply go ahead with modelling the trees in a traditional manner.

[ryan.ware]

use them, there is nothing at all wrong with that.. I had quite a large library myself of trees, shrubs and grasses which I've acquired over the years and use over and over again.

here is another pack which you might find very handy.

[ryan.ware]

a quick test using Xgen to achive one of the clumps and to lay it out.. took about 5 minutes.

which leads me onto Xgen, I recommend checking it out when you get a chance you can use it to 80% of the layout work for you.

[byron.linturn]

Ooh that grass looks fantastic! I will definitely have a look at incorporating it into my nature scene in some way.

I'll have to have a look at xgen. Ive tried it in maya before, but never really explored it as an option. Im still thinking about how I might render the scene. I was leaning more towards UE4, as the material workflow is far more familiar to me. I'll be using Modo for all of my modelling, but the materials and rendering in Modo are... Completely alien to me.