helnash

Wow, I'm away from the computer for a day and half and I come back to a mass of immense responses (my husband's in the middle of an art test at the moment so have just jumped on while he is taking a lunch break) Just a quick reply for now and I'll respond properly later. Thank you for taking the time to crit my work this feedback is invaluable to me, and there is already so much information for me to work with here, I will try and implement it with my current portfolio work, but I will more than likely use it in the current pieces I am working on at the moment, that will replace the current portfolio. Anyway I had best leave it there for now and let my hubby get back on with his stuff. Thank you again so much Cheers Hel

First of all, thank you all for replying to my post, your time is most definitely appreciated. I absolutely agree that I need to get more work in my portfolio, I am working on a couple of projects that hopefully over the next couple of weeks I will get finished and these should with any luck show the recent progression I have made with my texturing and lighting. @Dan Norfolk: Basically, I have a diploma in 3D Design (which is also where I attained my qualifications in AutoCAD), a BA(Hons) Architectural Venue Design and then went on to study for MSc Sustainable Architecture and Healthy Buildings (but due to relocation I was unable to finish the second year ) At the moment I am applying for anything that is requesting knowledge of 3Ds Max, Revit etc, Junior level obviously as I know I still have skills that need honing, I have plenty to offer, (but then again every potential employee says that), just keeping my fingers crossed that I will get the opportunity to prove what I say. @Ismael Orozco: Thank you for pointing out Juraj Talcik's work, not bad... not bad at all,some really nice work there and it's great to see his progression from when he first started using Marvellous Designer to his later work with it, very nice. @Karl Larsen: I agree it is tough out there, but I think that's what makes it all the well worth fighting for, if something is easy it's just not as much fun. I know there are areas that I need to work on in my projects, I have just become very unsure of if I have the base level strong enough to build on and I guess compete with people just out of uni all bright-eyed and bushy tailed. Thank you for your encouragement. @George Sandoval: Just wondering if you could expand on the plain aspect, I know my work is missing a certain something but where I have been staring at it for so long kinda get lost, can't see the wood for the trees if you get what I mean, a fresh pair of eyes is always welcome. I definitely feel that I have hit a plateau in my work, it's why I posted this up, to get that boot up the proverbial. I do study others work, The Third & The Seventh by Alex Roman is one of my grail works, I'm so far from that level though, but the dream has got to start somewhere I also look at using scenes that I haven't done myself, however I will only use these as lighting and render set ups to teach myself, or if I am having trouble modeling an object I will purchase/find a file of it a and study it until I can replicate it myself, but I won't add these to my portfolio. I've also had another look through my site with what you said in mind and I see what you mean, over the next few days I will make some changes and re-writes, thank you. @Karl Larsen: I have the same opinion when it comes to selecting what projects to show, I have plenty of projects that I have completed but I will not add them as I just can't add work for the sake of having a full looking portfolio, I will add work that I feel is showcasing my skills at their current level, but everything else is purely for my eyes only, unless I go back and rework it and it comes out better, then it may see the light of day. I have also noticed the rise in the 'modern white box' and there is definitely getting to be to many of them, although saying that, I am in the process of making triplet interior spaces in block colour for each one, so that my material definitions and lighting is what will sell the story of them, however these may not make it to my portfolio, just depends on how well they turn out. Thanks again for your responses Hel Nash

Hi There I haven't been on here as much as I would have liked, and to be truly honest I have been losing a fair bit of faith that I have in whether I can do this work. I feel comfortable with 3D modelling capable of texturing and have no problems when it comes to 2D and detailing work. I have been applying for work for some time now and have lost count of the amount of Jobs I have applied for, but I haven't heard anything back from anywhere. I was hoping someone could be kind enough to give me some pointers on what I am doing wrong, I have no problem with hash crits as long as they are constructive (trust me I can take getting a bollocking if needs be when it comes to my work ) This is a link to my portfolio http://hel_nash.dunked.com/ I would be much appreciated for any feedback Thank you Hel Nash

I have to admit the whole real-time thing for Arch Viz is something that hits a note with me, I feel that this has a big role to play in the future for this line of work especially with the abilities and what you can do within next-gen. I also agree with that it takes some time to pre-plan awork flow for it, but being as you should always pre-plan your project it's not really that much extra time when you think about it. The real killer is the steep learning curve that HAS to happen if you chose to go down this road, I know this as I am on it at the moment. Arch Vis has a very clean style of imagery especially for new developments and Game Art has that lived in feel of grunge, dirt and wear n' tear to it that helps you connect with the game, this I think is the big reason that Arch Viz doesn't seem to work that well in real time. A lot of people think they can just make the leap between the two disciplines, leaving textures looking flat, edges not flowing in the same direction or offset and overly obvious repeat tiling textures that when they catch the eye draw attention away from the purpose of the scene/level. You have to take the time to learn UVmapping, and material definition with Diffuse, Specular, Gloss, Displacement (etc, etc) maps. Learning to unwrap your models properly and not just rely on the standard unwrap Box/Sphere/Plane etc, etc, will change the way you model (it has with mine anyway, and helped me understand modelling more and improved what I can do, not only in definition of the model but the time it takes me to build an object has reduced greatly) it takes me less time to unwrap an object to UV now as it does to build it in the first place (it took me hours if not days when I first started learning this technique but after a week or two I got the hang of the process). At the moment I am concentrating on material generation (my portfolio work is taking longer because of it, but I am loving the results so far, and I'm only just getting started on it). My husband uses Marmoset all the time, so I use it to test the materials I make before taking them into 3D Max, it really is a fantastic program, meaning I can make changes on the fly, even the smallest ones that make a huge difference to the rendered image without having to wait hours for a good quality render to see if something looks right (one thing while I remember, the normal bump will not show the same result in Marmoset as in 3D Max as you have to flip one of the RGB channels, hope that makes sense). I am still rendering out the final images though at the moment as I have yet to fully commit to a real time engine, we have UDK (my son is learning it at the moment) but from what I understand it isn't really the right one for Arch Viz, I don't know much about Unity3D myself (but I bet my husband can give me a full run down of that one later). The one that I am interested in is Cryengine 3 as everything I have heard is that this is the one for Arch Viz work, plus the results are just... wow... This is a trailer for the engine showing Crysis3 so yeah all overgrown and destroyed environments but I can't wait to see what I can do with it when it comes to some clean Arch Viz work, might start playing around with it soon. P.S @Scott I have downloaded your paper, and I will be having a read of that later

Hello again, Been busy this week so not been about much, I've been working on this when I can, hoping to have it finished this weekend. I have taken your advise on board and moved the whites away from a true white colour that and some other tweaks and I happier with the results. I have also changed the camera angle, I am happy with the new angle, so thank you for pointing that out, you where correct in saying the chair was too closely croped. I'm just starting on the photo frames I want to have them fairly different from each other (so only got one in place for now). I also need to put in the contemporary book covers in on the lower shelves, work on the I-beam and texture the floor lamp. The strange doll looking shape is just a place maker at the moment (I'm getting my husband to model me a ragdoll for that block, I've modelled everything else in the scene I just don't feel comfortable creating a character just yet). Any crits and or advise are most welcome, cheers for looking. Best get out to the shops now or we are not having much for dinner tonight. Cheers Hel

Thank you so much for replying. Removing the books helped me realise it was the light bouncing between the materials that caused the glowing effect. Got it sorted by making sure when I created the texture maps that I had no spec on the tops of the books and they were completely matt. Hopefully I can get the scene finished now. Cheers Hel

Hi, any help please I've been working some more on this scene, changed the angle of the camera... etc, I think I am happy with the new framing but I am still having some issues with the lighting of the scene. So here is a couple of quick renders I just put together hoping to highlight the main issue I'm having. The first one shows the light bleed and the second demonstrates the scene with the task lighting off. It's a long way off yet, as most of the scene isn't textured, just the storage boxes, and I've only just started the floor, of which the texture needs some major sorting before I move on to other areas of the project, and the rest is just base colours. The issue I am having is light bleed on the shelving for some reason from the task lights even though the shelving unit is a solid object, making the books glow from behind. I have tried it with various intensities of light and different angles of where the light target hits and none of this changes the light bleed/glowing effect. To say it's driving me gently mental is an understatement, any pointers would be hugely appreciated. Cheers for looking Hel

Hello Rich, Thank you and yes it helps, it's good to see what an employer looks for in portfolio work, and what you say makes complete sense. I do enjoy modelling, I'm very much a stickler for detail (think it comes from my cad technician days, it's just sometimes get caught up too much in trying to get the details right, that I can lose some perspective on the overall project if that makes sense). I find uv'ing and texturing quite therapeutic though, still pretty new to that side of it I've got the technique down just need to work on the finesse, my husband is teaching me this side of modelling, I'm very luck that I have a very good in-house teacher. Cheers Hel

Thank you for responses I agree that working on multiple areas of a scene to help keep me fresh on a project is good. I have taken to working on multiple projects at the same time and I have about 4-5 on the go at the moment, each fairly different so requiring different skills. Although, it does mean that the projects are taking an age to complete, part of the reason that I have started looking at downloading pre made assets. Also I can see where being able to use downloaded models in your scene is a fantastic opportunity to show what you are capable of and can help push the overall project to a higher quality render, as long as the right pieces are sourced. I'm looking forward to finding some bits and bobs that I can use in a project and match my modelling skills to the purchased ones. I was looking at evermotion stuff but haven't downloaded anything from there yet, just been spending an hour going through the design connected site (thank you for the heads up on that one ) and picked up a couple of the free ones. I have to say that if the quality of their models that are offered for free is anything to go by, I will be spending some money there at some point. You never know if I'm lucky and win something on the Euromillions I may look at downloading the whole lot, but as that won't happen anytime soon I will just have to make a decision on a couple of choice pieces. There is definitely alot to take into account in choosing to download models, luckily (well unluckily) enough I'm not in a position to worry about that too much yet, but that does mean I get to spend more time improving my modelling skills. Cheers for reading Hel

Thank you for getting back to me on this I agree you can never have enough accessories or props, and I'm happy making them especially after looking through a rough selection of free models I downloaded. The amount of hidden geometry and interesting poly flow means I would need a straight jacket and a padded cell after trying to sort and clean them up for UV'ing. It's good to hear other peoples opinions on this as all I have is my husband's (who is a character artist in the games industry) and he is very much of the view make it all from scratch yourself. Problem is that after I have spent time on completing a asset, and time comes around to setting the scene, lighting and post production I'm drained from it that I rush through these stages and more often than sometimes end up not completing a project, which when trying to create a portfolio is not the best. So I do kinda have tight deadline as I really want to get in to the industry asap, but without anything to show I'm in a no win situation However, I guess I am building up a fair asset library mostly of the design classics. I just need to find a balance there somewhere of modelling it myself or finding the right ones to download that hopefully don't cost too much Anyway, best get back on with it, cheers for reading Hel

Hello, I'm just wondering what people's views are when it comes to scene accessories, i.e. sofas, chairs, tables, light fittings, books, ornaments etc...etc... in whether you should build your own or source downloadable ones (either for free or cost)?? I understand about the time constraints within businesses, however I am talking more about personal project work. I've been modelling in 3Ds Max for about a year now trying to build up a portfolio (previous to that I was always either AutoCAD or Revit Architecture) and I model, UV and texture all the scene accessories myself, pretty time consuming but satisfying when a piece is finished. I've started looking into what other archvis designers work is like, and find that they reference outsourced modelled accessories in their personal work. Meaning they have a lot more time to concentrate on composing the scene, lighting and post production work. Am I missing out on downloading accessory models, and setting the scene like going to the shops and buying the pieces that I need to furnish my living room?? Or is sticking with the DIY route and building everything from scratch the way to go?? Cheers for looking Hel

Studio/Institution: Home Genre: Residential Interior Software: 3Ds Max Description: Hello, this is my first posting in WIP This piece is one that I've been working on for my portfolio, butI can't get the lighting to go right I've taken a break from it towork on some other projects. However, I have a bee in my bonnet about gettingthis scene finished. All critiques, pointers and advice would be gladly welcome Cheers for looking Hel

Hope you are all having a great weekend I'm not normally one for forums, but I was looking for somewhere I can post some work to gain some feedback, offer up my two cents, and just get inspired to really push my work further. I would really love to get into the architectural visualisation industry, I've worked as a cad technician in the past so I am used to a number of programs AutoCAD/Revit Architecture/Ecotect Analysis. However, over the last year I have really got into 3Ds Max. Anyway just going to have a nosey around the site today and I'll start posting soon Cheers for reading Hel