RyanSpaulding Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 Anyone have any examples of cool ones they've seen online? I've got an idea to do one fully in 3d as an art museum...motion in between with interactivity...big project...but I'd like my portfolio itself to be a portfolio piece. Gonna take me awhile as I have to plan it so I can just cut sections out seamlessly and insert new imagry as my portfolio gets better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Saunders Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 A guy that used to work at my office did something like that. He did it in Sketch-Up (becasue that was what he knew). It was a series of boxes and abstract shapes, but it was an animation. As the camera moved around the objects, it would slow down at certain peices and there would be an image from his portfolio on a face of the object the view was frozen on. Then it would move to a new object with a new image. It was kind of cool. I think there was limited resolution, but if you use a more robust program it may have been more impressive. I like your thought of having it interactive. One thing that sucked about his (as well as many animations) the viewer was stuck with the timing that he gave it. The question is, how to make it interactive? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joseph alexander Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 As a recommendation, the only thing that matters with an online portfolio is being able to see images quickly. If some one's recommending you to some one else it's really aggravating to have to wait a few minutes for some flash goop to load. I've actually had this happen where we've reviewed a number of offices for a proejct and had to update Flash or wait for something to load, and skipped the office entirely because of presentation fluff. Anyrate, something to think about. -Joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andreg Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 I found this really cool site a while ago which has pretty the effect you're trying to go for http://www.pixelgasoline.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ernest Burden III Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 I don't see where you ask for advice. But I'm going to give it anyway. Don't waste your time. Present your work as simply and directly as possible. Do not make a prospective client endure a concept piece in order to see what you do. All too often I see portfolios for renderers that assume the audience is as young as the artist. Most of the people who are in a position to write you a check can't see small gray text and do not have a functional ability to navigate 3D worlds online. The people who work for them might, but those people aren't the ones who make a hiring decision. If the project is to show your completed work then do that. If you want one sample to be a great interactive 3D space then do that, but not as a 'two birds with one stone' concept. When a client is deciding on whom to hire for a project they may be looking at the work of a whole number of people. Put yourself in their place. This one has this Flash thing that plays annoying techno music, this one has controls that are so conceptual that you can't figure out how to see the damned artwork, this one has such tiny images in a dramatic colored field that your middle-aged eyes can't tell what they show...now lets do a realtime walkthrough of some museum so we can look at samples? Keep it Simple. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanSpaulding Posted January 9, 2007 Author Share Posted January 9, 2007 Maybe I should have been more specific... I will always have a quick-and-simple way to access my work...but I want something that really stands out...if I combine the work of 3d arch viz with Flash, I think I could come up with something really cool. Another option is one could use it for a CD portfolio to be sent. There are many many great arch viz people around...possibly quite a few could be vying for the same position and while I'll always have a static page to view work, I want something that really sticks in someone's head. Tim: I was planning on doing static pages in Flash with motion video in between. Thus, the static page where the motion has stopped can have menus and navigation...once they select a button or action, the motion video kicks in and moves to the next static page. It'll require a lot of work and time but I think it'd be just a cool piece to have. I've never done an interior...this may be a fun way to learn. I'll have to keep the video time down for file size but mainly, I want this to be something cool that someone doesn't mind waiting the insignificant little bit of loading time for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horhe Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 As a recommendation, the only thing that matters with an online portfolio is being able to see images quickly. If some one's recommending you to some one else it's really aggravating to have to wait a few minutes for some flash goop to load. I've actually had this happen where we've reviewed a number of offices for a proejct and had to update Flash or wait for something to load, and skipped the office entirely because of presentation fluff. Anyrate, something to think about. -Joe Its possible to insert good quality images into a flash presentation wheater for online viewing or a local presentation, and still maintain short loading times. Im talking about seconds, not minutes. You just have to have knowhow Anyway if it comes to presentations, its a really good idea to desing your own dvd. No i dont mean simply to burn your images onto a dvd (duh) but im talking about the big kahuna - designing the interface and the contents just like all those hollywood movies where you have the fancy dingalings and the bling blings if you know what i mean. Now thats what you call presenting your work with a capital p if you will, especially when you send the dvd to a client. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAYMOND Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 Oh come on guys... people love the fun sites..... just bare bones stuff is too under nourished for me like the gaseline one... there see... you want your friends to see it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martin walker Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 But I'm going to give it anyway. Don't waste your time. Present your work as simply and directly as possible. Do not make a prospective client endure a concept piece in order to see what you do. yes, very well said. Nothing more annoying than a confusing / pretentious interface. I recently read somewhere that the average web browser has a tolerance of about 4 seconds before they will move on if they cant find what they want Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAYMOND Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 thats because boring web sites are boring.. you have give people candy... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ernest Burden III Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 thats because boring web sites are boring.. you have give people candy... Your artwork is supposed to be the candy. So don't make clients solve a puzzle to get it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAYMOND Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 well i would agree a very tangled and confusing web site is a pain but the really nice flash sites really adds a lot if the stage does not match the performance it seems very lopsided people arn't in a hurry surfing the web.. they basically are looking for a fun place to be... even if its top heavy with downloads and progress bars.. there are already too many nice pictures to look at... thats why you have to shake things up a bit my motto.. normal people get foggotten freaks get remembered and honored. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sawyer Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 people arn't in a hurry surfing the web.. they basically are looking for a fun place to be... even if its top heavy with downloads and progress bars.. That is not my experiance. My enjoyment of web surfing lasted about 3 months and that was in 1999. I don't look for "cool" sites and I don't find many. I think of the web as more content based. Opposed to destination based. Maybe a link to some good portfolio based websites that you think have a good web presentation would be in order. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAYMOND Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 well ok, i would buy that.. i moved here from South Lake Tahoe btw which is also just outside of Sac.... 1999? what happened Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bwana Kahawa Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 ...I like your thought of having it interactive. One thing that sucked about his (as well as many animations) the viewer was stuck with the timing that he gave it. The question is, how to make it interactive? I'm pretty sure there's a bit of software out there to make 3D interactive galleries for displaying artwork. Came across it on a magazine cover CD used to show the work of a guy called Ray Caesar. It seemed to work pretty well, if a bit gimmicky. Once you walked up to an image then it cut to displaying it full screen so the artwork didn't suffer. Can't remember the name of it though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joseph alexander Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 Let me give an example of a website from an office that does very good work but has an atrocious website interface. http://www.dboxstudio.com (i think they so much work that they don't care but this is a good example of a bad website for attracting new clients) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IUI Design Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 Check out.......2advanced.com Fun to look at........just for the "flashy-bits" !! Ifty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAYMOND Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 http://www.cgarchitect.com/news/newsfeed.asp?nid=3542 did any of you visit this as it was a news piece for CGA actually i would like to follow this idea for a portfolio... here comes another Big wave Ray Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anthony cortez Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 That Actionman.la is hilarious! In '98, I was working on a vrml project on interactive online banking. After presenting it to some focus groups, we realized that noone really wants to walk up to a virtual ATM machine in a virtual bank, just to access their accounts. People want to just log on, do their business, and leave. Here's another 3D Flash website for you, http://www.monoedge.com (hasn't been updated since 2001, but I liked it anyway) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanSpaulding Posted January 11, 2007 Author Share Posted January 11, 2007 Who ever said bringing Flash into the equation somehow makes it more difficult or confusing? That's rediculous. Yes, if you have a poor design, it can hamper things. But to me, a general cg artist, nothing turns me off that a poor, static, boring website. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ernest Burden III Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 to me, a general cg artist, nothing turns me off that a poor, static, boring website. You must hate my site, then. What I'm saying is that we should not be so concerned with what will turn on a general cg artist, but a prospective client. When someone looking to hire an illustrator or animator visits your site, what do they want to see? Show it to them as directly as possible. I'm sure that a great design, cleaver Flash stuff, mission statements, artist profiles and other background do make a difference to clients, but only after they've seen your portfolio and been impressed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanSpaulding Posted January 11, 2007 Author Share Posted January 11, 2007 You must hate my site, then. What I'm saying is that we should not be so concerned with what will turn on a general cg artist, but a prospective client. When someone looking to hire an illustrator or animator visits your site, what do they want to see? Show it to them as directly as possible. I'm sure that a great design, cleaver Flash stuff, mission statements, artist profiles and other background do make a difference to clients, but only after they've seen your portfolio and been impressed. It's not that I hate sites or your site, I just find them a bit boring. And architect may be different. Also, bear in mind I'm a general CG artist...not just an arch viz guy...I kind of stumbled into arch viz after college because it was the 1st job I could get. I'm big on presentation...and I feel not only is the 3d image presentation, but it's important to show you have an overall sense of design and aren't just a 1-trick-pony and can only do arch viz. I think this appeals to clients and the reason we don't see more of it is clients may or may not know what CAN be done. A simple flash presentation that may take 30 seconds to load could be REALLY sharp, incorporate easy interactivity, take advantage of multiple renders from multiple views. Also, you don't have to pick one or the other. It CAN be Flash and be direct at the same time...it just takes some planning. To me, it's not all about just the arch viz. I want some to think it's cool from the get-go and internet speeds are fast enough these days that basically everyone has DSL or faster. There are many many many great 3d arch-viz renderers out there. Great overall presentation may set you apart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IC Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 Whereas it is nice to have a good quality website, it won't get you any new clients on its own. People know that you can hire a firm to put together a great site. It may say something about your standards or whatever but if your work is crap it will still be crap when displayed on a flashy website (perhaps even moreso). Clients want to know what you can do for them-that's all. A portfolio should be a distraction free example of that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vince Paske Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 Perhaps giving people the option to go directly to a simple, yet elegant portfolio with large thumbnails and links to download animations....as well as the option to enter jazzed up flash version may be the ticket. I personally am bored with most flash stuff, unless it's creative and has somewhat of a story to it, other than that its just graphic nonsense everyone in this field has seen to death. I always appreciate a short written description of the who/why/where's of the project the visualization was created for. Good luck to you Ryan, look forward to see what you come up with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ernest Burden III Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 bear in mind I'm a general CG artist...not just an arch viz guy...I kind of stumbled into arch viz after college because it was the 1st job I could get. I'm big on presentation...and I feel not only is the 3d image presentation, but it's important to show you have an overall sense of design and aren't just a 1-trick-pony and can only do arch viz. I'm coming off as a lot more grumpy in this thread than I mean to be. There's a lot of good stuff in your last post. I also stumbled into arch-vis. But you are missing my point. When a client is looking at websites to pick an arch-vis renderer to hire, your 'other work' isn't going to do much for them. Look at your site from the client's point of view. I've actually been yelled at for having an architectural drawing that wasn't a direct rendering (my own design) in my portfolio. While that guy was being a jerk, he felt I was wasting his time showing it. Architects can be very childish and some feel threatened by a renderer who shows he can design as well as they can. I've seen that, too. When you want someone to hire you to do arch-viz its best if they come away thinking there's nothing else you would rather do. Tell them 'I'm just doing this to pay some bills' and they may choose to look for someone more committed (or at least pretending to be). Consider having more than one site if you have more than one professional direction. I have three sites. When you go to buy a car do you want the saleperson to spent 20 minutes of your time showing off their motorcycles or outboard motors? Great overall presentation may set you apart. Perhaps so, but simplicity of purpose counts as presentation. A simple flash presentation that may take 30 seconds to load could be REALLY sharp 30 seconds is an eternity. Another problem with Flash is its often hard-to-impossible to copy text (your contact info) or images to paste into a doc, or print. I frequently hear from clients that say they have someone in the office visit a number of sites and print out images from those they like, which are then put before partners and/or their client to make a decision on whom to hire. Your images had better be easily printed, because paper is still how some clients make decisions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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