Freelance real time projects

[filiproberto]

Hey guys,

 

I am pretty new to the industry. I am struggling to find clients that would be interested in real time archviz with UE4. So my question to you is :

 

Where should I advertise myself and where should I look for freelance projects other than Elance and unreal forums?

 

I've read around enough to realize that most of you don't agree with UE4 because of the workflow, but this is what I learned to do and I love doing it. ( I don't know Vray). Now I probably am underselling myself but even so I would gladly work for render price while offering real time app, which is so much more for someone trying to visualize something before building it.

 

Here is my portfolio :

http://www.artstation.com/artist/robertofilip

[philippelamoureux]

The only problem I can see is that, if you limit yourself to Ue4, you won't be able to sell stills at all. Videos maybe, but without any advantages over offline rendering and with no added value for your client. So, basically, you are limited to real-time/vr which is cool but you may have a hard time finding enough clients to live off of that. Unless you are super convincing hehe!

 

But if you manage to make a decent living doing only RT/VR, go for it man! Must be a nice business. You're just ahead of time!!! lol. imho Ue4 isn't there yet for arch viz unless you really are a true skilled artist!!! and even...

 

To approach clients, check arch firms/developers in your area and send em' a email and a link to your website (preferably a pro website over a portfolio page). Good chances you'll be the only guy doing this kind of work in your area! Try to get good placement in the google search results for your website and you'll eventually get calls!!! You can also try to contact urban planners, private firms but also cities directly!

 

I wish you good success! keep us informed of your progress!

[filiproberto]

Thanks for the detailed answer Philippe.

 

I have already started learning how to do stills with Vray. You are right, I shouldn't limit myself to RT/VR . I will prioritize this but when there is none, stills will be the backup plan.

 

As for the website, going to look into that once I can offer a wider range of services. To be honest I never thought that far, but again you are right...there is no downside and this will only help give the right first impression.

 

Wish you good luck with your new studio and if you ever need outsourcing you know where to find me

[Francisco Penaloza]

To me, the main thing is, your client need a Visualization service, they really don't care, how you do it, if it is handmade, with Microsoft paint, V Ray, Mental Ray corona, Unity, Unreal and what not. They just want an image or an animation. There is a new market for real-time projects but it is very small. Why? I think because how you display it, it can't be printed, and to be projected you need a good computer, with a decent video card. Architect like the concept, but the turnaround time is a killer, if you had experience with architects or developers, changes are an everyday issue, even every few hours, so the workflow of a Game engine is not very friendly to this process.

 

If you want to dedicate yourself to Visualization, you should not limit yourself to one software, you need to be skilled in several of them, and use each one for it strength and options to get the job done.

 

If you find clients that only want one still image, and you can finish it on time with Unreal, then you don't have anything to worry about it, but if your turnaround time to deliver a set of images is longer that one created with V Ray or similar render, then you are not providing an interesting service.

If you really like work with Unreal, maybe Arch Viz is not your real business. Maybe you'll be better fitted to work creating environments for game industry, and that is a big market.

Best luck.

[philippelamoureux]

Dunno what's wrong with this forum but, again, I wrote detailed answer and it disapeared. sigh.

 

To answer Francisco. I think a good way to display real-time arch viz is going to be mobile devices. They becoming more and more powerful. Cellphones, tablets, gear VR etc. are evolving quite rapidly and UE4 has some good potential on them. Have a look at Epic's

. And it's just a teaser of what's going to be possible.

 

I am not sure if UE4 can produce nice stills...every time I tried to make pretty screenshots, even at high res, it was very aliased and did not look good at all. I doubt you can use ue4 for that.

 

@OP, if you want to learn an offline renderer too, I think you'll find Vray overly complex compared to ue4. There's so many settings (vray 3.0 isn't too bad tho). Give a try to Octane (gpu) or Corona (cpu). I think you'll have a better time!

Edited January 12, 2015 by philippelamoureux

[filiproberto]

Dunno what's wrong with this forum but, again, I wrote detailed answer and it disapeared. sigh.

 

To answer Francisco. I think a good way to display real-time arch viz is going to be mobile devices. They becoming more and more powerful. Cellphones, tablets, gear VR etc. are evolving quite rapidly and UE4 has some good potential on them. Have a look at Epic's

. And it's just a teaser of what's going to be possible.

 

I am not sure if UE4 can produce nice stills...every time I tried to make pretty screenshots, even at high res, it was very aliased and did not look good at all. I doubt you can use ue4 for that.

 

@OP, if you want to learn an offline renderer too, I think you'll find Vray overly complex compared to ue4. There's so many settings (vray 3.0 isn't too bad tho). Give a try to Octane (gpu) or Corona (cpu). I think you'll have a better time!

 

The problem with archviz for mobile devices is that it requires much more optimization, hence even slower workflow.

 

I am going to take a look at Octane. Running a gtx 970 so it might be a good idea. Thx!

[RyderSK]

Dunno what's wrong with this forum but, again, I wrote detailed answer and it disapeared. sigh.

 

 

I honestly don't know, but happens to me every time I write big post :- ) To be on the safe side I copy my text before hitting reply.

[dorothybryant]

Why not try on mastering your craft first? For example, if you are an aspiring writer - why not send it over to public forums to let them know your capabilities in writing? I think that's a good start up. And after that, they would easily engage and contact you then. In that, they already gained trust from you, you both can work together easily. Wish this helps.

[artmaknev]

The main advantage of VR is that you can walk inside the scene with Oculus and you have to educate the client to do that, that's the only thing that differentiates real-time from the standard arch-viz services. So if you try to convince the client by just posting stills of your VR stuff, its not very convincing... the still image quality is low compared to what clients are used to seeing (vray, corona..), they probably don't even understand what you are trying to show, your only way to convince them is to put on the Oculus and show them the difference.

[Nic H]

then watch them walk into a corner and get stuck in a low res couch and vomit

[martinhoura]

could be a great revenge for difficult clients