4.2 New Portfolio Work

Shaders

I’d like to create a water shader before the end of the year.

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As of Jan 17th 2020, I’ve used Unreal Engine’s material editor to create a couple of cyberpunk related shaders. Although this isn’t a water shader, it is a working example of a similar process and a result I’m very proud of. For unit 12, I chose to create two render angles: one depicting the orbit of Mars and the other a warp drive visual effect. Mars’ setup was theoretically simplistic and easy to follow, only consisting of a few layers of panning textures, utilising fresnel effects for inner and outer glow. On the other hand, the warp drive effect was far more difficult to complete, especially with such little resources online. I achieved this VFX using two materials and a particle system – a solid background colour; two panning textures with a gradient opacity; and simple spawning of stars are high speeds in the shape of a cone. All of which can be viewed on my portfolio or in Unit 12, task 5.2 – Final Product.

Not Done

Rigging

I’d like to teach myself how to rig a character before the summer. This isn’t necessarily crucial to my portfolio because it’s not expected of any students applying to Staffordshire, Hertfordshire, or even De Montfort, so it will be a task on the checklist that’ll have to wait until I have some real free time – i.e. the summer of 2020.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to study character rigging before the hand-in for this unit. However, through my research, I learnt that technical art doesn’t necessarily require rigging experience. Which is nice.

Not Done

ZBrush

I aim to have at least 1 sculpt in my portfolio by spring; this should also involve HP to LP baking. I believe my portfolio’s biggest weakness, as a 3D artist, is it’s lack of sculpting; this missing chapter would provide another skill that could potential broaden my horizons infinitely, as a professional. At this point of the academic year, I’m struggling to find the time to practice any life drawing, let alone learn the extensive tools of ZBrush. However, something as small as a cluster of stylized rocks sculpted in ZBrush is most likely enough evidence of experimentation before university.

As of the hand-in date for unit 11 (Jan 27th 2020), I have had little practice in ZBrush. However, I’ve played around with the boolean and array features that I used to produce the column above. I aim to learn more about this software for the FMP so that I can demonstrate my enthusiasm for learning new things in my portfolio, and I consider my lack of knowledge in this subject a major weakness for my portfolio.

Life Drawing

Although life drawing is considered an added bonus by Staffordshire university, I’d like at least 1 upload containing multiple sketches before the interview process begins in March 2020. This addition to my portfolio is probably the most important and I should keep it at the top of my priorities this year, making sure to complete a few of these ‘Free Timed Figure Model’ videos by New Masters Academy. Because I’m applying for De Montfort as my second choice, it is definitely something I should be doing throughout this academic year.

Despite not participating in the official drawing classes provided this year, I did manage to fit in quite a bit of sketching in my spare time and I feel I’ve done okay. It’s not fantastic work but it’s definitely not awful either. It is most likely not enough to get my into De Montfort university but I’m glad I got a good crack at it before the interview stage. I can only hope that DMU’s recruiters view me as an anomaly, like they did with Max Ramsey, as I’ve put a lot more effort into my 3D work. I’ll be dumping the majority of my sketches into one or two large artstation posts as not to clutter the space – this will be a last minute addition to my portfolio.

Marmoset Toolbag 3

To make sure my work looks its best for my portfolio, it would be a sound idea to learn how to utilise Marmoset’s best features, especially for the materials I create in Designer. I plan to work on this over the course of units 9-10 to ensure the next piece to be published looks great.

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After watching Artstation Learning’s video tutorial on the basics of Marmoset Toolbag 3, created by Javier Perez, I re-opened an old material and rendered it using the software. I used my newfound knowledge on simple lighting and software settings to create a new thumbnail for an old upload. In addition, the short tutorial series covers post-processing via Adobe Photoshop, which I also used to add a dirty lens effect, soft outer glow, and subtle Designer logo. Unfortunately the tutorial was rather specific to displaying materials on spheres but there were a few fundamental skills that were transferable. This was a very basic overview of Marmoset, and by no means advanced in any sense of the word, so there is plenty more to learn about the subject.