need advice

# 1 20-01-2011 , 09:59 PM

Registered User
Join Date: May 2010

Posts: 37

hey guys, i needed advice on something.
I did a 3D animation course, but the course was more oriented towards cinema (for movies, etc)....where they thought a little bit about everything (modeling, animation, rendering, compositing, special effects) I learned Autodesk Maya, Mudbox, MotionBuilder, SounTrack Pro, FinalCut Pro, Shake and Nuke, how to integrate a 3d composition in a real footage, how to generate bump or displacement maps in Mudbox (and im currently learning how to do it in Zbrush), things like that.

But my question is, is there much difference between 3D modeling in movies from video games? I'm thinking of applying for a position in video game companies like ubisoft or EA Montreal....but i dont know if i have the required knowledge to work in the video game field, should i do another course in 3d modeling oriented in video games, or is it pretty much the same thing?

i need opinions from people who work or worked in video games.

appreciate the help, thanks.

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# 2 20-01-2011 , 11:09 PM

yes...you dont sound not non double negative
Join Date: Jun 2009

Location: Norfolk, VA

Posts: 91

the key difference is in the technical aspect not aesthetics, e.g. the polycount and texture sizes.
also modeling correctly for animations, understanding how creatures are rigged also helps, and being able to model different LODs that remain true to the original model.

thats all i can think of for now; lower polycounts smaller texture sizes, limiting and less complex rigs, and accurate LODs.
cheers.

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# 3 21-01-2011 , 12:28 AM

EduSciVis-er
Join Date: Dec 2005

Location: Toronto

Posts: 3,374

I would think also understanding how the game engine interprets the mesh is important. I seem to remember hearing that you need all quads for game models, but that the engine converts it to tris too.
I might be wrong on that.

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# 4 21-01-2011 , 12:50 AM

The Nurb Herd
Join Date: Oct 2007

Location: London

Posts: 2,381

i dont think you will have to know anything special to work in games. not at an entry level job anyway.

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# 5 21-01-2011 , 05:25 AM

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Join Date: Mar 2007

Location: TN (USA)

Posts: 1,889

I don't work in the game industry but I would think you would be fine. As far as modeling, many of the models require higher polycount to start off with. For LOD's, it's easier to keep true to the charater by deleting edges from higher poly models than it is to model a lower poly model and then add in details. Also, some models require a high poly version anyway in order to create a normal map for a low poly version. It's all about trying to fake as many details as possible with texturing in order to keep the poly count as low as possible.

I don't know much about game animation but I would think it would be pretty similar to animation for movies except that in games its all about cycles. A run animation cycle, a walk cycle, a few idle cycles, etc. Sometimes the animations might even be separated by parts of the body so you can mix and match cycles. If a character needs to fire a weapon, you would create an animation cycle for that. You get the idea.

I'm not a lighting person but I'm learning quite a bit lately. I think if you understand lighting, you could pretty much do lighting for games or movies, just gotta learn the tools that are available.
Bottom line, I don't think a person trained for creating movies would have any trouble transitioning into creating games.

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