Current Situation ...

# 1 28-05-2009 , 08:26 AM

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Okay, it's been a while since I last visited this forum.

I just wanted to let people know where I was in terms of my life and my 3-D.

As far as life goes, I'm still working in an unrelated industry trying my very best to get my foot on the bottom rung of the ladder. However this neatly brings me on to the second point.

In an effort to try and make myself more appealable to potential employers I have gone over some my older models to make them more polished as well as have my website completely remade. This new website makes it clear that my models focus of my attention, I think one of the criticisms of the old site was that it was a little ambiguous.

So I have clearly separated for more personal and blog orientated outlet for my professional endeavours.

My video diary and other whimsical pieces of miscellanea can be found on my YouTube channel whereas all of my models and 3-D related stuff can be found on my website (both links are in my signature).

I am in the final stages of making a new show real, as I'm not an animator this is just a collection of stills displayed nicely with a bit of supplementary information.

This is where I write the help of the SimplyMaya community. If I could get some feedback on the site with a view to making me more appealable to potential employers then that would be great. There is a way you can subscribe to the site news, all you need to do is click the RSS icon at the top of the site. Secondly that, if you do use YouTube and would be interested in subscribing to my video diaries then you can obviously do so in the normal way.

Once I've finished getting my show real to a suitable standard I will publish on the site for your comments and criticisms after that I will be making models again which will start to appear in a work in progress section of this site. I appreciate it's been a long absence but I'm eager to get back to this great community and start sharing again my knowledge as well as receiving it twofold.

Thank you very much for your time I look forward to hearing from you.

"You can live for yourself today -- or help build tomorrow for everyone" _LIVID

Optical Minefield
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# 2 28-05-2009 , 01:00 PM

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If I could get some feedback on the site with a view to making me more appealable to potential employers then that would be great.

Originally Posted by

the site's nice, but the layout i dont know if the theme feels right for a 3d related site. my 2 pennies.

There is a way you can subscribe to the site news, all you need to do is click the RSS icon at the top of the site

Originally Posted by

done.

as for finding work, i dont think you should have a problem mate. you just need to post more complete works.

Image dump

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# 3 28-05-2009 , 01:09 PM

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Well thanks allot for your comments. It's always useful hearing what other people think. It can be a bit lonely doing all this on your own.

You'll have to let me know what you think of my showreel once I get it up.

As for the job side of things. Well I do hope something will come up soon. I am trying to be really pro-active and once I get this showreel finished there will be some more pieces of work up there and on this forum for you all to see.

Cheers.

"You can live for yourself today -- or help build tomorrow for everyone" _LIVID

Optical Minefield
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# 4 28-05-2009 , 02:26 PM

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What kind of work are you looking for?

My first impression of your site is it takes a long time to load.

My next impression is that I can only see one image at a time. I'd like to see a gallery of thumbnails, preferably categorized in some orderly fashion that I could then browse easily.

Ah, I see, I can do that by clicking the Work navigation buttons.

Right off the bat, I agree with Vlad. The two images you're using to lead into your two categories (high poly and low poly) are both unfinished projects.

Being a game artist, I immediately click the Low Poly category.

I really dislike Flash galleries for taking so long to load. That's just my opinion.

I can tell you that most employers for game companies these days are looking for current-gen examples of game art. The low poly art you've displayed is what I would call "handheld" low poly, as in geared more toward the DS or the PSP. Current PC and console games are more in line with 10,000 poly characters, quarter-million poly environments and the like.

I'd also refrain from posting unfinished work in galleries other than your Work In Progress gallery.

If you are interested in game work, I'd definitely suggest getting more current gen game work, ala normal maps, high-to-low poly models, etc. Or if you are going for handheld 3D work (which is very viable these days with the DS, PSP, etc being so popular) I'd make sure to expressly say so one way or another.

Hope some of that helps.

-Mike
The Maya Toolbelt

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# 5 28-05-2009 , 02:59 PM

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I'm also looking for work. its really hard to get on the ladder in the UK right now... in my experience.

as for your site, i'm sort of in the same boat. working makes it hard to find the time to do a lot of modeling for showreels and what not. I'm a runner which is quite a good way to get into a company. Its a hard job tho, as its demoralising and menial.

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# 6 28-05-2009 , 03:12 PM

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That's for all your comments.

I am away all weekend so I will have a look at my site/work and see what changes I can make and get back to you all here.

Thank you once again and i'll see you on Tuesday.

"You can live for yourself today -- or help build tomorrow for everyone" _LIVID

Optical Minefield
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# 7 28-05-2009 , 05:27 PM

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One other thing is to leave out anything that was done via a tutorial or could be misconstrued as such. (i.e., the Oliphaunt in the opening slideshow).

"Terminat Bora Diem, Terminal Auctor opus."

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# 8 28-05-2009 , 07:34 PM

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Adam.

You seem to have spelled 'miscellaneous' incorrectly in the WORK bar (it says misselaneous, this could of course be some sort of 'trademark' but as this is suppose to be a professional page, I assume spelling words wrong might give the wrong impression).

Else the general site seems okay, small things that could be improved but I assume you change it all the time and make it better, I know I do the same with mine, as soon as I think its finished I see something, oh, later the same week that I really 'need' to change for the better. But thats life.

Question, the big space cruiser, the StarWars inspired one, whats the poly count on it?

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# 9 29-05-2009 , 05:20 AM

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I found that the flash gallery to take too long to load... but that's just me. IMHO, I think randomly selecting one image every time a visitor comes and loading that would do, and that image will link to the gallery.

I was a bit confused about the RSS icon... its between two green "ribbons" and at first I could not find it given the welcome message says its at the top of the site. Maybe move it into the right end of menu bar, revise the directions and give it a tool tip?

IMO, the site news could more descriptive titles. Other than that, the site is pretty good. Awesome star destroyer model, btw. user added image

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# 10 29-05-2009 , 11:31 PM

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The initial loading of the site took a while, like 30 seconds and I'm on a broadband connection. It is a nice looking site, clean and neat but it has a non 3D corporate vibe coming from it. The galleries are taking a while as well, I like the slideshow idea but it would be really neat if there were a string of thumbs beneath that, kinda like the Maxwell gallery.

- Genny
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# 11 01-06-2009 , 02:46 PM

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Firstly I want to say thank you to all who have commented so far, hopefully with your help and input should be a little closer to achieving my goal of employment in the industry.

I have read through everything and here's what I'm going to do.

vladimirjp

Thank you, I can sort of see what you mean about the theme of the site. I'll keep a lookout for improvements that can be made.

Mike

I have checked the site on a number of different PCs and the loading time does seem to be a little long. I think the reason is the slide show, I'm going to change the resolution of the images that it displays which should fix the problem.

The images that are used were chosen because they were roughly the same colour and could be easily distinguish between what is high-poly and what is low-poly. I didn't really make a conscious effort to pick models that were untextured.

I can see what you mean about my low poly gallery. I think the way around it would be to give better descriptions of the models so it is clear to all what I am trying to achieve and what I'm demonstrating. I'll also be adding some examples of low to high modelling and other game related stills so thanks for the advice.

I can also see what you mean about posting unfinished work in my gallery, while I think that the work is only unfinished in the sense of they haven't been textured. My work in progress gallery is basically a collection of models that I'm currently working on whereas the untextured models are completed modelling wise. If you know what I mean.

hammer.horror

Dom, I completely sympathise with your situation. I too left Escape Studios and started doing some work experience as a runner. Unfortunately at the end of it they didn't really have a job for me so I had to move back to Essex and start getting some money. Finding time to get the 3-D after a hard day's work can be difficult. I wish you the very best.

While on the subject of websites, I noticed on your side couldn't view your show real. Not sure if that was just me.

NitroLiq

I understand what you're saying, I suppose my only reservation in leaving it out is that I spent a long time making it and it's a model I'm proud of. It's not perfect as I can understand but I would still be reluctant not to include it as a demonstration of my ability. However, considering I don't have a job in industry yet it might be something I had to reconsider.

lillsnopp

A bit embarrassed, however I've changed it now. I would like to think that errors are not my trademark. user added image

The star destroyer is quite high, I'm not sure how high your when I get a chance to look into it I will post back.

The Architect

if you're talking about the flash gallery on the front page then I think I might have found the solution and will experiment soon. I'm also open to the idea of having a randomly generated image visit. That would obviously speed things up a great deal for people with slow connections.

I think a tool tip for the RSS icon is most definitely needed. I will also go back and edit my welcome message to make the direction is a little more clear. There is also the option for people to subscribe by clicking a link at the very bottom of the page.

I also think my site news could be a little bit more descriptive, I think I forget that not everybody wants to click on the headline for more information and would prefer just to more displayed right off.

GecT

I am interested in this maxwell gallery that you are talking about, but after doing some searches on Google have not been able to find anything. If you can show me an example that would be great.

Thank you once again to everybody, I'm sorry this post has been quite long but I just wanted to go through all the points. Once I've acted upon them come back and let you all know.

Cheers

"You can live for yourself today -- or help build tomorrow for everyone" _LIVID

Optical Minefield
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# 12 02-06-2009 , 12:31 AM

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I just went to the site and I know I haven't been there in a long time but I could bet my life that it had thumbnails underneath the slideshow at one point. Either way, like this.

Attached Images

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# 13 02-06-2009 , 06:52 AM

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That looks like it could do well for the front page.

What was the link?

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# 14 02-06-2009 , 07:36 AM

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Their gallery format is similar to your home page. There are thumbs but I don't think you had to hover before (lol now I'm confused and questioning my memory). Either way, its cute and it loads super fast yay.

https://www.maxwellrender.com/

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# 15 02-06-2009 , 07:49 AM

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That is a lovely looking gallery. Not quite sure how I will manage to get something like that on my site. I will have to look into it.

Thanks for the info.

"You can live for yourself today -- or help build tomorrow for everyone" _LIVID

Optical Minefield
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