Friday, July 30, 2010

My Work While Working @ EA Games As A 2D/3D Artist

    My contract for EA Games just ended recently and I have been in the process of gathering my work that I produced while I was there to show.

    I was a 2D/3D Artist on the Sims 3 Team (As listed below on my resume in my previous post "Let's Get Started With The Facts".

    The first part of the post will be comprised of the 3D assets that I textured for use as down-loadable "asset packs" in which players can purchase through the Sims 3 website. (See "Let's Get Started With The Facts" post below for the Sims website url and my titles or you or click here and browse the store).

    The second part of this post will be composed of my Texture work both in their 2D state and applied onto a 3D "test" asset in the game engine. All textures were created personally by me for use in the Sims 3 Expansion Packs for both the development team and Web releases. (Please see previous post "Let's Get Started With The Facts", Resume to see my list of shipped titles). 

    The following images are screen captures of my textured asset (sets) that were assembled within the Sims 3 game. (These images were used as promo material for various websites and EA's main Store website).

Hope you enjoy! 



    

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Some fun with A.E (After Effects CS5)


 


    Today, I decided to have some fun and do a small motion graphic title project with some recently acquired skills I had learned the other day.  I like to break out of the 3D realm every now and then and A.E is a great outlet for that!  I have always liked using A.E and enjoy creating motion graphics.  A.E has been something I have always tried to incorporate into my 3D background especially when it comes to creating demo reels!  Kind of goes hand in hand ;)  And since I know both A.E and Maya so well I think I might start to merge the 2 together even more over the next couple of months and create more motion graphics!  No promises we, will have to see how things go....

Resume: Let's Start With The Facts!

A Little About Me:

• 7 plus years experience in creating game based content such as architectural buildings, terrain, ecosystems and props in Maya
• 2 years of Professional game experience working for several game companies
• An ideal candidate with a diverse understanding of the game industry's art production pipeline
• Ability to create highly original game world renderings
• Ability to apply materials and textures such as diffuse maps, nomal maps, spec maps, shadow maps and light maps to models and integrate the models into the game using proprietary tools
• Experience in establishing good development practices and assisting team members to help with the evolving editing tools

(Current)
• Contributed as a 2D/3D artist for EA's widely popular franchise “The Sims 3","The Sims Expansion Packs" (EP's) and store content which is made for online release (SP’s) as well other unannounced Sims titles which are currently in production.

My Shipped Titles include: 
(EP)= Expansion Pack

(SP)= Online Store Pack 

"Clicking on any of the titles below will direct you to my work on EA's site" 

Sims 3 Ambitions (EP) 
Romanza Ceremony (SP) 
Reception + Attire (SP) 
Zen Again (SP) 
Adrenaline Rush (SP) 
Island Villa (SP) 
Sun, Surf & Sand (Swim + Sleep) (SP) 
Sun, Surf & Sand (Sleep) (SP) 
It’s Game Time! (SP) 
Championship Dreams (SP) 
Ultra Lounge Kitchen (SP) 
Faire Folk Outdoors (SP) 
Hacienda Luxury (SP) 
Haute Hip (SP) 
Provence (SP) 
Weba Yayfoo (SP) 
Buccaneer's Bounty (SP) 

All of which can be found on
the Sims 3 store at http://www.thesims3.com/

The Resume:

PROFESSIONAL SKILLS:

 Application Specific:
 

• Autodesk Maya 2010
• Mental Ray (Rendering)
• NEX Maya Retopology Plugin
• Topogun Retopology
• Z-Brush 3.5r3
• 3d Studio Max
• Headus UV Layout
• Crazy Bump
• XNormal
• Unreal Editor 3
• HDR Shop
• Adobe Photoshop CS4
• Adobe Illustrator CS4
• Adobe After Effects CS4
• Several Proprietary Apps
• Adobe Premiere Pro
• Final Cut Pro
• Apples Shake
• Adobe Flash
• Windows OS
• Mac OS

Skill Specific:

• High Rez Modeling
• Retopologizing of 3D Models
• UV Layout + Organizing
• Low Rez 3D Modeling and Animation
• Next Gen Advanced 3D Modeling
• Games Level Design
• Games Modeling and Texturing
• Environments and Props
• Visual Compositing
• Motion Graphics
• Texture Creation and Manipulation
• Lighting and Rendering
• Particle Creation and Animation
• Visual Effects
• Hard Surface Modeling
• 3D Character Modeling
• Digital Imaging
• Architecture
• Marquette Sculpting
• Color and Design
• Photography  

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: 

Electronic Arts (EA) 2D/3D Artist and Preset Creator Mar. 2010 - July 2010
Responsibilities:
 

• Utilized in-house proprietary software to help manage, create, manipulate and assign textures and custom made “presets” (predefined textures and color settings applied to 3D assets to populate a players worlds which are fully customizable). These “default” states for assets within the game world are applied to organic, hard surfaced and abstract 3D game models.
• Created adjustable RGBA targa texture files, which was then converted into fully adjustable xml files that the game engine reads for in game users to have full control over. These files give the player the option to swap in and out customizable textures to create their own unique textures. All texture foundations were created based upon my original designs. Users have the ability to control the overall color and details of an entire texture independently depending on textures details. All of which have been separated into individual channels when created in Photoshop.
• Collaborated with art directors, producers, lead’s and art teams to gather necessary assets, artistic visions and input to conceptualize visually stunning final renderings. All of which helped in streamlining the creation process to ensure continuous integration for the overall look and feel of the game.
• Worked closely with art and web teams to create diverse theme based textures that can be used universally throughout the game world cohesively.
• Helped engineers trouble shoot program and game based “bugs” to ensure a smoother workflow between teams.
• Developed techniques to better understand the technical limitations of systems for which Sims games are designed.
• Contributed to further development of in house proprietary editing tools and software
• Designed from concept and photo reference both of which help to drive the creation and aesthetics of the Sims reality, fantasy and abstract textures.
• Quality tested and implemented all designs and assets in game and with proprietary game engine software

Freelance Artist (3D-2D Artist) May 2009 - Jan. 2010   
Responsibilities:
 
• Developed next gen cinematics, low rez in game models/assets and textured environments for the Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii consoles.
** Tools being used in development: Maya 2010, ZBrush 4, Headus Uv Layout, Nex Retopo plugin for Maya, PS CS5, XNormal, Crazybump.**
• Texture/Uv Layout Artist: 3D Environments Cinematics and game ready models
• Lighting Artist for 3D Environments in Cinematics and Games
• Rendering Artist: Environments and Assets using Maya 2010 Mental Ray and ZBrush Engine. • Art Director: Currently developing 2D art/UI for IPhone platform.
• Spare Time: Extending skill set/tool bag in the areas of 3D Environments for both Film and Games.

Trion World Network, Inc. (2D/3D Artist (UI) Jan. 2008 - Mar. 2009
Responsibilities:


• Established games general UI look and feel with the production and implementation of high end 3D and 2D assets into Visual Designs. As well as aiding the Programming department in developing better in house UI software with more user friendly functionality from the ground up.
• Conducted and attended team brainstorming and project building meetings on a weekly basis to help better design decisions and further develop games direction.
• Created and developed Wiki pages in which wire frames and general descriptions were posted to and taken from to generate art assets. All concepts and final renderings were posted here as well.
• Took ideas from brainstorming meetings and personal reference to conceptualized sketches.
• Used sketches to narrow down design ideas. I would then produce several computer generated designs using Adobe Photoshop, Maya and Adobe After Effects. Discussions with my team and art director would take place to make sure the designs look and feel were on task and final design would be chosen.
• Produced final in high quality renders
• Implemented final designs into in-house proprietary UI Program and then re-assembled for use in game engine.
• Uploaded game file formats to in house servers which would then be tested in real time.
• Bugs that were found were fixed by myself or if they were code specific would be noted on the Wiki and sent to programmers for fixing.

EDUCATION:

• 2002-2007: Academy of Art University: B.F.A. 3D Computer Arts: Modeling/Texturing/Visual Effects
• 2002-2004: Academy of Art University: A.A Computer Arts: Visual Effects

**For more info please see my Linkedin Profile here you can view my recommendations from past jobs and feel free to reach out and connect! Hope to hear from you soon!**

A new outlet...

    Today, I thought of trying a new approach to showing my art work to the public by creating a "blog" page. 

    While I have a website as well with older work on it @ www.outofthisworldent.org which I designed myself using Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Dreamweaver.  I have found keeping a website up to date using Dreamweaver has been a big pain in the a** and just too time consuming (That is when everything on it is custom!)  I self taught myself how to use Dreamweaver and while I like learning new skills it is just a bit too much to have to worry about which in turn has brought me here.  I am seeking new means to show off my talents to the public, companies, and any one who is looking for a freelance artist!  Hopefully this "blog spot" will help me achieve this and also help in streamlining work flows making life just a little bit easier! So here goes nothing... :\