I was taught how to use 3D modelling software during my
three year Bachelor’s degree ending in 2015. Since completing my degree I found
employment as an Architectural Visualizer, where I worked on realistic 3D
renderings for clients.
My Archviz Workflow
When approaching a client’s brief, I had a lot of creative
freedom in how I chose to carry out the project. Each member of our team was in
charge of their own brief and we rarely had to use one another’s assets for our
projects.
This meant that we had no consistent standard when creating
scenes. For example the way I chose to light and texture my 3D scene, would be
somewhat different from how my colleagues would be creating theirs. Because it ultimately
all boiled down to creating a final rendered image, we didn’t have to worry
that there were inconsistencies between our project files. The only thing that
mattered was delivering the final images, so consequently we could use any
approach to get the job done.
This is in stark contrast to how a game studio’s workflow
operates. Keeping assets and naming conventions consistent is of the upmost
importance, otherwise the game will not work or at best be very poorly
optimised.
In his book, “3D Game Environments: Create Professional 3D
Game Worlds” Luke Ahearn (2017) states that “…we can’t escape the fact that
creating art for a game is more than just making pretty pictures. When you
create art assets for a computer game, you need to create art that will
accomplish several goals. Other than looking good, your art must work with the
software being used to create the game you are working on. Your art needs to be
as efficient as possible in that environment. This requires planning and
creating your art to very specific guidelines. Those guidelines may change
depending on many variables… In any case, you need to be very well aware of
what those variables are and create accordingly. Making a game run at its very
best is called optimizations. This optimization should be on everyone’s mind
from the very beginning of development.” – Introduction Page 3
I bring all this up because since starting my Master’s
Degree in Game Art and Design, my approach to creating 3D assets has had to change.
The Polycount:
In 3D art there exists a term known as the “polycount” or
“polylimit”. This pertains to the total number of polygons found in a
three-dimensional model. It is often preferable to aim for a low polycount so
that the 3D scene runs smoothly, however the trade-off for better performance
is that low poly models look a lot worse than high poly ones.
This is why a 3D artist is always conscious of the polycount
but depending on the final output, they may not have to worry about the poly
limit as much. This is why, historically speaking, the visuals in 3D games tend
to look worse than say, the visuals in 3D movies.
One medium essentially doesn’t have to worry about a poly
limit and can make the visuals look as beautiful as desired during
post-production, and the other has to make sure all assets for the game meet
the standards of the games hardware, otherwise it flat out won’t work.
Ahearn goes on to say “The balance between looking good and
running good is always a tug-of-war. Bad optimization means lower quality art
must be used to achieve the required performance of the game.”
As an artist I am obviously concerned with making the
visuals for my games as good as possible. However I will also need to be aware
of the hardware limitations for the game. When it comes to games looking good
isn’t enough, they have to run good or it’s all ultimately pointless. These are
some of the problems I will have to be aware of as I enter this industry.
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