Things I learned in last 4 years As I am almost done with my 4 years of college and all there is left to do is walk the stage and receive my B.F.A. in Computer Animation from Ringling College of Art and Design. I still don't feel that I am about to graduate, it hasn't hit me yet.
I do want to take a moment and reflect back on last 4 years.
In the following article I will discuss some things I have learned about myself, what my passions are and how I became highly efficient and productive during my 4 years in college. Although I am happy where I am, I am not satisfied. It is a curse and a blessing for us artists, as we constantly pursuing the next stage of our artistic development. I hope that what I am about to share will help you as much as it helped me.
Also, the timing couldn't be better for this post. Not only I am about to graduate, I am also about to release an online guide/book on level design and 3d modeling productivity.Which will be launched in the next couple of days.
Perfect timing, and it wasn't even planned that way.
Part Time Level Design [PTLD] is the concept I came up with when you have to work a full time job, as your primary source of income. Basically you don't have much time to dedicate on a side project but you would still love to create levels.
With the following technique you are going to be able to learn a new skill, or design a new map and model a 3d environment. Whichever one you decide to do, it is possible to work on your maps on a side.
Chris Kay is a professional level designer who comes from a strong background in multiplayer first person shooters.
Chris started his level design journey with Unreal on his dad's PC, but the core of his experience came from Counter-Strike. After getting completely addicted to the game Chris started his first level using Worldcraft.
Following the success few years later Half-life 2 was released and Chris joined modification teams, Insurgency.
Insurgency is a modern infantry combat game set around the period of the Iraqi Liberation appealed to him and after 3 years of development it released a public beta which remains one of the top modifications for Half-Life 2, it won Modification of the year award over at the popular web site Moddb and has had extensive media coverage. Magazines, television shows, radio interviews and features at IGN, Gamespot and AMD Game. Insurgency continues to expand with patches and updates planned well into the future.
Chris Kay is currently employed by Crytek as a level designer.
Regardless of your current artistic skill level, as an artist and a designer we are always aiming for more. It is important to be happy with what you produce right now, doing the best you can is the only thing you can do but always stay hungry. Push for more.
One of my favorite quotes by Steve Jobs is, "Stay hungry, stay foolish."
Many great artists came from humble beginnings and when they reach a certain skill level, they don't stop there, they keep going.
There will never reach a point in their lives where they can say, "Ok, I think I've reached my potential. My art is perfect now. It is time to rest."
I doubt it.
We are always inspired by other people's work; their work is inspiration to push ourselves more, better. Not better then them or anyone else, but better then our previous self.
I want to emphasize is how important it is to be happy with your current work. I am not saying you should settle for what you are doing right now. Never settle for anything. But the work you are producing now is the best you can do within the time and skill level you are at right now.
A week from now, a year from now you will be at a new level, producing the best work you can for that time, being the best artist you can be at that moment. Never compare yourself to anyone else's work or someone else's skill level. Become inspired by what others are doing.
Throughout your journey as a level designer and a 3d environment artist you will come to face many difficult artistic and technical decisions. Those decisions will shape your level design and will have to be made as soon as possible so you don’t loose an overall sight of what you are trying to accomplish. If you get too bogged down, they you won’t be able to see the big picture and in the end, you will get overwhelmed and even perhaps abandoned your map.
As your skill increases through out your time of working on one single map, you will end up wanting to add more to your map, expend it. Maybe now you know more about a certain skill and you want to go back and refine the terrain or gameplay elements.
But you know that if you decide to do that it will set you back on time. So instead of moving forward, you are putting out old fires. The thing is, you are not moving forward.
Setting up proper scale grid and spacing in Maya is crucial to importing from Maya to Unreal 3. It helps you to snap to the grid, set up and follow proper scale proportions and makes the whole workflow between Maya and Unreal 3 hell of a lot easier.
So lets set up the grid in Maya to match the grid in Unreal 3 editor.
In the next 8 videos we will cover modeling the furniture for our interior environment. This includes two chairs, couch, tables, palm tree, carpet and lamp.
Then I finish up by cleaning up the scene and arranging all furniture.
Part 3 covers:
- Modeling 2 chairs
- Modeling the couch
- Modeling leg rest
- Palm tree
- Cleaning up and arranging the scene
In the next 7 videos we will cover modeling the walls, windows, ceiling and curtains while adding proper detail to our walls.
Part 2 covers:
- Setting up Maya for Modeling
- Changing Preferences and Scale
- Custom Shelf
- Scale Reference
- Modeling Walls
- Modeling Windows
- Modeling Window Borders
- Modeling the top of the window border
- Modeling the wall columns to add detail to the walls
- Modeling curtains for our windows and using a simple Lattice modifier
- Modeling and adding details to our ceiling
In this first part of three series Modeling Interior Environments using Maya, I cover the following:
- Fundamental principles of how I plan the project
- Setting deadlines and planning your work on day by day basis
- Importance of deadlines and why you should set them
-
Reference and Research
- What you would want to learn when working on a new project you set for yourself
![[Video] Modeling Interior Environment in Maya Part 3/3](/categories/3d_modeling/modeling-interior-environment-maya/images/modeling-interior-part3.jpg)
![[Video] Modeling Interior Environment in Maya Part 2/3](/categories/3d_modeling/modeling-interior-environment-maya/images/modeling-interior-part2.jpg)
![[Video] Modeling Interior Environment in Maya Part 1/3](/categories/3d_modeling/modeling-interior-environment-maya/images/modeling-interior-part1.jpg)
