Hi!! I would like to work in concepts, textures as a 3D graphic in GameDev

Over the past six months, to supplement my 3D graphic skills, I have focused on learning AI-based tools and creating concepts and textures. Since May I have been doing this through MidJourney AI and most recently Stable Diffusion.

I have no doubts that combining human competences with AI can increase both the efficiency and the quality of production.

I can see myself both in providing concepts and in adapting them to GameDev, be it modeling, sculpting or texturing. With and without AI.

Since 2018, I have been completing the skills necessary for a 3D graphic designer:

  • I model objects, I create characters.
  • I sculpt in Blender 3D.
  • I perform retopology manually in Blender 3D or automatically.
  • texturing in Substance Painter 3D.
  • I optimize before placing them in Unreal Engine 4, less often Unity 3D.

There are a lot of things about Game Dev projects that I’m willing to do in game development. The momentum and the end result of personal projects will never be the same as in a team, so I want to be part of the team.

I am immediately ready to work in the Tri-City or remotely.

Concepts (digital painting + AI)

REEL 2018 – 04.2022 (before AI)

Sculpting, Retopology, Substance Painter, Blender 3D(before AI)

Collection “The Roots”®️. We are the People.

We are all connected.

The learning curve and execution of the more complicated steps in Blender 3D accelerated in 2018, although I started experimenting with it since 2009.

Currently, as part of creating and optimizing assets for games, I will be happy to deal with one or several at a time:

  • Sculpting
  • Retopology
  • Procedural materials
  • UV – Wrapping
  • Baking
  • Texturing
  • Basic rigging

In 2018 I started sculpting in Blender 3D.

  • sculpting gave me a lot, because it allowed me to streamline the creation process
  • I am up to date with sculpting techniques
  • I created a small non-commercial course to learn the basics of sculpting in Blender 3D.
  • I have been taking part in the annual SculptJanuary competition for several years.
  1. Sculpting can be useful for organic 3D and hardsurface models. Depending on the technique, I either use a dynamic topology to create a new geometry of the object or recalculate the mesh with an abbreviation
    continuously with the automatic Voxel Remesher. After making the sculpture, if I aim at models optimized for games.
  2. I carry out retopologies, and then, if the situation requires it, I add details by sculpting in the multiresolution modifier mode.
    This makes it easier when burning a normal map, transferring details from highpoly to lowpoly.

I usually adapt the method depending on the situation:

  • Voxel or Quad remesher, but it is an automatic tool of Blender 3D, and besides, it allows us to get quad (Face), it is not appropriate in many cases.
  • SpeedRetopo addon – works quite well in combination with the built-in F2 addon. Automatically sets the ShrinkWrap modifier and magnesium to snap vertexes. Switching the preview from the wireframe to the front view of the mesh is also at hand.
  • RetopoFlow Addon – Takes a bit of practice, but has some nice features. A sculpt-like tool to relax the mesh and move vertexes works quite well.
    I give you quick options for tracing contours, making loops and much more.
  • Instant Meshes – it allows you to determine the direction of placing the quads quite well and gives better results than the machine built into Blender 3D.

Baking in Blender is much slower than in Substance Painter 3D.

In Substance Painter 3D, it’s a simple matter. The obtained maps are great for texturing, for masking, shading, but also for transferring highpoly geometry details of objects to a less complicated mesh.

I also tried a bit of baking with the xNormal application, but ultimately the heightmaps I used it for, I learned more efficiently in Blender 3D by setting the material and distance from the camera.

Until 2019, I had the ridiculous approach of not using any other texturing software. That’s why I know how to texturize in Blender 3D 😉

But since I met Substance Painter 3D in 2019, I realized how anachronistic I was in this approach.

Substance Painter 3D gives you speed, possibilities, baking, using ready-made materials, layers, opacity, library of textures, materials, brushes, generally not comparable with Blender.

I texturized characters and assets optimized for games.

I know the basics of rigging.

For the project Virtual Museum of Present “US”, Cowboy was using the Auto-Rig Pro addon. It allows for fairly quick rigging. Creates controllers for an armature. It allows you to re-target another skeleton and animation. And it allows you to easily export a skeletonized character to Unreal Engine 4 and Unity3D.

I know the basics of animation. Rather, I’m not a 3D animator at this point.

I render in EEVEE. I also use Cycles.

I discovered Unreal Engine in 2020 when I was looking for a tool that would allow me to implement the project Virtual Museum of Present “US”. I chose the Unreal Engine because it allowed access to interesting possibilities at the start, the library of scanned objects (Quixel Megascans), texturing in Quixel Mixer giving a simple pipeline thanks to the Quixel Bridge application.

  • I got to know the interface
  • blueprint basics
  • basic settings for creating materials
  • communication with Substance Painter 3D and Substance Designer 3D
  • Metahuman basics
  • basic triggers
  • importing objects directly from Blender 3D
  • import of a character created in Blender 3D and hooked up to the Third and Sideperson mods.
  • and many others…

Some time ago I did a UNITY 3D teaching course on a practical project available on Eduweb. Then I got to know the interface. Import of objects and basics.

It is so accessible that I am convinced that I can quickly supplement the knowledge I need for the project.

Until 2020, I used Adobe Creative Clouds from the beginning paying for a monthly subscription.

Back then, I was using and working in Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects and Premiere. I worked as Flash Animator in Flash on commercial projects in 2008-2009.

The work in Adobe Character Animator seems to be the most unique of the Adobe package. As an animation tool, it can also be used to sketch the character of the animation, specific to the character personality being created. This can be a nice foundation for the final form of commercial character animation. Offers lip-sync with audio. This seems to be an interesting solution in video and games.

In 2020, due to the focus on 3D skills, I decided to use software that does not generate monthly commitments for non-commercial purposes, unless they help in acquiring 3D graphics competencies. Then I finished my job with a job not related to 3D graphics.

For today.
First of all, Blender 3D.

I am using a license (purchased years ago) for Adobe Production Premium CS4, it’s a gem, because the boxed version is no longer available;)

Affinity package license (Photo, Designer, Publisher)

Substance Painter 3D and Substance Designer 3D license purchased in 2020.

To the Da Vinci Resolve video.

Besides, Krita is pretty good at concepts and digital painting.

Over the years of Blender 3D development, we have observed a stage in which developers, wanting to promote Blender 3D to attract and enlarge the community, focused on the Grease Pencil Brush in 2D Animation.

They made an annotation tool for animation, graphics, concepts very convenient to use.

  • It allows you to draw and even draw in 3D space (some of the functions were once available in Adobe Illustrator, but they work incomparably more blocky and less intuitive)
  • Editing as in vector software. Now it even allows you to export animations to pdf in vectors.
  • The LineArt modifier automatically outlines 3D objects that can also serve as pads for stop-motion animation.
  • The combinations of the Simplify and Subdivide modifiers give interesting effects, similar to the Noise modifier.
  • There are still plenty of modifiers that do a nice job.
  • In Grease Pencil I also like easy editing resembling sculpting (i.e. sculpting) but this time in 2D. By the pressure of the pen (and even the mouse), in addition to grab the points of the line, we can adjust its thickness, smoothness and transparency. It gives interesting results.
  • Masks work great in Grease Pencil.
  • The quick edition of materials is also a plus.
  • And many others …

I know SCRUM mainly from the two-month daily INFOSHARE course in which I studied, among others, JAVA.

During the course, we worked for two months on a programming project. We used JIRA and the version control tool GIT.

The conditions were to be appropriate for working in a team.

The course gave me a lot, it will be easier for me to understand Game Developers.

I have been working longer and methodically on the competencies of Graphics 3D, the more I am interested in working in SCRUM on Game Development.

I am waiting with curiosity for the estimates, the nature of SPRINTES and the division of responsibilities by SCRUM Master in projects 😉

English level B1-B2. I do not use English on a daily basis in communication, but rather to learn something that I need not only in 3D.

Cooperation in the English-speaking environment would be a stimulus for me to raise the level of English to proficiency. I am open to it and convinced that I will jump to it quickly.

Sketches

Honorable Mention in the Tomasz Sekielski Competition “Turn off TVP turn on thinking”

Here you can see a fragment of the contest results >>>Here is a link to SSNL Sekielski on youtube<<< .

Grease Pencil Brush Blender 3D

 

Let’s do a project together 😉

Maciej Wołodko