Trial & Error
- Justin Rhodes
- Dec 7, 2022
- 3 min read
Plainly stated, I am a slow learner — Not for lack of time practiced either. Primarily, my skills as a 3D artist revolve around the creation of hard-surface models; 3D virtual objects that are mostly static (or non-moving) — Furniture, homes, ancient helmets, non-moving vehicles and more can all be considered hard-surface models. There are various types of 3D modeling such as digital sculpting, box modeling/polygon modeling (which are quite similar in my opinion) and more that we may explore in the future.
In 2010 I took a High School class on 3D Modeling, the class started out with a student licensed version of Autodesk Maya — An extremely powerful modeling tool that the digital entertainment industry utilizes as standard today;
The 2008 film Cloverfield (in which I love) used Maya to create their giant monster. After learning that fact and from that day on, I wanted to further explore 3D Modeling. I thought,
"3D Art can only get better with time, right?"
As it turns out, I was correct. But each tool that may be used to create digital art went through much trial and error to become the great products that they are today. Developers relied heavily on bug reports submitted by the program's users in order to progress and we were rewarded with amazing assets to create.
Featured is a digitally rendered image* that is part of an upcoming video for a client — So far it has taken a little over a week to get where we are. I created it by first 3D modeling a heavy industrial-like fireplace in Blender. Secondly, I created 4k textures with Adobe's Substance 3D Painter, previously known as Substance Painter (from Allegorithmic) which can assist a 3D artist in creating hyper-realistic textures. What came next is creating an animated fire followed by manipulating the virtual camera to showcase the scene that I produced. I will edit this post with a link when the project is finished.
Forever Learning
Animation is almost completely new territory for me, which is entirely fine.
I'll be forever learning — Not because my chosen career field requires that of me (because it undoubtedly will as technology progresses) but because I want to. Overall, I take my time learning what I can and as effectively as possible. As a developer, I have the need to learn hundreds if not thousands of various skills ranging from coding in C++, animating, directing for film sequences and even voice acting so that I at least have the knowledge (and confidence) to do and instruct my future employees if necessary.
With so much to do and what feels like so little time since now I'm pushing 30 and time has been flying for the past few years... all one can do is move forward, keep the brain learning and grind as much as possible in attempts to not burn out at the same time.
That being said, as mentally exhausting as this is, it's necessary to push yourself to grow in different areas of your life — Your career is just one.
— Justin
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