Judge feedback

Judge feedback is anonymous and shown in a random order.

• A very nicely laid out environment. Execution of storytelling and visual fidelity is well thought. Pre production is very detailed and as it should be which lays the foundation for the what needs making without many questions left unanswered. I would have prefered to have seen a large contrast in lighting on certain features of the level. Especially the barn or the tank as they are the main assets of this level. Creating light and dark areas would have helped the viewers attention be drawn almost immediately. Keep up the good work. 

• Great work, but research materials more in pbr

• 

  Submission Title:                 Dawn Vengeance

  Submission Tier:                   Sumo Digital Rising Star

  Assessor: Anthony O’Donnell          Lead Artist           Firesprite

   

  Concept design & Development:

  Evidence of research and how it defined the final image is evident. The chosen topic is a rich well of reference / inspiration to draw upon. With that it’s also harder to bring something new to the subject matter.

  The initial “blockout” phase is inline with many studio pipelines and a good way to workout what the scene will be composed of. It was nice to see some variations during this stage.

  Missing was research and evidence of what a French farm would look like and how it would sit within the surrounding landscape.  There was a bit of a missed opportunity here as the final scene would have benefited from this research.

  A future suggestion would be to also work out initial lighting setups and the wider landscape during the blockout phase and setup any camera angles to work out framing etc. This would allow for more iteration earlier on in the development cycle.

  Technical Art:

  As was highlighted in the production diary overall the triangle count of the assets were leaning to the high side even for current AAA FPS relative to the assets purpose. The fact Benedict acknowledged this fact shows his awareness of the issue. There is no right and wrong answer to how many triangles to use per mesh. So long as the end scene runs at the desired framerate on the defined platform it’s not an issue. After that it’ll be down to consistency with the rest of the art and enters subjective territory.

  I appreciate how organised the Substance Designer and UE4 material Node Graphs were. This is very necessary in a production environment when art can be worked on by others. The use of Substance Designer is also commendable. It’s a great way to generate tilebale textures.

  The diary mentions the tank was constructed in a modular fashion which is an efficient way to approach it. One point here to allow for easier modification of the tank model would have been to use Maya’s instancing options to instance the “modules” around meaning it would be easy to reduce geometry quickly at a later date if required as you’d only need to reduce one instance of each module.

  The UV layout for the props could have been more efficient as there was a good bit of wasted space on the maps. Props like the flag and bag could have utilised a tiling detail map for the fabric as there wasn’t enough unique detailing to capture to justify a bake / unique unwrap.

  The relative scale of assets within the scene is good.

  
  

  Creative Art:

  Overall Scene:

  Benedict put together a scene that represented his ideas. Along the way an understanding of the game development workflow is visible. His choice to use pre made assets to hit the deadline instead of taking on too much himself shows an ability to estimate tasks and manage his time along with him being aware of his current weaknesses regarding asset production. A modular workflow was employed across the tank and barn construction.

  Lighting:

  The light colours chosen are reducing the contrast in the scene due to them being dark in value thus reducing the intensity and their ability to create lighter areas. A muted palette was discussed by Benedict but this can be applied to hue only and not necessarily the value.

  I’ve attached a desaturated comparison between one of the reference images and a final render to show how much of a difference value can make especially regarding focal points and leading the eye. ( See the image above )

  Below are links to sites that go through sun and light temperatures. Another approach to lighting the scene would have been to light it as a dawn scene with the relevant light temperatures / intensities and then use the post process volume to grade the images to match the movie / show reference by mainly affecting the hue.

  http://planetpixelemporium.com/tutorialpages/light.html

  http://www.naturalux.com/NaturaLux_Lighting_Filters_Color.htm

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_temperature

   

  Written Documentation:

  The document provided general overview of the processes followed but does not go into great depth. All the relevant topics listed in the brief have been touched upon.

  Final Presentation:

  There was only a PDF present and renders from UE4, the required source files were missing . Without any source art it’s not possible to provide more specific feedback.

  With that said the first three renders and the interior shot are the strongest and tie in with the initial intent of the piece with atmosphere and mood. The other shots do not have as strong of a focal point. I wouldn’t shy away from tilting the camera even a touch to add a bit more interest and dynamism.