Its basically done, I want to work on the footage for the hallway scene and see if I cant get less blurry footage. Other than that I call it done. Any comments Crits or Comments on my reel or work are much appreciated, thank you.
Watch it here:

http://vimeo.com/4389194

you seem to have set the video to private on vimeo so people can only see it if they log in or have permission. Might want to change it to public if you can

ok thanks it should be fixed. that was dumb of me

A lot of the stuff looks good but personally, and especially towards the end of the video, the camera was moving too fast and too much for me to look at anything. After all, you're trying to show off your work here!

Nice work dude! The first and last enviro are really great. But I think the unfinished room that you show after the turret kinda hurts the reel, it adds extra time without adding anything interesting. And I know the hallway looks great from seeing shots of it on game-artist, but in the video you fly past it so fast that it blurs and you cant make out any of the details you put into the textures and smaller props. Other than those little things I think you have a pretty sweet reel so far.

nice work, i was soooo hoping those elevator doors would open in your hallway and water comes gushing out after seeing the watery reflection on the floor Good stuff none the less and i agree about the sort of unfinished room bit detracting from the overall reel.

Wow, it's been a while since I've seen an environment art demo reel!

And now I remember why. . .
Flythroughs and turntables are annoying, and don't show what an employer actually wants to see. Don't get me wrong, the reel was nice, but if I'm looking at you for employment, I'd much rather just get a link to your portfolio, where I can look at what I want to, actually spend time examining the objects/textures/wires, and be able to do all of it in a lot shorter span of time than the reel ends up being.

You've got some great work, and your portfolio is solid. It's got a nice layout, loads fairly quickly, and has almost everything it should. Though I would make links to larger images, and allow people to look at smaller ones first. The first thumbnail I clicked on opened an image, which still had scrollbars on my 1680x1050 monitor with the browser maximised. I would also through some wireframe shots into some of your environment pages. Also, your name at the top should have an email address below it, with a hotlink. You may also want to make a PDF version of your resume and link to that next to the .doc.

Nice work though, good luck with the job hunt.

nice reel man, the biggest selling point to me was all of your environments felt alive, atleast one thing in each had some type of ambient motion, which really helps make it a beliveable place.

I like that you had a lot of in engine work, and the camera flythroughs were pretty good, not very distracing like some i have seen.

I dont know if I would put next levels art test (floating orb thinger) in your reel, it looks great dont get me wrong, but to me having art tests in your reel seems a little bit iffy, the main question it raises for me is "why did that studio choose not to hire him?" I would put it on your site though, where people can browse at their own direction as opposed to being shown a direted slice of your work.

excellent work overall man, you seem to have a good grasp of lighting and how to present your work.

I didn't think the bubbles sold the lava environment the bubbles just seemed like an odd choice... You may also need to credit those concept artists for using their work. (I believe I've seen several people do that lava scene)

Nice work man. I really like the last three environments.


Just a few critics for the hallway:


I like all the modeling little details like wires and different pipes.
The texturing is solid and you put lots of little details in it. It kinda makes the whole thing more interesting.

-As far as texturing goes. I would punch out the specular and add some more colored variation of specularity to the metal shafts and pipes. Also the doors could use some more strong highlights, especially the edges. That would help you pop out some more details.
-Maybe add some stronger environment map to the whole metal. I suggest to add some strong vertical lines to environment map, to create reflective effect. Sort of like brushed aluminum. You could also use the same reflection on the elevator doors.
-I would also tone done the brightness and saturation of white and orange warning sign. It is way to strong.

-As far as lighting goes. I think it overall lacks the contrast. It has too much ambient lighting.
I suggest to make the ceiling a lot darker, so that pipes and shafts are lit only from above, where the light comes from. You can also make those lights stronger for more contrast.
-You can add a lot more interest with neon lights. I would reduce the range of neon lights to make some dark areas between them. It would help you break long hallway and add more dynamic to it. Sometimes it is good to balance bright and dark areas.


Geothermal:

-I particularly like this scene, because it fills alive and has nice atmosphere.

-The first thing that caught my eye, are those red flares coming from lava. You can make them smaller and more ash like. Small dust particles coming from lava. Adding some smoke near rock formations and supporting structure would add some dynamic to the scene. -

-With a little changes you can also improve the lighting.
-The blue lights on the support beam can emit stronger light and illuminate the whole cylindrical part, it would help you break up monotone look on that part.
-The yellow lights on the walkway could illuminate only small concentrated part of the central structure, everything else around it can be darker.
-The blue circle thing that has the strongest light, could also lit some of the central floor piece.


I hope I am not being to harsh about it. I just wanted to point some things I noticed.

Originally Posted by Tumerboy

Wow, it's been a while since I've seen an environment art demo reel!

And now I remember why. . .
Flythroughs and turntables are annoying, and don't show what an employer actually wants to see. Don't get me wrong, the reel was nice, but if I'm looking at you for employment, I'd much rather just get a link to your portfolio, where I can look at what I want to, actually spend time examining the objects/textures/wires, and be able to do all of it in a lot shorter span of time than the reel ends up being.

You've got some great work, and your portfolio is solid. It's got a nice layout, loads fairly quickly, and has almost everything it should. Though I would make links to larger images, and allow people to look at smaller ones first. The first thumbnail I clicked on opened an image, which still had scrollbars on my 1680x1050 monitor with the browser maximised. I would also through some wireframe shots into some of your environment pages. Also, your name at the top should have an email address below it, with a hotlink. You may also want to make a PDF version of your resume and link to that next to the .doc.

Nice work though, good luck with the job hunt.

X2 - Wow almost word per word what I wanted to say. Do you also like sunsets?

Seriously though, your work is very good, but in the time you spent making that video you could've churned out a couple more enviro pieces. Just my 2 cents

regarding your website, the hallway images are showing up 1800x1400 and it's way to big for your average monitor persons. sweet stuff though!!

I agree with all the above. And I also really like your portfolio.
-Neil

yea great stuff, thanks for the share.

Thanks a lot for your replies guys, I appreciate them a lot. All very legitimate critiques ill plan to implement, before officially starting the job hunt. Ill take out the next level piece for the reasons mentioned above. My main goal wasn't to show off how every model was designed or textured, I just wanted the reel to showcase my work in a game type environment. Make it very easy viewing and get people excited about my work, like a movie trailer sort of. Then use my website to give more depth to how the stuff was actually created. I always found reels with turnables and textures sheets really boring and don't convey much information anyways. Less camera movement sounds like a good idea though.

As for the stuff about the site I agree, some of it I have already implemented I just haven't uploaded yet. So we will see how much I can make it better, but like artsyfartsy said I dont want to spend too much time on it, I should be making stuff.

Im glad I posted at polycount you guys give good crits, Im more active in other game sites, but I like lurking here.

Great work, man. Love the how everything had something that moved, I know it was said before, but still...

Btw, whats song is that, have heard it in a movie before, can't place it. Watchmen maybe?

It's really nice yeah, the first minute is very enjoyable to see, but a bit after that the flythroughs start to be very very fast, you can barely see anything, or evaluate anything, in fact it gets annoying to watch.
other than that, really great work showcasing your work, but next time use only vertical / horizontal pans, or if you really need to rotate the camera to showcase your work, do it slowly!

Originally Posted by Cody

Btw, whats song is that, have heard it in a movie before, can't place it. Watchmen maybe?

You Tube

Originally Posted by Cody

Btw, whats song is that, have heard it in a movie before, can't place it. Watchmen maybe?

Batman & Robin soundtrack.

some cool work in there, I like the last environment! But to be honest I'd rather see a simple page with a bunch of pictures from your work where i can clearly see and study the details than watch a lowres video with music i don't like! A simple gallery with pictures would probably work out better for you i think =)

Was really disappointed the camera moved back from that room with the floating orb in it. I wanted to see more then one corner of the room. It looked very interesting.

Hallway felt very repetitive and got me bored quick.

Last environment blew me away. AMAZING