Hey everyone! So I've been applying around lately and I've had a phone interview with Bioware Austin but didn't get further than that, and now I have two different art tests, one form 38 Studios/Big Huge Games that I will tackle later, and one from Bend Studio. The Bend Studio test is what I'm working on now. Part of the test is to set up collision volumes in the scene and the other part is to model a fan and set up a collision volume for it as well.

I have not worked with collision yet. I've read the basics on the UDN and understand what it's meant to do, but how closely should my collision meshes match the game mesh in a low poly scenario (last game they did was for PSP)? In most cases, are boxes ok for fairly simple (box shaped) geometry? Do you guys have any suggestions?

Also about posting my tests for critiques, I wasn't told this was under NDA or anything so would it be fair to assume I can post it here w/o any problems?

Depends on the engine you use, but it sounds like you're using UDK.

In that case, you wanna make boxes most of the time. Constructing collision varies from object to object. You usually don't want too many boxes or too many boxes with subdivisions that break up the silhouette, but you can use some when necessary.

Well, in my experience collisions is one of the more expensive factors in a game, it is also one of those things the player will notice if they are not set up right. I always do my own collisons and are quite anal about them. In many cases the objects that i model will be sunk down in to ground and the player/npc will either be forced to go around it, jump over it or walk over it. The rules we have for our collision is 45 degrees if you want the player/npc to walk over the object. So if you take a set of stairs for an example I would do a collision like this (the lines in red):

It also depends what kind of game you are making of course and if the player ever will touch or interact with the object...

Keep collision simple, primative shapes. What type of fan is it, a table fan? Wall square fan? Just think about the size of the prop and how the player will interact with it, it sounds like a pretty generic prop, so one box might even do, again it depends on the silhouette.

It's a large desk fan or something. I'm currently creating collision for a small little environment I've been sticking to the most basic shapes I can make while using the smallest poly count possible so it sounds like I'm on the right track. Engine wise, actually for this they didn't specify if I needed an engine shot of anything. They just want a Maya scene file.

If you didn't sign an NDA or anything, I think it would fine to post it for critique after the fact. IMO it would not be a good idea to post it before you have turned it in, for a multitude of reasons, including employer can be watching your progress, other applicants can be watching your progress, etc. Getting feedback from friends and individuals is fine, but posting it in public while its wip would not be. Just my opinion though.