Marmoset vs UDK for a portfolio

JonathanLambert · Jan 2012

How important is it to show portfolio assets in an actual engine vs Marmoset? I'm new to game art and I'm in the process of learning UDK but Marmoset is an excellent tool for showing off assets. Is it OK to put Marmoset renders on a portfolio site or would that be considered a bullshot by those doing the hiring?

NoChance · Jan 2012

As far as I understand marmoset is a real time renderer which is the biggest thing when showing off assets. It's not like your doing a 10 minute render with mental ray or some nonsense like that it's being rendered out in real time like any other game engine would. That being said there is a definite upside knowing your way around UDK and other game engines, but if you just want to to quick shots of a prop there's nothing wrong with using marmoset.

crazyfingers · Jan 2012

Use marmoset. It's a portfolio, you need your assets to look as nice as possible.

Mio · Jan 2012

marmoset +1

Kwramm · Jan 2012

visually both can be great. But if I see even the faintest UDK skills on a resume I'm more happy (especially for env people this could make a difference)

Autocon · Jan 2012

For props/characters - Marmoset (or other realtime 3d shader like Laurens) since the results look better then UDK.

For environments - UDK

JacqueChoi · Jan 2012

I would say it doesn't really matter.

Show that you're a good artist first and foremost. Show fundamental understanding how how materials work. Show understanding of your modelling/texturing skills, and understanding of materials and surface properties.

Showing you understand anatomy/skintones is a lot more important than how you render it x 1000000.

This industry changes SO damn fast, the tech you learn now is going to be drastically different in 2 years. The theory never changes.

I could show you plenty of amazing game artists who have nothing but V-Ray/Mental Ray renders in their portfolios.

System · Jan 2012

Both. Put both in and if you can swing a viewport render put that in as well.

Computron · Jan 2012

What chris said. It also depends on the models since some engines are better for certain styles. If you are going to show off hard surface work, make sure you use a engine with a synced tangent basis to your baker, AKA not marmoset AFAIK.

Vailias · Jan 2012

more importantly, go with what you know well. Dropping a great model and textures into udk with a simple phong material on them and default map lighting will quite often undersell your model. (unless you built and textured it with that in mind)

If you feel comfortable tweaking the heck out of Xoliul's shader, use that.
If you feel comfortable bending marmoset to your will, use that.

Personally I've been breathing UnrealTech since it hit the market, so my preference is pretty well set.

sltrOlsson · Jan 2012

If you're presenting one or a few single assets Marmoset is ideal for it's ease of use. UDK got so many features and possibilities, which obviously is good but it can also make stuff harder then they really are.

Regarding tangents and normals. With my limited technical knowledge this is my picture;

UDK - Based on the normals and what not from Max
Marmoset - More towards Maya then Max(?) regarding normals
Unity - From what i understand, haven't worked with it, it's based on Maya normals.
CryEngine3 - Max?

Other then that there's the viewport shaders. The benefit is that you won't really have any problem matching the shading and normals. I've used Kodde shader for Maya and Xoliul's shader for Max. There's also the ease of not having to export stuff out.

Fuse · Jan 2012

marmoset and udk make great work look even better, but it really doesn't matter how you present it as long as it looks great. Many people render their scenes, color correct in photoshop. Others always present their work in less glamorous but honest realtime renderers like UDK, Marmoset or viewport grabs from Max or Maya.

It wont make crappy work look any better, so make sure your work is kickass.

At least that's as far as character art is concerned.

When it comes to level design and environment artists, then presenting it in-engine is more relevant since you want to show you know how to work with editors and remain within realtime-constraints.

Ace-Angel · Jan 2012

There is not point in comparing the two since they both can do the same stuff, only that Marmoset costs money and isn't a game engine.

The main difference is the in looks is the material itself, you can do all kinds of crazy material stuff in UDK, while Marmoset is more traditional.

Honestly, just try them. UDK is free and Marmoset has a good Trial, what more could you ask for in a forum other then testing yourself?

disanski · Jan 2012

Very interesting topic. I am also very interested in this subject and still not sure how I would present the characters for my portfolio. I was advised to render then with simple scanline render without any fancy effects wich should make them look better than realtime screengrabs but somehow I am not sure if this is acceptable. Now that I see some of you mention it it is probably not a bad idea to do so if it is just about characters/ props. I agree that if it is environment we are talking about that is a different story.

Fuse · Jan 2012

viewport screengrabs out of maya/max/zbrush have always worked for me

Jeff Parrott · Jan 2012

Totally agree with Autocon.

But you could also use Maya/Max/Softimage if you wanted I suppose. You just lose some of the nice real-time bells and whistles that UDK/Marmoset have built in and easily available.

metalliandy · Jan 2012

My own personal preference would be to use Marmoset/Xoliul Shader 2/ 3PShader for a single assets. Simply because they don't compress textures, so you can get really close and not get any issues with artifacts etc.

For levels I would use a game engine like UDK or CE3 as they are much more versatile in that regard and are suited to displaying those types of things, allowing for real time vfx, flowing water, full weather systems etc.

But in the end you should use whatever you can get the most pleasing realtime results from

As far as synced bakers go...
Max is supposed to match UDK, but it's still broken AFAIK
Marmoset was synced to xNormal, but since the new TS was added, it doesn't match 100% (thought its still pretty close)

Andreas · Jan 2012

I would say having experience importing assets into an engine would be very important.

oobersli · Jan 2012

or just say screw a portfolio and try and get hired on your personality.

doesn't really matter which, if you worry about which one then you're wasting time. even if a studio doesn't use unreal.. i'd still say to go more in that direction to show you can learn an engine enough to get your shit looking pretty so they don't have to give you a newb course on how to use tech. tech savvy/competence is a skill that can be attractive to employers too.

JacqueChoi · Jan 2012

I would say showing the best results would be the best.

Unreal rendering has a certain 'aesthetic' I find that it's very well suited for. High value contrast, very sharp crispness to the textures. But for other things, Marmoset is possibly better for. Others I would say the CryEngine is better.

I oftentimes find there's nuances you have to do to tailor make your bakes and textures specifically FOR an engine.

In the end, do what looks the best. Including VRay/Mental Ray renders.

There are many studios that have developed deferred rendering solutions, and many of the studios that use Unreal have HEAVILY augmented it to suit the needs of the project.

I think an understanding of realtime engines and shaders are important (and they can guage that in your interview), but the first and foremost focus should be what looks BEST.

xvampire · Jan 2012

if you want to use udk ...you can learn this http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=75364

:-)

Ryan James Smith did very2 good job explaining noob like me how to make
good instance material, once created, you can easily switch texture images and adjust the parameter just like marmoset

Marmoset vs UDK for a portfolio

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