Portfolio Web Site

[kwshipman]

Nice site you got there. Only thing I dont like is the scroll thing at the bottom, i have never been a fan of thoes. But you have some good stuff on there.

P.s. I think that bungie is still hiring for a level designer.

[baloothebear]

I agree with kwshipman on the scrolling on the bottom tad bit annoying sometimes... I also think when you start repeating images in different sections employers won't finish looking at the section. Employers are busy people that have to go through a lot of prtfolio and when they see repeating from section to section they most likely stop looking. you need to keep the emplores in WOW all the time. I hope that helps.

[NeoNautica]

Bal: Do you think If I moved the Mayan Assests images from the Level Design to the 3D section and then move the In-game screenshots from the 3D to the Level Design it wouldn't be as repetative?

Could also spread out the assest to 3 images and put their wireframe next to them. Problem is when I was digging through my art cds I realized there wasn't as much portfolio worthy material as I thought >.< ... so its a good thing I'm starting this early.

[baloothebear]

I most likely get rid of the level design section and combine it with the 3D section, from there a sub menu of Level Design, characters, and props. Just untill you get more "portfolio worthy pieces"

[Velk]

First off nice job on using Flash the future of webdesign (untill there is something better...) :) Overall a nice job.

I have a couple comments:

1. I'm not a big fan of the whole greyscale website look, IMO it doesn't really pop or make a statement.

2. PLEASE make it scaleable to the size of the browser window! That will help out a lot especially since the window seems to open at 800 x 600 by default making the user resize the window just to view the whole page.

3. I would recommend changing the scrolling thumbnails so that they only scroll when you have the mouse on top of them and there should be a point in the middle of the screen that they stop moving (larger than a pixel) so you can go from one to the next easily.

[Artician]

You have some pretty good work. The site organization is smooth and easy to navigate.
You might want to consider not using Flash though. You will increase the number viewers you can reach. Not everyone has flash on their PC, and most users hate it. You may want to at least make a non-flash alternative.

Looks good though, keep it up!

[stlbluezfan21]

Great work both 3d and 2D...The website is nice except for the scrolling windows across the bottom, that got pretty annoying. Awesome art though man, great job!!!

[Velk]

Artician - actually your facts are a bit off. The numbers I've seen indicated that Flash 5 has a 91-95% penetration rate and Flash 6 (MX) has a 70-77% penetration rate. Thus Most people can view Flash, incidently Windows XP is the shipping with Flash embedded (the only non-Microsoft software included as far as I know). So the rates of people using flash will only go up.

As far as not liking it I would say that is personal preference and driven by two factors, not being able (or wanting) to change and more importantly having poorly designed sites that are annoying to use.

This doesn't make Flash bad - just as stupid dancing gifs and black pages with neon green and pink text don't make HTML "bad". It all comes down to good designers making things that work rather than things that are simply cool.

[NeoNautica]

Thanks for all the feedback, I'll try to hit all the topics here...

- I will have a HTML version of the site once the Flash version is completed. Which will probably look exactly the same as the flash site, but with tables and frames etc...
- I like the gray scale look since it keeps the site itself in the background when viewing Images (at least the color images)
- The size of the IE window that opens is determined by your computer, not the site (at least on my computer). It is made to fit a maximized IE window on a monitor running at 1024x768 (at least thats what Dreamweaver claims).
- I can't make it scalable since the images are loaded externally. The layout of the site would scale, but the images would not. (This makes it easy to update the site and load faster).

A flash menu will load faster than a HTML menu with roll over graphics, thats why I like to use flash...

[Marcel]

Here another person who doesn't like the scrolling thingie. :) It is very hard to look at your art when there is this moving, jittering, attention-grabbing scrolling thing on the lower part of the screen.

Nice work on the level by the way!

[NeoNautica]

hmm... You do have a good point there.

I'll try to get a new version of the site online tonight without the scrolling menu (all I have to do is delete the script). I'll also be changing and adding script so the thumbnails are externally linked (it'll make it easier to update the galleries with new work)

[jacobt]

Hey nice work :) So much work has gone into that level!

About the site: I noticed before that your buttons are too large. The buttons linking from section to section only need to be as big as the ones on this site.... I'm kinda going from memory here as it's offline at the moment :D

[NeoNautica]

I just spaced out the buttons evenly... They are a bit large though...

Updates:
- Took down the level design section for now and filled in the 3D section with some images from it.
- Removed scrolling script from 3D section
- Added code to the Downloads section so the level can be downloaded from there.
- Added splash page
- Changed the HTML of the page the Flash movie loads up in

New URL: www.NeoNautica.com

Gonna tackle the 2D section now...

[Omita]

Egh... I personally don't like the site. The artwork is good but the site has some design problems. Mainly, the buttons are huge. Especially if you have a HR person looking at your site on a computer running 800x600 or 1024x786. The buttons look Fisher Price big.

As an X-professional Flash programmer I wouldn't suggest using it. It's fun but most people who make flash site get blinded but the interactive aspect and lost sight of the interface design or over all usability. A lot of art directors are to busy to try and figure out the UI of your website. And while its cool to show your friends it can hurt you getting a job.

But really, I just hat flash site with huge buttons.

:)

Keep up the good 3d work.

-Omita

[NeoNautica]

I was wondering what you guys were talking about, but figured it out when I maximized the site in Flash. It looked fine on my comp running at 1600x1200 (which only a small % of people use). You guys are right on they were too big. I reduced the size of the menu buttons, so I hope its a good size now.

Should I reduce all my other text as well?

[Solve]

i like the the grey background, easy on the eyes and very corporate.

Great site!

[baloothebear]

It is looking a lot better... I like how you combine the level design and 3d together. And if you wanted to know I run my laptop at 1600x1200 so you aren't the only one :beer:

[jacobt]

The design is coming across nice now. A simple suggestion to improve it tho would be to open with your great 3d section.
There is little point in showing a splash or title screen with little info if the best bit is a click away :D

[Garma]

I agree about the scrollbar. A solution is to only let it scroll when people hover the left/right part of the bar, not the whole bar.

Anyway, if you leave it out there isn't much left you couldn't do in html imho..

don't want to be too critical, but try to use flash in the way it is ment. Don't overdo it, but little animating things could improve it. I also agree about the buttons and the grayscale..

that UT level rocks btw! And so does the character

[NeoNautica]

Jacobt: Page opens with the 3D section now. Good idea... Thanks :D

Garma: I prefer to make sites in flash first since its easier to move stuff around, then translate it into HTML. Are the main nav buttons still too big?

[jacobt]

Nah, the buttons are fine now. Flash's tendancy to antialias fonts means you'll probably want to keep 'em that size without going too blurry.

If you want them smaller though, it is possible to use a font like verdana at a small point size and make the text boxes dynamic text. Flash won't blur the edges then... just a tip :D

You've inspired me to make some ut2k3 mods :D

[Annuostivix]

good old flash! I agree with what someone said about over using flash. Flash strikes me as a handy toold to make small files with potentially high detail and some cool interaction if it's used properly. otherwise, stuff becomes this big computer clogging skippy mess of sadness. but your website seems pretty uber, I don't know. The html and flash choice thing is suh a good idea, heh. You will get twice as many full views of your website. But most importantly, just keep your work in the open, unless you are also promoting yourelf as a web designers. i didnt notice that you were, though. All in all I think you just have to keep your work right in front of the viewer.

[joe_morgan]

I didn't think your buttons were too big. But then again I run high resolutions on my monitors (1280x1024 on primary, and 1024x768 on secondary), so that might have some impact. And I see you already fixed the bottom scroll issue.:thumbsup:
I thought the design was logical and clean. I don't think the grayscale design is a negative thing, as it draws more attention to what you're truly trying to promote (your level designs). If you are looking for a job in web-design that would be a different critique I think. I think the level designs look fit. It would be nice to get an aerial view perhaps of the overall layout with the roofs open. I absolutely loved the Asian Dining Room.:eek: I would crap myself if you created a whole Asian village of this caliber for UT (where you could shoot down/through the paper walls, and had added custom weapons - katana, shruiken gun, and grappling-hook launcher -)
I've wanted to create a level and character for UT for some time now. I'm running UT2004 now. Do you know of any links to tutorials that explain how to import/export 3d models from Maya into/out of UT2004? And what tutorials will you be tackling in the tutorials section?

[Visioneer]

I enjoyed looking at your site, lots of interesting content. And your maps look AWESOME!

[Dieblein]

I agree on the huge buttons, you should focus on a small but powerfull interface that is simple but clean as well. As to your page, what annoyed me alot that I had to load each image, you could add some kind of preload that you dont have to wait 3 secs for each picture to load up

[morphine]

^^^^
I was just about to say that.
"The user needs feedback all the time."
If he alters something (like clicking on an icon, for example), he's gotta know what changes.
Adding a preloader would help a lot.
But you could think on that phrase for everything on your site.

[Frankyc]

I like the map with the waterfall in, and I think your cars look cool, but maybe they could use some more detail in the textures, like maybe on the alloy wheels. I really like ur last sketch of the girl.

[EVIL]

having people needing flash 6 seriously minimalized your target audience, there are still millions of people who dont use flash and dont have a desktop resolution of 1024 x 768

As a portfolio site.. you HAVE to keep that in mind. You MUST! design your website for 800 x 600 resolution. and having the viewer needing flash is another fatal thing.


anyway, taken from "thecounter.com"
1024x768 http://www.thecounter.com/img/bgraph_str.gif 43290804 (51%)
800x600 http://www.thecounter.com/img/bgraph_str.gif 27493296 (33%)
1280x1024 http://www.thecounter.com/img/bgraph_str.gif 6875842 (8%)
1152x864 http://www.thecounter.com/img/bgraph_str.gif 2607098 (3%)
Unknown http://www.thecounter.com/img/bgraph_str.gif 1610968 (1%)
640x480 774570 (0%)
1600x1200 637958 (0%)
http://webmonkey.wired.com/webmonkey/99/41/index3a.html
http://webmonkey.wired.com/webmonkey/99/41/index3a_page2.html?tw=design

[NeoNautica]

This was brought out of the post graveyard... The last post before yesterday was made over a year ago. lol

The images are externally loaded, hence the delay. This was done so the sections of the site load fast. (first it loads the UI, then the section the user is in, then the image being displayed in that section).

Most artists run their somputer at 1024x768 or higher... If a company can't run computers at that res or higher I don't want to work there. :) ... but you never know about the HR departments. heh.

The flash point is valid... I can turn it into a html site by exporting it differently. I think windows XP comes with flash? Not 100% about that though.

As for the Tutorials Section I have 3 (out of 4) parts to a car tutorial. It goes over modeling it and import it into unreal so you can drive it. Its missing the coding section though. I have a tutorial for getting models into unreal from max somewhere...

[Frankyc]

It would be really cool if you could post that tutorial somewhere. I'm about to start learning Unreal level editor.

[CGTalk Moderation]

This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.