(Above Image - Shambhala from Uncharted 2)
Meet Dave Baldwin, our second guest artist for February. Dave’s an Environment Artist at Naughty Dog, where he’s worked on environments for UnCharted 2, 3 and The Last of Us. He’s also our CGWorkshops instructor - he teaches the 8 week, online Environment Modelling for Games which starts in April.
This week, Dave’s here to talk us through a little of his life and work. You can ask him questions in this thread by replying to this post, or you can log in this Saturday 1st March at 3:30pm PST to our free, live webinar . (Here is a timezone converter if you’re not sure what time that is in your part of the world). You’ll need to register first.
When asked about his role at Naughty Dog, Dave replies, “I’m in charge of modeling levels and props in the game’s environment. I’m also partly responsible for framerate and visual playability of a level. What’s my average day like? Well, there is no real average day! My role changes slightly as a project progresses, from concept to the final burn of a gold master disk. At the start of a project I do a lot of experimental modeling (pushing poly limits etc) I also script small tools I will end up needing to specifically help me once in production.”
(Above image - Uncharted 2, Temple)
Once in full production, Dave’s usually busy trying to flesh out the environments and making changes to them as gameplay design changes, as well as setting up working collisions and other technical aspects of the levels. Towards the end, he says, “I’m mainly concerned with frame rate and bug fixes, as well as adding the last bit of detail to the levels (cow bell) making them feel that much more rich and fun to explore.”
(Above Image - Uncharted 3, Cruise Ship Interior)
We asked Dave how he got his break, and what got him into environments. “I started modeling environments at my first job while working for Sigil Games Online on the game Vanguard Saga of Heroes,” he explains. “I have always had a passion for games - as my mother would remind me by saying if I spent as much time on my school work as I did playing games I’d have straight A’s! But starting out off after college I was looking for any 3D art job in both film and games. I was able to get my foot in the door with a reference and recommendation from a college friend (Nathan Brock) who had been hired on as a character artist.”
(Above Image - Uncharted 3, Temple Interior)
It’s always good for aspiring artists to know what advice our featured artists have for those just starting their careers, so we made sure we asked Dave. His response: “General advice I would give to someone just starting in the industry… I think the first and one of the harder lessons I had to learn was to detach your emotions from your art, but use them while making it. This advice stems from the fact that art does not make a game good or bad, just beautiful or ugly, so if it needs to change to make the game fun it needs to change no matter how much you put your heart and soul into a piece.”
Please make Dave feel welcome by asking him any question you like in the thread here - he’ll log in this week several times to answer you. And don’t forget to sign up to the free webinar on Saturday!
