thanks mayan
The Game Art Degree has : games animation, drawing, character animation, intermediate and advanced 3D modelling, texturing and lighting. and things are modelled with 3D Max, I kinda like it, but what I fear is that I discover a better course after I start this course but I’ll dig some more info
however, do you get the games you work on free from EA? 
j/k… but do you?
cheers
good to hear u got varied and fun hobbies, i hope u get the
time for all that … about the sci-fi related stuff , i got another question:
how did you like the Fallout series ?
hi mayan, great work btw, its nice how you are able to do concept as well, its one thing character modelers/artists dont touch much of in production, usually.
I also work for ea’s art department (new employee)
a few questions came to mind regarding low and high poly modeling:
1-do you ever model hipoly? and if so does it help you to understand modeling and form alot better than if you were to just stick to lowpoly? ive heard that its more valuable for someone in production to be able to recreate a model at any level of detail or downres if they have to, so create say 1 film quality model and represent it decently for a game engine.
2-Since everything is moving to highrer resolution meshes and much more hyper realistic looking characters . did you ever have any difficulty adapting your skillset to a different workflow? for example now we are expected to use more zbrush…
i myself do mostly highpoly work so modeling in lowpoly there are things to keep in mind that i didnt really think about before like you said keeping your lines (edgeloops) evenly spaced.
AndreKling:
I try to look at the forums as much as possible. So do alot of people I work with. It’s inspiring to see what other people are creating. It’s also interensting to see how people solve things.
It’s not really a daily thing. It really depends on the circumstances. On avereage I’d say about 1 to 2 weeks. That includes modeling, UV’s, texturing, and binding.
Where ever that place is sign me up.
That would be a shame. Let’s hope not.
The best thing to do would be to post some work in this forum.
orion119net:
I’m responsible for every part of the pipeline, including texturing. I think it’s extremely paramont to have those skills in games. Every part of the pipeline effects another in some way. If you have a good idea of how you are going to texture something it can effect how you model it or lay out the UV’s. The same goes for binding. This ultimately saves a lot of time in the long run.
I’m not feeling so hot right know. I’ll knock out some more tommorow.
Thanks
hello
i’m a chinese student,i love you work very much,but i have no professional training chance in this field, i study by myself.
i am very wonder what excerise you do when you in school?
thanks very much.
forgive my poor english.
Hi Mayan,
Love your work ! … I’m interested in purchasing your DVDs but wanted to know how much do you think i would be able to follow them in recreating the same models in Max. I’ve been using max for a year and a bit now but afraid how difficult it would be to follow a person doing things in Maya, having no experience in the package myself.
Thanks
Hi Mayan-
I definitely plan on checking out your Gnomon DVDs, sounds like you really put a lot of hard work into them-
I’m not sure if you will go over this in the DVDs but have you began using displacement and normal mapping in games using Zbrush? What are good resources you have found in learning this new way of creating detail and implementing it into animation and games? What do you think of the Unreal3 engine and the new LoD coming up??
Thanks for taking to time during your break to answer questions!
Sorry about the limited responses last night. I think I got food poisoning yesterday. Knocked me out until this afternoon. Bad stuff.
dinodog_Jr:
I don’t really have any input into the games we make, but yeah, I do have ideas of things I’d like to make. As far as games being more of a crossover between games and film I’m not a big fan. I play games to play games, not watch them. The whole point of playing games to me is to feel apart of the world your playing in. Whenever there are cut scenes or cinematics you’re taken out of the game. Don’t get me wrong they definately have there place as long as they add to the experience without totally leaving you out of the mix. I just finished God of War and I think they pulled this off well. Everyone likes the reward of a nice cinematic after finishing a long level. There is definately a balance. I’m a fan of “shoot em’ games” with linear game play and there is definately a large market for people like me that don’t have a lot of time to play games. The challenge is to make these games engaging and fun to play.
Thanks. I’m a big fan of the sound design as well. One of the funnest parts of the project was being able to fire a lot of the weapons myself.
2byts:
Wow, heavy question. I really didn’t think 30 was old. Maybe because it’s coming up for me. Most of the people I work with are around the same age. Alot have families and such. Those I work with have always been supportive and understanding when I’ve needed to take time off for my family. I think the big issue industry wide is the balance between work time and family time. This is definately not a 9-5 industry. There has to be some changes or not only will we lose the experienced artist but we will also turn away new talent.
I hope not. But I also don’t think the new guy should be undercompensated either. Compensation should match the artist talent and contribution.
ynvamsi:
I don’t think it’s absolutely necessary but it doesn’t hurt. What is important is a strong understanding of the basics. Anatomy, form, composition, value, etc. There are plenty of artist that can’t draw but produce amazing work in other meidums.
NoSeRider:
Absoletely. Modeling is also a benefit to my drawing as well. Being able to see and solve things in 3D helps me understand things better in 2D.
See my response to ynvamsi above. I don’t think it’s a waste of time at all. It will make you a stronger 3D artist though. The thing to be carefull of is getting distracted. For example if you want to be a character modeler study more life drawing and painting rather than editorial illustration.
There’s still some great questions from you all that I want to get to so I will continue to respond to everyone that has posted this week.
Hi Mayan - I’m really looking forward to your low poly Gnomon titles. I see they’ve slipped to May 16th - is that a fabrication hick-up?
Vormav:
I think there is a breaking point of repitition for any franchise game. It’s no easy task to keep things fresh. I willl be working on some non MOH stuff at EA soon. Unfortunately that’s all I can say. As the far as the character art is concerned we have definately made some huge leaps in the quality of the characters with each new title. It may not seem apparent to the consumer but underneath any repitition the game may have I’m proud of the work I’ve done so far. I will be posting some of it soon both here and on my website once the game is released so keep an out for it.
Dealing with the restrictions of the hardware while trying to create everything the character needs is the biggest challenge. Yes, you are right about needing to be much more deliberate in how you arrange your topology. I also feel that low poly modeling is an important step in creating high poly models. The foundation that you build upon should be the most important step. If you can create clean topology at the lower level the details should fall into place. This is something I see overlooked alot in newer artists that go straight into high poly modeling. We’re experimenting with Zbrush as part of the pipeline now but it is still necessary to generate a clean low poly model to apply your maps to. The good thing is is that the poly counts for the low poly will be higher in next gen.
I still love games. I wouldn’t consider myself as a hardcore gamer but I do try to play as much as time permits. I aslo enjoy having a life outside of creating art and work. I have a physical list of games I want to play before there completely outdated. There was a lot of good stuff that came out this year both mainstream and independent.
young_927:
It really depends on the complexity of the character. A safe average would be 1-2 weeks, although I’ve seen complete characters done in 3 days!
MWarsame:
Sounds cool. Remember to focus on the traditional skills as well. the grass is always going to be greener on the other side. Make the most out of wherever you decide to go.
Yes, a certain amount of free games is one of the perks. We also have a store on site where we get a discount.
Squibbit:
I never played them. A friend at work makes reference to them quite often. Maybe one day I’ll get a chance.
Heber:
I’m geting more into high poly recently. I still think it is important to have a solid low poly model to generate the high poly from. I find it is easier to understand form when you are not distracted by the details. One of the things you learn in figure drawing is to block in the major shapes and the gesture first. When you can do this efficiently the rest should fall into place. I just read recently in one of the posts that refers to Stahlberg’s female model before the smooth is only 3500 polys. if you have seen any of his low res stuff it holds up on it’s own.
I replied to similar questions about this and I really feel it’s just another tool. Adapting is a lot less scary then it sounds.
Absolutely amazing work by the way. What’s with you VFS guys being so good? I have to put up with another one at work every day.
lode:
I was in the illustration program at Art Center. I spent most of my time drawing and painting.
3dsmaxfreak:
Thanks!
All the tools I use in maya have a similar counterpart in Max. A lot of the focus in the video is on technique and theory relevant to games. I think just seeing someones workflow is valuable no matter what program you use. I try to cover as many different elements as possible so you can see how different techniques can be applied.
Bijarts:
I don’t cover Zbrush in these. There are definately some other great DVD’s through www.thegnomonworkshop.com that you might find helpfull on Zbrush.
I think the stuff there doing with the Unreal engine is amazing. It is really a promising direction for games.
dotTom:
I’m not sure why, sorry.
Must rest now.
I want to thank every one that posted this week. You all asked some excellent questions and I hope I was able to adress them well enough. This has been a great experience.
See you around the forums.
thanks for your input on this mayan, speaking of adapting im now learning maya (having been a xsi user for so long).
glad you like my work, i work in the vancouver studio btw so no putting up with me hehe, cheers
thank you Mayan!
get some clean food next time…take care man!
Wish to see Hyper-realistic game experience from EA company!
Hi everyone,
Last chance to ask your questions before we close this Q&A session!
Best,
Leonard
Hello again, Mayan!
I’ve done some pretty basic actionscripting, but I’m thinking of getting more into programming (with C++). Do you think programming is a good perk to have if you’re an artist, or is it completely pointless?:shrug:
Thanks again for the Q&A, it has been very informative!
Hi Mayan ,
Thanks for the reply ! . Do you think their will be a need for games animators in the near future, with so many studios using motion capture ?
Apart from learning a 3d program do you think its a good idea to work with mod tools out their ?
Do you ever see yourself doing a texturing dvd in the near future ?
Hello, Mayan!
Truth to be, my first thought when I saw this topic was "OH NO, not MoH again >>;;" My brother plays it ALL the time, haha. He’s a huge fan ^^;;
I have no questions for you, just to tell you that I love your work. It’s splendid
Keep on rockin’ 
~ Donna
DrFx:
I personally don’t know any artists that do both. It seems like a pretty extreme crossover to me. If art is what you want to do I would stick with that.
3dsmaxfreak:
I hope so. I don’t do any animation myself but I know how much time and effort that goes into it. I feel there is a subtlety with key frame animation that you can’t get with mocap. Mocap still feels quirky and unnatural to me. I know this probably doesn’t make sense. Theoretically it should be the other way around. I think I just have a lot of respect for traditional animation and puppeteering that I would hate to see it dissapear.
Any time you can familiarize yourself with a production tool is helpfull.
I hope to continue the series with one, yes.
D-NA:
Don’t worry the series isn’t ending any time soon.
Thanks for the praise!
I think that might be it? Thanks again everybody for posting some great questions!
Thanks for taking the time for the Q&A, Mayan. I’ll be keeping an eye out for your work in the galleries.