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        <h1><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b><i><a href="../../index.html">loonygames</a><br>
          <font size="1">a <a href="http://www.bluesnews.com">blue's news</a> 
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<p>&nbsp;</p>Vol. 
                2, Issue 10<br>
                February 3, 2000</b>
              &nbsp;
               
                <b><i>Painting 
                  on Polygons:</i></b></p>

                <b><i> 
                  Q&amp;A</i></b></p>
                by 
                  Rick &quot;Flatness&quot; 
                  Grossenbacher</p>
              
              

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               I&#146;ve 
                been backlogged with quite a few questions so I thought I&#146;d 
                devote this entire week&#146;s column to just that. I&#146;m not 
                going to have the time to get any critiques in, so I&#146;ll do 
                those next week. So, let&#146;s get right at those questions.</p>
              </p>
              <b>QUESTION 
                by Phil E (evangelion@aol.com) 
                about drawing tablets:</b></p>
              </p>
              I was 
                wondering what computer drawing pad do you use for making textures 
                such in Photoshop? Is there a good brand to buy?</p>
              </p>
              <b>ANSWER:</b></p>
              </p>
              <i>I myself 
                never got much into using a drawing tablet (although I had one 
                sitting on my desk when I was working at Ion Storm), but many 
                artists do like them and swear by them. I have always thought 
                the ones by Wacom were quite nice. The bad news is that if you 
                want to get a nice one like the ones we used at Ion (and the kind 
                I see many other artists using at other companies), the Intuos 
                6x8 Graphics Tablet with Pen, for instance, will set you back 
                a couple of bucks. That baby costs over $300. CompUSA&#146;s latest 
                price was $329.00, in fact. Ouch. So, if that is out of your price 
                range you may want to look around and see if you can find something 
                cheaper or simply try to find some reviews written up somewhere 
                on the Internet that give ratings of drawing tablets.</i></p>
              <b><i>Editor's 
                Note: </i></b><i>I've 
                used a comparitively teeny 4x5 Wacom tablet for years now, and 
                while the larger ones are certainly nicer, I still don't think 
                they're necessarily worth the money. It takes some getting used 
                to, but the smaller tablets (which are at least half the price 
                - you can easily find one for under $150) work just as well, especially 
                if you're just getting into digital art.</i></p>
              </p>
              </p>
              <b>QUESTION 
                by Scoll (scoll@hyperjump.de) 
                about 3-D Studio MAX: </b></p>
              </p>
              What kind 
                of viewmode do you use for editing?</p>
              </p>
              <b>ANSWER:</b></p>
              </p>
              <i>Generally 
                I am switching my viewports constantly (between Top, Front, Left, 
                Perspective/Camera). I have a camera set up in almost every scene 
                that I do, but I don&#146;t necessarily use it all the time. As 
                for inside the viewport -- I usually have it set to Smooth + Highlights 
                and also I quite often have edged faces checked. Sometimes I go 
                to wireframe, but not very often (it really depends on what I&#146;m 
                creating). Also, I quite often click the Min/Max Toggle button 
                to extend the current viewport to large view (it&#146;s the little 
                button at the bottom right corner of the screen).</i></p>
              </p>
              <p></p>
              </p><br>
              
              <b>QUESTION 
                by Billynose (billynose@billynose.f9.co.uk) 
                about getting into the industry:</b></p>
              </p>
              I&#146;m 
                currently working on a show-reel of my work, but I was wondering 
                what type of work impresses potential employers? Should I be doing 
                Low poly meshes...and if so how many faces...Should I include 
                a collection of texture tiles? Or would actual full scenes be 
                more worth while?</p>
              </p>
              <b>ANSWER:</b></p>
              </p>
              <i>This 
                is a tough question to answer, actually because it depends on 
                what kind of job you are going for. If you are going for a 3-D 
                modeling position you will definitely want to include some low-poly 
                work. Since technology is advancing all the time, the number of 
                polys in a mesh that a game can handle is growing too. So, one 
                way you might want to approach it is by doing a model with a high 
                poly count, medium poly count and low poly count. This will show 
                that you are versatile in all areas. As far at the actually number 
                for a low poly count, you might want to keep it somewhere around 
                300-800 polys. Again, this really depends on what the model is 
                that you are making. If you are making a model of a car, then 
                it is significantly less than if you are making a boss character 
                or something complex.</i></p>
              </p>
              <i>If 
                you are just going for a texture artist position, then low-poly 
                modeling might not be the skill they are looking for (although 
                if you are good at it, I wouldn&#146;t hesitate to show an example 
                or two in your portfolio). A collection of textures is always 
                good -- that&#146;s what I did for my portfolio. But I also included 
                3-D rendered scenes with my textures on them too.</i></p>
              </p>
              </p>
              </p>
              
              <b>QUESTION 
                by Angus &quot;froofy&quot; McCann (macnel@primus.com.au) 
                about color art:</b></p>
              </p>
              For color 
                art in games, what medium is usually used? Is it painting, digital 
                tablet, or pencil sketch and color added after it is scanned? 
                The reason I ask is that I have little experience with color.</p>
              </p>
              <b>ANSWER:</b></p>
              </p>
              <i>Really 
                all kinds of mediums are used for color art in games. All of the 
                above that you mentioned. I&#146;ve seen people scan in acrylic 
                paintings and use them for backgrounds in games. Usually though, 
                almost every piece of art that is scanned in needs some level 
                of clean up in Photoshop. For things like textures, the majority 
                of it comes from working in Photoshop or Painter using the plain 
                old mouse or drawing (digital) tablet. If it is concept art, then 
                a lot of the time people do pencil drawings which are scanned 
                in and color is added over top in Photoshop. They don&#146;t necessarily 
                add the color straight over the pencil lines but many times use 
                the pencil lines as a separate layer that they can see at the 
                bottom as a guide. It&#146;s really up the artist&#146;s own style, 
                however.</i></p>
              </p>
              <i>By 
                the way, Angus, I will be getting to your critique you sent in 
                on the next issue of Painting on Polygons. That also goes for 
                Orlin too. Orlin, I apologize that it has been so long since you 
                first submitted and I haven&#146;t posted it yet.</i></p>
              </p>
              <i>I want 
                to say thank you to everyone who sent in questions. It&#146;s 
                nice to know that my advice has been helpful. Thanks.</i></p>
              
              <i>- 
                Rick &quot;Flatness&quot; Grossenbacher works on Gameboy Color 
                games for Vicarious Visions.</i></p>
              <br><p>&nbsp;</p> 
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<p><i><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-2">Credits: Print CGI is 
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