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The future of artistic roles?

  • In my first and previous post in this game dev log entry, I had written that I wanted to do a game which was a collection of simple retro games. Unity released a new major release (2019.3) while I was putting the initial project together, and I…

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Submitted by souri on
Forum

http://www.planetcrap.com/blah.php?action=viewtopic&topic_id=610&limit=…

Planetcrap sometimes run some interesting discussions, and this is definately one. I've always wondered whether one day such technology will eventually become good enough to replace manual creation of 3d objects, and textures, and this one (backed up by giants such as Nintendo, Electronic Arts, and NamCo) seems it's heading towards that goal real quick.
As you're all probably aware, content (models and textures) make up a huge proportion of developement time, and I'm sure many developement companies would be thinking of time and cost saving alternatives such as RealViz.
Who knows, one day modellers and texture artists might not even be required if models are scanned, and textures are procedural (like they are in animated films). It very may well be that artistic roles will be stripped back to the roots of concept design, while new roles are created for cleaning up scanned/digitised work.
The discussion raises a few very good points against these technologies though.. what do you think..? How do you rate your general artistic talent (can you draw to save your own life? [:)]?

Submitted by Daemin on Sat, 26/10/02 - 9:39 AM Permalink

Its something akin to programmers using more libraries, it might take hold, but like what was brought up in the forum there is that this will only work for existing environments, but what about all those 3D platformer games, or those one's such as Half Life, or Quake 2. I don't think you can just REALVis something like what appears in those games.

Its just like using libraries for programming, there's DirectX, some extra audio libraries, maybe a networkign technology such as Gamespy, and numerous other things such as physics systems etc, but in the end they still take time to implement into the engine and get working with the game itself.

My point is that there will always be jobs for animators, modellers, texture artists even (possibly in future just to tune and tweak and create new algorithms for procedual textures etc), programmers, level designers. Heck I'd imagine even more jobs would be created to fill the vaired roles.

For me personally even though I am a programmer by trade, I can still have some decent photoshop skills, and I could do a fair few things in Lightwave, but I'm not that great an artist creatively. Heck probably my best piece of creative art is this: http://members.austarmetro.com.au/~sdgrab/

Submitted by JonathanKerr on Sat, 26/10/02 - 9:59 AM Permalink

quote:Originally posted by Souri

http://www.planetcrap.com/blah.php?action=viewtopic&topic_id=610&limit=…

Planetcrap sometimes run some interesting discussions, and this is definately one. I've always wondered whether one day such technology will eventually become good enough to replace manual creation of 3d objects, and textures, and this one (backed up by giants such as Nintendo, Electronic Arts, and NamCo) seems it's heading towards that goal real quick.
As you're all probably aware, content (models and textures) make up a huge proportion of developement time, and I'm sure many developement companies would sure be thinking of time and cost saving alternatives such as RealViz.
Who knows, one day modellers and texture artists might not even be required if models are scanned, and textures are procedural (like they are in animated films). It very may well be that artistic roles will be stripped back to the roots of concept design, while new roles are created for cleaning up scanned/digitised work.
The discussion raises a few very good points against these technologies though.. what do you think..? How do you rate your general artistic talent (can you draw to save your own life? [:)]?

Interesting.

The games industry is constantly evolving - this tool could make for producing the less important assets and even the important art assets if necessary. Would it mean that we'd start seeing Hollywood effect studios and make up teams? It could also mean that we'd see more expansive worlds because the basic tasks would take up less time - this could still allow for artists to spend time modelling the characters.

Like any technology, it will take manpower to manage, implement and make it work. Perhaps new positions will arise, like that of the Motion Capture operator. It still appears that a bit of work is needed with it.

As mentioned earlier the games industry is evolving. Where did all those 2d artists go? They didn't just disappear, I'm guessing that they learnt new skills and honed some 3d skills.

I think it's an interesting concept - potentially we could be seeing actors in games, much like how Bruce Willis was in Apocalypse. Perhaps we could also see the rise of some old-school Star Wars/Weta Workshop studios to build actual armour and stuff on characters and then have them scanned.

Dunno where I stand with it. As Daemin mentioned, there will always be jobs for artists, it's just that the roles might change.

Submitted by souri on Mon, 28/10/02 - 10:14 AM Permalink

Yeh.. I don't think a job of cleaning up scans and captures is very appealing myself. Shader programming will eventually be in the realm for artists to control, which I guess can be enjoyable to a certain extent. Other new artistic roles could be cinematography/photography, which is something I'd love to learn. Currently all that stuff would be handled by the art director for games, I'm guessing. Anyways, I'm sure there'll always be an outlet like modding which you can do in your spare time to serve your creative needs.. [:)]

Submitted by davidcoen on Mon, 28/10/02 - 10:36 AM Permalink

blah humbug.

sure, and computers are such time saving devices soon none of use are going to have to do any work ever again. This didn't hapen, and in my opinion, it is not going to happen. (speeding up the cpu and not using triangless would be nice, but..)

you find a way to speed up art, and that means you can do more. Else you find methods that take insane amounts of time, (like normal mapping) and the technology has to run to catch up.

and if nothing else, gameplay migh come back to being importaint, and wild artistic creativity can roam in the game design's background. (a 10000 poly screw on a rifle doesn't make a fun game)

DSC

Submitted by Meatex Salami on Tue, 05/11/02 - 2:28 AM Permalink

A thought occurred to me the other night
The same thing happened with painting in the past
everyone was concerned with realism but then when they reached it they decided to move on.
Perhaps the same things is happeneing.
What will happen when we are able to achieve complete realism?
Everone will get bored with realism and artists will move on.
Thats my thought

Bloody hell its a giant harmonica!

Submitted by JonathanKerr on Tue, 05/11/02 - 5:50 AM Permalink

quote:Originally posted by Meatex_Salami

A thought occurred to me the other night
The same thing happened with painting in the past
everyone was concerned with realism but then when they reached it they decided to move on.
Perhaps the same things is happeneing.
What will happen when we are able to achieve complete realism?
Everone will get bored with realism and artists will move on.
Thats my thought

Bloody hell its a giant harmonica!

Exactly. Achieving realism leads to abstraction. That's how the impressionists were born. Photography came along and there was no need for realistic painters anymore.

Submitted by Daemin on Thu, 07/11/02 - 12:09 AM Permalink

Well what Carmack said once on an interview is that the perfect map compile time (This was before quake3 even) is 15 minutes, that allows the artist to go away, grab a coffee and a bite to eat and then come back and its finished. Going on he said that if you were to optimise the map compiler a lot and make it 10 times faster, then the artists would just create levels with 10 times as much detail in them, and the end result would be that the maps still compile in 15 minutes.

I guess the meaning of this is that artists will always be necessary, as there are things that must be done by a human, and if you just improve the tools then the humans will adjust to compensate. So don't you worry all you artists, there will still be room enough for ya's to create all those funky models and levels that you always do.

Posted by souri on
Forum

http://www.planetcrap.com/blah.php?action=viewtopic&topic_id=610&limit=…

Planetcrap sometimes run some interesting discussions, and this is definately one. I've always wondered whether one day such technology will eventually become good enough to replace manual creation of 3d objects, and textures, and this one (backed up by giants such as Nintendo, Electronic Arts, and NamCo) seems it's heading towards that goal real quick.
As you're all probably aware, content (models and textures) make up a huge proportion of developement time, and I'm sure many developement companies would be thinking of time and cost saving alternatives such as RealViz.
Who knows, one day modellers and texture artists might not even be required if models are scanned, and textures are procedural (like they are in animated films). It very may well be that artistic roles will be stripped back to the roots of concept design, while new roles are created for cleaning up scanned/digitised work.
The discussion raises a few very good points against these technologies though.. what do you think..? How do you rate your general artistic talent (can you draw to save your own life? [:)]?


Submitted by Daemin on Sat, 26/10/02 - 9:39 AM Permalink

Its something akin to programmers using more libraries, it might take hold, but like what was brought up in the forum there is that this will only work for existing environments, but what about all those 3D platformer games, or those one's such as Half Life, or Quake 2. I don't think you can just REALVis something like what appears in those games.

Its just like using libraries for programming, there's DirectX, some extra audio libraries, maybe a networkign technology such as Gamespy, and numerous other things such as physics systems etc, but in the end they still take time to implement into the engine and get working with the game itself.

My point is that there will always be jobs for animators, modellers, texture artists even (possibly in future just to tune and tweak and create new algorithms for procedual textures etc), programmers, level designers. Heck I'd imagine even more jobs would be created to fill the vaired roles.

For me personally even though I am a programmer by trade, I can still have some decent photoshop skills, and I could do a fair few things in Lightwave, but I'm not that great an artist creatively. Heck probably my best piece of creative art is this: http://members.austarmetro.com.au/~sdgrab/

Submitted by JonathanKerr on Sat, 26/10/02 - 9:59 AM Permalink

quote:Originally posted by Souri

http://www.planetcrap.com/blah.php?action=viewtopic&topic_id=610&limit=…

Planetcrap sometimes run some interesting discussions, and this is definately one. I've always wondered whether one day such technology will eventually become good enough to replace manual creation of 3d objects, and textures, and this one (backed up by giants such as Nintendo, Electronic Arts, and NamCo) seems it's heading towards that goal real quick.
As you're all probably aware, content (models and textures) make up a huge proportion of developement time, and I'm sure many developement companies would sure be thinking of time and cost saving alternatives such as RealViz.
Who knows, one day modellers and texture artists might not even be required if models are scanned, and textures are procedural (like they are in animated films). It very may well be that artistic roles will be stripped back to the roots of concept design, while new roles are created for cleaning up scanned/digitised work.
The discussion raises a few very good points against these technologies though.. what do you think..? How do you rate your general artistic talent (can you draw to save your own life? [:)]?

Interesting.

The games industry is constantly evolving - this tool could make for producing the less important assets and even the important art assets if necessary. Would it mean that we'd start seeing Hollywood effect studios and make up teams? It could also mean that we'd see more expansive worlds because the basic tasks would take up less time - this could still allow for artists to spend time modelling the characters.

Like any technology, it will take manpower to manage, implement and make it work. Perhaps new positions will arise, like that of the Motion Capture operator. It still appears that a bit of work is needed with it.

As mentioned earlier the games industry is evolving. Where did all those 2d artists go? They didn't just disappear, I'm guessing that they learnt new skills and honed some 3d skills.

I think it's an interesting concept - potentially we could be seeing actors in games, much like how Bruce Willis was in Apocalypse. Perhaps we could also see the rise of some old-school Star Wars/Weta Workshop studios to build actual armour and stuff on characters and then have them scanned.

Dunno where I stand with it. As Daemin mentioned, there will always be jobs for artists, it's just that the roles might change.

Submitted by souri on Mon, 28/10/02 - 10:14 AM Permalink

Yeh.. I don't think a job of cleaning up scans and captures is very appealing myself. Shader programming will eventually be in the realm for artists to control, which I guess can be enjoyable to a certain extent. Other new artistic roles could be cinematography/photography, which is something I'd love to learn. Currently all that stuff would be handled by the art director for games, I'm guessing. Anyways, I'm sure there'll always be an outlet like modding which you can do in your spare time to serve your creative needs.. [:)]

Submitted by davidcoen on Mon, 28/10/02 - 10:36 AM Permalink

blah humbug.

sure, and computers are such time saving devices soon none of use are going to have to do any work ever again. This didn't hapen, and in my opinion, it is not going to happen. (speeding up the cpu and not using triangless would be nice, but..)

you find a way to speed up art, and that means you can do more. Else you find methods that take insane amounts of time, (like normal mapping) and the technology has to run to catch up.

and if nothing else, gameplay migh come back to being importaint, and wild artistic creativity can roam in the game design's background. (a 10000 poly screw on a rifle doesn't make a fun game)

DSC

Submitted by Meatex Salami on Tue, 05/11/02 - 2:28 AM Permalink

A thought occurred to me the other night
The same thing happened with painting in the past
everyone was concerned with realism but then when they reached it they decided to move on.
Perhaps the same things is happeneing.
What will happen when we are able to achieve complete realism?
Everone will get bored with realism and artists will move on.
Thats my thought

Bloody hell its a giant harmonica!

Submitted by JonathanKerr on Tue, 05/11/02 - 5:50 AM Permalink

quote:Originally posted by Meatex_Salami

A thought occurred to me the other night
The same thing happened with painting in the past
everyone was concerned with realism but then when they reached it they decided to move on.
Perhaps the same things is happeneing.
What will happen when we are able to achieve complete realism?
Everone will get bored with realism and artists will move on.
Thats my thought

Bloody hell its a giant harmonica!

Exactly. Achieving realism leads to abstraction. That's how the impressionists were born. Photography came along and there was no need for realistic painters anymore.

Submitted by Daemin on Thu, 07/11/02 - 12:09 AM Permalink

Well what Carmack said once on an interview is that the perfect map compile time (This was before quake3 even) is 15 minutes, that allows the artist to go away, grab a coffee and a bite to eat and then come back and its finished. Going on he said that if you were to optimise the map compiler a lot and make it 10 times faster, then the artists would just create levels with 10 times as much detail in them, and the end result would be that the maps still compile in 15 minutes.

I guess the meaning of this is that artists will always be necessary, as there are things that must be done by a human, and if you just improve the tools then the humans will adjust to compensate. So don't you worry all you artists, there will still be room enough for ya's to create all those funky models and levels that you always do.