What should a Tech Art portfolio contain?

Professional
1

Hi! I’m new to the site, so sorry if this question has come up and been answered before.

I’m coming out of university, and have been involved in 4 small productions over the past couple years in a role that seems very much like a Tech Artist’s (coding tools, crafting shaders, setting up character and object physics, reviewing tech and training artists in it’s use, and generally being go-to guy for any pipeline or software questions). I found I have a passion for cool tech and creating tools and shaders and this is what I want to do as a career. Now as I’m about to jump into the job market, I’m wondering what would be the best way to present myself and my work in a portfolio. Specific questions I’m stuggling with would be:

Is it best to shoot for a specialized position (i.e: shader artist) or for a more general one?
Is it better to show a reel with my work applied to assets, or a document explaining my workflow and showing tool / shader / problem-solution in more detail?
Is there a point in showing standard shaders or should I just dive in and show the more complex/esoteric/case-specific ones?
Will anyone traverse a real-time reel (such as in unity web player) or should I just make a video?

Any and all tips would be really awesome!

Thanks for your time!

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x2. Its hard to know what to put on and to leave out and to get crits. Heres my site for a look, have a modular autorigger, easy PSD, rsl shaders and realtime unity stuff coming soon. www.aleksdigital.me

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[QUOTE=TheBeardedCube;22524]
Will anyone traverse a real-time reel (such as in unity web player) or should I just make a video?
[/QUOTE]

No, especially if they need a plugin they don’t have. I made this mistake once. Even if you’re shooting for a unity-specific position, make a video with an option to view it in webplayer. Remember that a lot of times reels go though an HR wall of fire before making it to the technical guys, so it has to be easy to understand why the work shown is impressive and applicable.

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[QUOTE=TheBeardedCube;22524]Is it best to shoot for a specialized position (i.e: shader artist) or for a more general one?[/QUOTE]

This really depends on the role you think you are suited for. Just remember - the more specialist you are, the harder it might be to find a position. If you are jumping in to the job market for the first time, I’d say show off more generalist skills, as a lot of TA roles can cover a great variety of things. Best thing for this is to look at some job ads of places you think you might apply (and remember that a lot of smaller/mobile studios need TAs too) and compare your skills to those in the ads. However, if you’re freaking MINDBLOWING at shaders or its the one thing you’d love to do - then go this way. Just remember it might be hard to prove how awesome and specialist you are as well as get a company who is in need of a tech-artist with no industry experience and one very specialist skill.

[QUOTE=TheBeardedCube;22524]Is it better to show a reel with my work applied to assets, or a document explaining my workflow and showing tool / shader / problem-solution in more detail?[/QUOTE]

Show not tell. People don’t want to read through documentation when reviewing CVs, but it is great to have both. A flashy presentation will catch someone’s eye and you can prove your concepts or tell them the nitty/gritty detail of your skills with a breakdown sheet or some documentation. But really, it’s catching their eye that matters.

[QUOTE=TheBeardedCube;22524]Is there a point in showing standard shaders or should I just dive in and show the more complex/esoteric/case-specific ones?[/QUOTE]

See above. People want to know you can do the basics, especially at entry level. But if you can wow them - you totally should!

[QUOTE=TheBeardedCube;22524]Will anyone traverse a real-time reel (such as in unity web player) or should I just make a video?[/QUOTE]

To back up what’s been said. Don’t take that chance. If your reel IS a unity web app - then have it there for those who are curious. But ALWAYS make it appeal to the lowest common denominator. Never give anyone an excuse to not watch your reel.

I think I should add that I’m no expert in this, but this is the information I’ve gleamed from being a relatively recent graduate and also being thrown back into the job market again. Hope this helps.

EDIT: Also, use the search function to look for this stuff too! A lot of advice has already been given on this website about portfolios/reels so I’d look there too. It might not have answered your exact questions above but there is a total treasure trove of knowledge in the archives of this forum! :slight_smile: