artists

That's because good 3D models take a lot of time to make, from the beginning concept art, to the actual modeling, and then the texturing.
A lot of 3D artists don't want to give so much of their time to something that they don't get paid for.

EDIT: shouldn't this be moved to the visual arts forum?

Edited by - wolfmanyoda on December 3, 2001 9:47:56 AM

I think the point being made is that there are many games available for free download, but little art. I don''t think it can be said that games are easy to make and take little time.

Jason Mickela
ICQ : 873518
E-Mail: jmickela@sbcglobal.net
-Making "alot" a real word one paragraph at a time.-


-Can''t sleep, clown''ll eat me, can''t sleep, clown''ll eat me.

Simple.
Artists may not want to make 3D models.

~ There''s no substitute for failure ~

I used to think that modelling was the easy part..when I first started making games, I had all kinds of problems finding content to play with..I wrote a modeller in dos, thinking that if I had some easy way of creating levels I would be rolling in artwork..after all, it''s the programming that''s the hard part right?..

Wrong..I learned that it is an incredible pain in the ass to make stuff that looks good, and I just don''t have the time to spend nitpicking over all the details..

At one time very early in my career I actually thought that the guys at id all took turns at making levels for quake, like each one of them got to contribute a level after they completed the core technology..when I got my first professional job writing games, I was shocked to learn that there are guys on staff who do nothing all day but make 3d models and obsess over details..we call them artists

It was sort of a letdown at first, because the whole reason I got into this was because I wanted to make cool environments, but I thought I had to write the software/engine first..I thought that once you had that you could create anything, but now I know that creating the artwork is just as time-consuming and difficult as writing the actual engine, and I know where my talents lie..

btw finding free good artwork is just as hard as finding good free code..sure, there are hundreds of free apps out there, but the majority of them suck just as much as the tons of free crappy artwork..I think it''s just more easily apparent with artwork though..


"Like all good things, it starts with a monkey.."

Well, I consider my code to be pretty good, and I publish all my stuff, in fact for free, even without any restrictions. Yesterday I spent all day looking for a tree. I went through web rings, "+3d +models +plants" searches, and so on. I found like three or four trees all of which had too many polygons. Isn''t a tree such a simple object I should be able to find it? At least I should be able to find hundrends of crappy trees, right?

Is it really the possibility that there are very few artists out there? Do they not like working in 3D? Or can''t work in 3D?

Whoa....AP, take it easy, man

In games, it''s like this:
Coders need artists.......artists need coders

If you don''t like coders, or their *apparent* attitude towards artists, maybe you should re-think getting into the gaming field.

I''m a traditional aritst, and I''ve been teaching myself 3D modeling and animation. I don''t have free models out there because I don''t think I am that skilled yet, but when I get good enough I''d love to donate some models to a game, it would be cool to see something I made used in a game.

Some free trees and plants
Tutorial on how to model a tree

Check 3d artists'' forums...
As for finding lots of free models I think you''re out of luck.

I know this place is full of people asking for artists to join their team and work on their complete game from start to finish. I agree this is ridiculous, just like I wouldn''t write a custom program for somebody for free.

What I''m asking is for artists to post some random objects on their site so there is a database of objects on the net, so anyone wishing to use a tree in their project can go on find it. If you want your name in the game, fine, specify that, "if you use this model in your game, put my name in the credits"

Again, I''m not asking for anyone to "join my team", like so many people do on this board. Believe me, I get upset over that just as much as the artists themselves.

But it''s also kinda rude that I can''t find a tree model on the net.

Just to show you that I actually looked for a tree model.. I found that page, Karl.. The lowest polygon count tree in there was like 2000 polygons.

In my experience, most artists have no training in 3-d art because it''s not taught in elementary schools and high schools the way the basics of other types of art are. Of those artists who do know something about 3-d art, many dislike it because there''s no physical/sensory feedback like the slippery/stickyness of clay, or the scent of all the various kinds of art materials (one of the reasons I love sculpting with beeswax)). Many artists who do succeed in making a good 3-d model find that they have had to endure headaches and eyestrain from staring at the monitor. Making art should be fun, playful, and intuitive, not a pain in the ass the way making 3-d art is. I made a 30 second animated movie once, (including a tree, since we''re discussing them) and it''d take a rather large sum of money to convince me to do something that annoying again.

Thanks for your offer to design a tree, my e-mail is bpj@po.cwru.edu, e-mail me if you want or just send an url to your site.