New Site Layout

www.3dpowers.net

I am pretty much going to be posting there from now on, and less on my blog. I just never get around to the blogspot anymore. So if you ever care to read about my rants or updates, head on over to the new site.

Halo Wars

Halo Wars released on March 3, 2009 for the XBOX 360 console. It's selling exceptionally well, hitting the Platinum status after only 2 weeks! Pretty exciting stuff.

I'm also in the process of making a new site layout over at www.3dpowers.net - It'll also have some new content on it too when it gets online, so stay tuned.

Let the craziness begin!

So it's been a while since I posted, and a lot has gone on.

I started over at id in August, and am loving every minute of it. I'm working with awesome tech, awesome people, and on an awesome game! It's going very well over there.

Two games I've worked have released now. Brother's in Arms: Hell's Highway, and Saint's Row 2 (which comes out tomorrow, 10/14).

BIA:HH was not a project I was "on", but while I was working on Borderlands, they asked me to help out with one of the weapons, the BAR. The modeling was done by someone else, but I was able to do some texturing for it, which I'm sure even got touched by someone else at some point, but was some work none the less :)

Saint's Row 2 - Again, was not technically on the project, but while SR2 was getting ramped up, I had some down time while on Red Faction Guerilla, and was asked to concept the new set of weapons for the game. I believe it was 5 or 6, I'll see if I can post them later. I had about 2 weeks or so on SR2, and I finished the concepts in a week, so I was able to model and texture a handful of them as well. In addition to that, a handful of the props I worked on from the first game snuck into SR2 as well. So while I never directly worked on the project, a decent amount of my work should be in there.

The coolest part of all is that tonight I was watching the Browns destroy the Giants (which is awesome, even though I don't care for the Browns)...on Monday Night Football....On ESPN, national TV...All the sudden I see a city skyline in a commercial. SR2... Before I know it, there's a camera pan with a truck load of weapons popping up onto screen. I see a bunch of my weapons on TV. Then it hits me...My artwork was on National TV, being watched by millions of millions of people. That's pretty effin cool in my book.

So chalk up two my titles under my belt. Then in early 2009 Halo Wars will be releasing on the 360. I had about a year in on that project at Ensemble Studios. I was a contractor for the studio until I left for id. At the time of my departure I had no idea about the studios closure that would come to light only weeks after I left. I still think that is one of the dumbest decisions MS has ever made (and that includes Windows Vista).

Also in 2009 expect Red Faction Guerilla, and Borderlands (I believe) to ship. I honestly don't know if any of my work in Borderlands will still be in by the time it ships, but I imagine some of it will be.

So a bunch of stuff I've worked on will finally be releasing over the next little bit. It's cool to finally have the ability to say more than one title I've shipped since I've been in the industry. By my fourth year in the industry (which will be in February) I'll have shipped (or nearly shipped) four games. Pretty cool stuff, and an exciting time for me.

As for recent art work. I've been really enjoying what I do at id everyday, so the need and desire to come home and do personal work hasn't been with me a lot, but with all the new stuff I am learning, I am going to be tackling it again here soon so I can get a few more personal game pieces out of the way, then in 2009, I'll be trying and starting up a small short film (emphasis on the short)

Good times ahead...

Environment Artist with id software!

It's been a while, so I thought this would be a good excuse to post. I recently accepted a position with id software as an environment artist!

I am very thrilled to be starting there next month (still ironing out the dates). I think I will learn a tremendous amount from the extremely talented staff they have there. I know that I'll definitely have to bust my hump to keep up with those guys, but it's going to be all worth it!

It was a difficult decision to leave Ensemble. That has been a great company to work for. Even though I was only a contractor, they treated me like one of their own, and it's been a genuinely positive and amazing experience. I have made so many good friends there! Fortunately, id is not far from where I work now, so I'll be staying in the area, and able to still have some drinks with my friends there, and hang out.

Kati (the wife) is very excited as well. She's certainly settling down in this area, and I am too. This was a pretty unexpected turn of events, but I know it's going to be a very positive one.

I still have a lot of goals to hit as an artist this year (personal projects I plan to do at home). And I am planning on even doing a short film next year (like 30-60 seconds). I think it will be a lot of fun, but a lot of hard work for sure.

I'll be sure to let everyone know how things are going at my new gig soon! :)

Josh

Saint's Row 2 concepts/models! :)

I was just browsing on www.shacknews.com this morning, and saw some weapon screenshots from SR2 on there. While browsing through, I found two that I concepted and modeled/textured while I was still with Volition. Was pretty cool to see that surface after so long.

Obviously I didn't do the character (not sure who is responsible for that). But yeah, thought that would be something fun to post.

Also, as I mentioned in the previous post, I did get my website up, some stuff on there that aren't on this site, so check it out www.3dpowers.net

Website back up

After being down for a very long time, I finally got my website back up. Yeah I know, I'm not going to win web designer of the year by any means, but I feel it gets the job done. So go check out http://www.3dpowers.net/ when you get the chance. I also added a new asset there that I haven't posted here ;)

Spas 12 texture

Went ahead and textured the spas 12 last Saturday morning and afternoon. Didn't have much time to spend on it though. Here it is. The right image is two screen grabs from within Unreal 3.

Some new stuff...

So I haven't had too much time lately, with holidays, family, and crunch, but I'm back on top of things, and am wanting to finally get my new site up, but with my new site, I want mostly new content, so I am beginning to work on that.

So bare with me while I get this rolling. Will post here wehn I have the new site up (gonna be a couple of weeks). In the mean time, here are a few shots of textured props from the lab (which is going slow, but will finish)

Some Props

I've been continuing to work on the lab scene. Slowly but surely it's moving along. Here's a couple images of some of the high poly props I've been doing.

They are not uber detailed (and not supposed to be). Most of them are in the background, and not close to the camera. So I am doing mostly silhouette and bigger detail on the high poly models, then doing the rest in photoshop/crazybump. I'm trying to get this scene done asap because there are other things I want to move on to, but want to finish this first. Anyway, here they are. Nothing spectacular, but something to look at as I update the scene. Hopefully will have an actual scene update in the next week or so.

Scientist Lab (Art Challenge)

I am currently working on an art challenge that's going on over at Manning's forum ( www.staticcurve.com/forum ). I finished out the rough model last night, so I thought I would post how it's coming along. Will also update the blog with WIPs hopefully once a week or so.

The web design has slowed down a lot. I have a base tempelate up, but still need to iron out a lot of little things. I am hoping to get that up over Christmas break and have it full steam ahead. I also hope that I can finish the lab scene during that time as well. Going to be a busy Christmas break :)