Interview with John Hayes
Hello John Hayes, could you tell us a bit about yourself and your current job?
 My background is in sculpting and 2D animation as both were my primary focus in Art College. My first professional project was two hand drawn animated shorts for a small company located in Orange County, CA in 1991-92. Then I got into sculpting anime character garage kits for Newtype Hobbies and Kotobukia of Japan. After sculpting several character models and action figures, I attended a digital multimedia school and learned how to use various graphic software packages. In 1996, I was hired by a small game developer company, H2O entertainment, as a concept artist and character artist. During the development of two Nintendo 64 titles I practiced my 3d digital skills and learned the various techniques for game development. I then got hired at Capcom as a Senior Character Artist where I worked on 2 more Playstation 2 titles, Maximo Ghosts to Glory and Maximo vs The Army of Zin. I was promoted to Character Lead for the PS2 game, Final Fight: Streetwise.
After Capcom, I started work at Sega as Senior Character Artist on Golden Axe, and became Character Art Lead part-way through that project. Our current project is Iron Man II, a licensed tie in to the upcoming 2010 film release.
Please share your experiences, working as a Lead Character Artist in Sega Studios?
During the development of Golden Axe, the production team continued to evolve. My role altered somewhat depending on what stage of development the game was in. At one point I was the only in-house character artist on Golden Axe! At first I helped the Art Director, Matt Butler, to establish a style and quality target for the in-game character assets. Much of my time was also devoted to managing and providing feedback to outsource studios, and as the project drew closer to completion, I built and textured several of the key characters for the game. During our current project, Iron Man II, I have been able to concentrate more on creating some of the character assets, and still provide feedback for some of the outsource assets.
Please tell us which tools you use from your arsenal to create the characters?
I use a mix of several tools, but mostly I rely upon Modo, Zbrush, Maya, Photoshop, and Crazy Bump. Depending on the asset, I occasionally use XSI and Mudbox for rendering AO and displacement maps. Other than software, I use as much photo reference as possible.
Please share the pipeline you follow in the Sega Studios?
The first step after getting an initial concept, is to build a quick proxy model that has the basic shape, volume and all the functionality of the final character. This asset also has place holder CGFX shaders and textures, as well as a temporary auto UV map applied. This asset is then tested as a static mesh in game and passed off for rigging and animation to start. At this point I prefer to build a semi final in game mesh, then I use that as a basis for export into ZBrush for Sculpting or to build a high-rez SubD model in Modo. The step also allows me to make additional adjustments to the shape and create UV sets, as the concept is usually not finalized until after I start on a character.
Once the high-rez model is complete, the in game mesh is tweaked to match the high-rez model and the various texture maps are generated like Normal, Specular, AO, Diffuse, etc. To complete the model, there are final tweaks to the texture, the setup of final CGFX shaders, and the adjustment of its shaders once it is exported into the game. Additionally, the models are set-up for software rendering with several custom shaders and textures derived from the final in-game textures. Renders of the models are then provided to the Art Director of production and promotional purposes.
In which game you enjoy the work most and why?
That is a tough question, as I welcome and enjoy every new project and its challenges. Currently, the Iron Man II development has allowed me to really expand my skill set and portfolio in new ways.
At Capcom, during the production of Maximo: Ghost to Glory, the whole team worked very well together and shared a clear vision to produce a fun A+ game. That experience has had a big impact on my career and how I view successful game development.
|
|
|
