What's a good way to display game chars/assets/etc demo reel

[menechu]

I'm finishing a demo reel soon and I'm getting to the point where I am thinking about how to display the models themselves. Should I render them? I answered myself with a no because I figured it never look that way in an engine so why bother.

Then I thought about strait view port play blasts. Is that ok? When we're talking about quality does that matter?

I haven't been able to find a single game targeted reel that really game me a good format to go on.

If anyone has links i'd be really greatful.

But otherwise does anyone know a good way to display game assets for a reel?

[SkyGround]

I think that the best way is to show model in some engine, for example in UnrealEngine 3.

[Marcus Dublin]

I'm finishing a demo reel soon and I'm getting to the point where I am thinking about how to display the models themselves. Should I render them? I answered myself with a no because I figured it never look that way in an engine so why bother.

Then I thought about strait view port play blasts. Is that ok? When we're talking about quality does that matter?

I haven't been able to find a single game targeted reel that really game me a good format to go on.

If anyone has links i'd be really greatful.

But otherwise does anyone know a good way to display game assets for a reel?

Here’s the best way to show off your assets:

1. ¾ shots and a turntable in your modeling package with a 3-point lighting scheme.

2. An additional one or two shots at 100% self illumination to show off the texture work and wire frame.

3. An additional one or two shots of the asset shown in a game engine.

I personally find this procedure to be the best way to go since your showing off the model assets in 3 different stages. Step one shows off the model without all the bells and whistles, an art lead or director can see the model in it’s unaltered form. Step 2 shows off the texture work and lets the viewer gauge your texturing/painting competency without the aid of normal maps, etc. The last step is the icing on the cake since it lets the viewer see the model asset in an actual “make sure to reference which engine in the end credits” game engine! This will give the reviewer a sense of how the mesh and all the maps render within a game world under different lighting conditions and shader properties. At the end of the day you want to make your demo reel presentation as polished as possible so take your time and plan it out accordingly, remember first impressions are everything! For inspiration I would check out the demo reel Twindragon put together as a point of reference: http://www.trenttrombley.com/demoreel/demoreel2008/demoreel2008.mov
Feel free to post the WIP reel on the boards if you're iffy about the direction you’re heading in and I'm sure people will offer their 2 cents. Good Luck!

[menechu]

Thank you so much marcus. perfect outline, man. ill do that pretty much!