In 2007, I was hired on as a 3D Artist at Reactor Zero, to work on a PS3 title being readied for around the time of the launch of the console. The game was a cartoony high-rise building arcade game. Sadly, due to the sales performance of the expensive console, many smaller PS3 exclusives in progress at SCEA were cancelled, including our own.
Reactor Zero quickly transitioned into other titles, porting over Red Faction Guerrilla to the PC platform. As the company grew, I was promoted into the Lead Artist position, with a team of 4 artists.
From our parent company, Quantum Signal, many connections were made within the Department of Defense, and we started making many military simulations for various clients.
Some examples include:
– Secret Service Driving Simulator
– Situational Simulator
– Forward Operating Base Planner
– Robotic Simulator for military robot testing
Above: An example of a quick turnaround image for a pitch document collaboration with MIT and NASA.
In addition to the normal day-to-day and management of the art team, I was tasked by the CEO to create imagery and video for project pitches for military work, affectionally called “quad charts” for their modular and formulaic construction. 3/4 of a single page was devoted to the pitch, budget, and summary of the proposed project, leaving only 1/4 of the page for a single image to pull in the eye of a government officer in charge of project approvals.
Usually I was given only a day or two to make 3-7 images for the quad charts, and I had to be very agile in creating new 3D models and leveraging existing models from our library. Budgetary restrictions kept us from amassing large libraries of models seen today.
In addition, I would also create videos for different pitches and project summaries, usually within a few days as well. This helped me learn to cut corners where it was needed, while still outputting a product that got the job done.
An example of a quick turn around video, giving an update to one of our products: