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SCREENSHOTS

GET TO KNOW PATRICIA

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Can you describe the extent of any relevant work experience you might have?

I don't have any professional experience as of yet, but I have worked on extracurricular student game projects and frequently attend talks, events and short training courses outside of university to learn more about different aspects of development.

How would you describe your contribution to your group project?

I was one of two Material Artists on Project Hullbreak, and was responsible for building shaders, creating procedural textures, and helping maintain visual consistency across assets.

The bulk of my work involved using the Substance suite to create a library of Smart Materials and tiling textures, which could then be used to texture assets either in Painter or in engine. Since a lot of Hullbreak's texturing took place directly in Unreal, I also needed to build a range of shaders, make them as flexible as possible, and organise them clearly for the rest of the team to navigate.

Many of these shaders were cut or combined as the project progressed - I ended up collaborating with Nora, Hullbreak's other Material Artist, on a complex multi-purpose material intended to cover a wide range of shading models. We also designed it to allow for triplanar projection and height blends, which could be driven by a custom mask.

I also developed a multi-UV shader, which was designed to allow for more variation on some of our larger repeating assets (mainly vehicles) while reducing the number of high-resolution textures in the project.

What do you specialise in and what made you choose that specialism? 

I'm a Material Art specialist - while I enjoy all aspects of environment art, textures and materials are my main focus.

I ended up specialising partly through stubbornness - I had struggled a lot with Substance Designer while working on a solo project, and decided I wanted to properly understand it. Once I'd made it past the steepest parts of the learning curve I realised I really enjoyed working with node-based systems, and ended up leaning into shader development in Unreal.

I love the process of texturing, and I think there's something very satisfying about seeing all the little nuances in real materials and translating them into something that works for a project.

What would your ideal first role in the industry be? 

Ideally, I'd like to start out in an Environment or Texture Art role.

Which of your student projects are you most proud of, and why?

I think I'm proudest of the Cyberpunk project - it was everyone's first team project at uni, and happened at the end of 2nd year after some especially intense solo learning.

It was far more ambitious than anything we'd created before, and a lot of my shader work involved doing things I didn't even know were possible before trying them. I made my first (and second, and third) ever brick wall in Designer, built complex puddle systems, figured out how to set up vertex painting, and got much better at finding a balance between realistic and more stylised work.

I learned a huge amount in a very short time, and it's formed the foundation for everything I've been able to make since.

What’s a piece of media (film, game, animation) that changed the way you think about your discipline? 

I could talk for ages about the effect the textures in Baldur's Gate 3 have on the story and atmosphere of the environments they're placed in. Sometimes they'll tell you something extra about a character, sometimes they're a subtle indicator of a faction's involvement; they're almost always adding something interesting just by being there.

I was already aware of the concept of environmental storytelling at the time, but thought it was mostly limited to set dressing and decals. I hadn't considered the way textures and trim could be used for the same effect, but it's something I like to aim for wherever I can now.

Noticing how well the artists struck a balance between fine details and clear, easy-to-read shapes (suited to cinematics and a zoomed-out isometric view) also got me to consider that balance more in my own work.

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