美术指导的世界: 7 条关键性戒律. Rick Stringfellow EA Sports执行美术总监

对一个游戏进行美术指导并不容易！ 对多个游戏进行美术指导则更难！ 这是由于时间安排更短 平台更加多样化 用户期望不断增长 所需技能范畴不断增加 那么，你要如何增强你的能力以获得成功？

美术指导的世界 Today I’m going to talk specifically about the Business aspect of Art Direction And the seven precepts that we’ve identified as critical to resolving issues.

{ 视频已删除 }

We’re on almost any platform from mobile to console to high end PC’s – we’ve gone from 3 platforms about 7 years ago to 9 core platforms now. 2012 – 几乎涉及所有平台！

FIFA足球 疯狂美式橄榄球 NCAA足球 NBA NBA嘉年华 SSX极限滑雪 UFC终极格斗锦标赛 NHL冰上曲棍球 网球 NFL美式橄榄球闪电战 老虎伍兹 + 多个全新独占游戏

FIFA 每年我们都制作许多的游戏！ 每个“系列”都包含多个游戏！

At the high end our games are very realistic – we aim for believable and authentic content

We have a wide variety of games – SSX has a large open world.

We have a varied set of worlds to build beyond just stadiums

Our humans have to be as realistic as possible

The aim is believability.

头部网格 眼镜网格 头发网格 鸭舌帽道具 身体网格 裙子 鞋 网球 球拍 骨骼 比重文件 漫反射纹理（每个对象） 法线贴图（每个对象） 高光贴图（每个对象） 灯光贴图（每个对象） 着色器 Each game has a substantial amount of assets – in this case over 16 different components in the character

8+群众数量x1000>60000 头部网格 球童 眼镜网格 裁判 头发网格 体育场 鸭舌帽道具 球场 身体网格 球网 裙子 摄影师 计分器 会场周围建筑 会场周围街道上的树木 天空 球场纹理 换装模式 修剪模式 更多的着色器 动画……等等 头部网格 眼镜网格 头发网格 鸭舌帽道具 身体网格 裙子 鞋 网球 球拍 骨骼 比重文件 漫反射纹理（每个对象） 法线贴图（每个对象） 高光贴图（每个对象） 灯光贴图（每个对象） 着色器 Over 16 different components in the environment.

= 数以百万计的资产！ = 225,000 个源码内容 大约的数据： 25,000个3D模型 x 每个模型3种纹理 x 3个misc文件 If you add all this up you get some large numbers of content. = 数以百万计的资产！

请记住球员的外观会随着时间的推移而改变。 我们使他们的形象逐步发生演变并保存这些变化。 每一次开发周期我们都进行分类和归档。 我们已经开发了20年的体育竞技类游戏！ 请记住球员的外观会随着时间的推移而改变。 我们使他们的形象逐步发生演变并保存这些变化。 每一次开发周期我们都进行分类和归档。 这些都是每年数以百万计的资产！ Each year we step forward the database and continue to add more content and details – constantly improving the look of the games.

2011 2012 典型的2年游戏开发周期。 大多数的体育游戏以12个月为一个开发周期。 并且这一周期会随着DLC的开发而延长。 In addition to this we also have to produce major updates to the games every twelve months. Unlike most other large games that have a two or sometimes three years in development. 并且这一周期会随着DLC的开发而延长。

至少在6个时区工作！ 2011 2012 So when you put together the multiple platforms, large amount of games, authentic detail, and rapid development cycle adds up to a very complex scenario.

并保证游戏视觉质量的metacritic评分在80以上。 On on average we only have 5 staff artist working on each title – so it’s highly efficient. 平均每个游戏都会有5名美术师参与开发。 并保证游戏视觉质量的metacritic评分在80以上。

简单的解决方案。 When the problems are complex you need to try to not add to that complexity so seek out simple solutions.

大型游戏 小游戏 It doesn’t matter if you are building a complex game or a simple game, long or short development – the same rules apply. 都适用相同的原则！

1.明确性

So when seeking out clarity Art Directors often create concept art.

Concept art is loose – deliberately to allow freedom.

The idea behind concept art is directed exploration

However often what is most needed is what we call a Visual Target – a VTAR

VTAR’s come in many forms – in this case illustrating times of day.

We will also – as in this case – tightly specify materials – this is a material test from NFS

In a different environment.

大满贯网球2（GRAND SLAM TENNIS 2）的视觉目标 运动员的拟真外观： 改善的头发着色效果 头发动画 游戏过程中的脸部动画 眼镜对球的追踪 提高了照明和着色效果以增加真实性 整体： 调整post FX使整体场景更具真实感 照明： 提高皮肤着色效果以获得更加真实的外观 对每个场地进行照明使之更加真实 对身体纹理进行更新升级 更新肌肉组织 人群： 每个场地的真实质感 提高纹理照明 调整重放和NIS摄影机的多细节层次LOD 身体： 固定的操纵，明显的BUG错误 根据场地变化使运动员做得更加具有真实感 调整多细节层次LOD来提高性能表现 衣服： 更新褶皱以加强服装效果 调整服装动画 调整身体全局衣物的比重和皱褶 实时联系： 提高实时阴影技术（屏幕空间环境光遮蔽SSAO） 以增加球、手、衣服、地面和球拍之间的实时联系的可信性 A VTAR is a target – present only one – it’s a contract between you and your team. 球场地面： 更新升级球场地面以获得更精准的效果 更新球场地面阴影效果 大满贯网球2（GRAND SLAM TENNIS 2）的视觉目标

视觉目标是明确美术指导方向的关键。 应该只有一个视觉目标！ 灵感来源和概念设计可以是丰富多样的 – 但这并不是目标。 如果可能，视觉目标应当放在游戏当中。

2.迭代 So the second most common problem I see is inability to iterate on content within the game.

这一过程应当同你认为的一样快！ 迭代 创建 整合 编辑 审查 反馈 This cycle of iteration is key to making good art – if artists can’t iterate (quickly) on the direction you are giving them then you are stuck. Often in slow iterative cycles the only solution is to delete content that isn’t working. 这一过程应当同你认为的一样快！

迭代是质量和效率的关键。 足够快速从而允许进行视觉的探索。 足够安全从而允许进行各类实验。 不应当要求由其他人发起。

3.反馈

消费者 同行 可视化 反馈 3 types of feedback – visual – we review often and openly. Consumers will give you the most honest feedback Peers will/should give you expert advice. Need to create an environment that allows free critical feedback.

概念阶段 进入开发 预测试 EA has a very well defined production process. Designed to measure progress and provide clear direction. Feedback has to be given early – in a phase we call ‘concept discovery’ – then just before we enter into production and then just before we hit alpha. 反馈时间轴

反馈应当在早期就要频繁进行。不要等到太晚才开始！ 创建你信赖的审查团队。 反馈应当是诚实的。

4.标准 This is probably the second most important precept. Standards are key to consistency and being able to predict results and as an Art Director your team is expecting that you will produce quality, on time, on budget – standards help to keep too many things from changing.

标准如果不是由某一个团体或个人所拥有并进行维护，就会随着时间的推移自发地产生改变。 头部 1.0, 2.0, 3.0…. 标准如果不是由某一个团体或个人所拥有并进行维护，就会随着时间的推移自发地产生改变。 We have some pretty tight standards that we work with – but these standards have evolved directly from working with the game teams and are managed by a central group. These standards allow us to build tools to speed up production and the standards give us the confidence to be able to predict things. 游戏 A 游戏 B 游戏 C

Standard topology Standards also help you go cross platform – once you know and understand what you have delivering to new targets is much easier to script. And again it gives you confidence and less things to worry about.

标准需要进行维护和升级以跟上技术的脚步。 格式 方法 开发词汇

5.系统 (工作流程 & 经管) Everybody has a means to get content from point A to point B – systems workflows and pipelines – however what you really need are ‘complete’ systems. End to end solutions with no breaks.

建模 贴图 整合 照明 审查 So that when you have content being authored across the world you don’t have to concern yourself with getting it into the game or being able to iterate through the whole length of the pipeline.

{ 已删除视频 } Within EA once we have standards we can then build systems to aid building high volumes of content. We also often parameterise certain aspects of the content to allow its to generate that content at load or runtime.

确保流程的完整性 – 端对端。 没有标准系统就难以建立和维护。 不要用你创建游戏的方法建立系统。 在尝试外包之前确保一切工作都可在本地正常运行。

6.组织 Organization has a huge effect on Art Direction – it’s been known for a long time that the structure of your organization / communication can have an impact on software development and the same thing seems to apply to content creation.

组织架构 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 If the teams you work with or your organization reflects a broken structure with breaks in communication – then it’s often the case that your game will inherit that structure. 内容的可视化外观

7.服务 This is something I learned 30 years ago – when I worked for a very small production company that tried to do it all – we struggled to fill all the roles that were needed to achieve the productions that we wanted to – what we should have done is build relationships with groups that were experts in what we needed done and we should have used them. So for example…..

{ 已删除视频 }

总是聘请一名专家！ 不要尝试自己处理所有事 音频 动作捕捉 视频 & 后期制作 品质保证 视听支持（校准）

戒律： 明确性 迭代 反馈 标准 系统 组织 服务 So here are the 7 precepts – I use this almost every day – and it’s become second nature to me no matter if I’m working with and existing game or starting off a new project – I constantly check against these precepts – so I can spend less time figuring out what’s wrong and more time Art Directing.

有什么问题么?