I am compiling my portfolio & I realised I missed out one aspect of my skills - 3D modeling.
If you are one hiring, what is the big thing that you will look for
(when viewing 3D models)?
Ability to use 3d softwares?
Ablity to handle complicated surfaces?
Understanding of engineering? (like drafts & parting lines)?
Ability to do rendering?
Or is there any other thing that you are specifically looking out for?
Presenting the ability of 3D skills
I guess I do not wish to send my prospective boss hundreds of CAD files & wish he view all of them. Each 3d should have a impact, I guess… and easy for him to view them. I am thinking of a screen capture. What do you guys think?
Most firms/design departments have different needs and specializations. So any and all of the criteria you cited will be looked at. Show as much as you can. I might even go as far as to say that the factors that you listed are baseline. As always though the hiring manager can overlook deficiencies if they see that you have been independently learning (so you can be taught their work-flow) and have sufficient skills in other parts of the development process to make up for the lack of 3D.
Look through the ads on core for the last few months. Pick out the most popular software, and then re-do one of your projects in that program. Change any thing that you would have done better, and put it in your portfolio explaining why you did so.
Screen caps are good. Make sure that they are sent to a designer though.
When i hire a designer and look at the 3D work, i just look at it and say yep he can do 3D. Thats it. The level of detail and skill in the 3D program requires more discussion, and drilling of commands and 3D building techniques.
Doing 3D well, to me, is not a pre-requisite to be a good designer. Its just a skill, like riding a bike. So i would encourage you to focus less on it and more on your design thinking and overall presentation.
If I was hiring for my post, a knowledge of solidworks would be a must. We just use it so much. In a portfolio, I would want to see that the person knows at least one 3D program well, and maybe one technical drawing, just so I know the person knows how to dimension a drawing clearly.
In a teaser, I would not expect to see anything other than hot looking designs. Weather they were renders from 3D, real product, physical models, photoshop or marker, I wouldn’t care.
