Born in Paris France in 1975, He spent the last 10 years working in the video game industry. he originally began as a traditional artist before specializing in computer graphics. He worked at various positions from concept artist to level artist to animator and finaly became a character artist,
The first big projects he worked on at Ubisoft was the original Splinter Cell, working as a character texture artist then became the lead Character artist/concept artist for Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.
He moved to Denmark for two years to work on Hitman Contracts and became lead on Hitman blood money from Eidos.
He's been back at Ubisoft Montreal for the last two years and just finished working on Assassin's creed as a Senior character artist. David's focus is on High-Res and Low-Res characters including modeling, Texturing, shaders, lights and posing, he is also involved in other areas of expertise from ÊCinematic Characters to marketing images and recently 3d printing.
The first big projects he worked on at Ubisoft was the original Splinter Cell, working as a character texture artist then became the lead Character artist/concept artist for Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.
He moved to Denmark for two years to work on Hitman Contracts and became lead on Hitman blood money from Eidos.
He's been back at Ubisoft Montreal for the last two years and just finished working on Assassin's creed as a Senior character artist. David's focus is on High-Res and Low-Res characters including modeling, Texturing, shaders, lights and posing, he is also involved in other areas of expertise from ÊCinematic Characters to marketing images and recently 3d printing.
Hi David, could you please tell us a little bit about yourself?
I was born in France in 1975, I moved to Montréal in 1991 (living in North America was a childhood dream for me). I then traveled around North America for about four years. I finally came back to Montréal in 1996 to learn CG and I got my first job in 1997.
What is your background in CG?
I started as a background/character artist and animator, I then became a character concept artist but I quickly specialized in 3D characters and textures. I then worked on the characters of the first Splinter cell, and right after that, I became the lead on the characters of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Then I moved to Denmark to work on Hitman contracts and became the lead character artist on Hitman: Blood Money. I returned to Ubisoft Montréal 2 years ago to work on the Assassin's Creed as a senior character artist.
How long have you been working in CG?
10 years
What did you want to be growing up?
I wanted to be a Marvel comic artist (I still want to get involved with them one day).
How did you come to Ubisoft to work as character modeler?
It is something I always wanted to do, but I didn't start out as a character artist at Ubisoft right away. I had to prove I was capable of doing the job. I had my first chance to do so in 2002 with Splinter Cell.
What are your tools of the trade?
3ds Max, ZBrush 3.1 Photoshop CS
As a character modeler at Ubisoft, can you describe to us the process of how you work? What is an average workday like?
At the beginning of a new mandate, I would receive a concept or a character description in certain cases. I search for references to really understand the clothing and gear and also the background of the character to translate that information into his appearance, When I know where I'm going with it, I start my basemeshes in 3ds Max and I create some really clean UVs with no distortion.
I then import it into ZBrush to create all the details and some of the textures. Then I import everything back into Max to make my shaders and render the high-res for approval (the high-res has to be approved before starting the low-res of course). Finally I create the low-res in Max and I bake the textures with render to textures (our character DT on AC made a really neat script to simplify its use). Of course the process takes about 2 weeks in average.
I then import it into ZBrush to create all the details and some of the textures. Then I import everything back into Max to make my shaders and render the high-res for approval (the high-res has to be approved before starting the low-res of course). Finally I create the low-res in Max and I bake the textures with render to textures (our character DT on AC made a really neat script to simplify its use). Of course the process takes about 2 weeks in average.
How has the gaming industry changed in terms of polygonal surface quality limitations, or any other limitations for that matter?
The industry totally changed in the last couple of years, I used to hear « it is cool for game graphics » . Since all the asset are created in high-res first, there is very little difference between doing cinematics and doing game assets now (well it is the case for characters at least).
What sort of aspects must you take into consideration when you are modeling a character?
The proportion is the base, then comes the style of the artistic direction.
Are you really only restricted to modeling characters, or do you also contribute to the environment and prop asset production?
I don't work on environments (except for statues in certain cases), but since characters have a lot of props and weapons I end-up doing a lot of objects.
What is the general turn-around time for a decently detailed character?
It is mostly between 3 weeks and 1 week (it is always slower at the beginning of a project but it gets a lot faster towards the end).
Are there different versions of models used in cinematics and in-game?
Sometimes there is a mid-res version and sometimes the low-res is used with some tweaking to look smoother. But in all cases we use normal maps, diffuse, specular and specular color.
What game titles have you worked on and which has been your most enjoyable one?
Like I mentioned above I worked on Splinter Cell, Prince of Persia, the two Hitman games and Assassin's Creed (plus a few other projects that got canceled). For me the most enjoyable in terms of concept and creativity was Prince of Persia: the Sands of Time. I was working with Raphael Lacoste as my art director and I had a blast working with him, he really let me create/direct a lot of the characters. Then Assassin's Creed was the project where I really learned the most about high-res, textures and shaders/light, which I learned a lot from my lead (Patrick Gagne).
What characters did you make in AssassinÕs Creed - so we can keep an eye out for them ;-)?
I made a lot of NPCs mostly with a few main characters, like Garnier and Jubair. I've also modeled and textured the machetes and swords of Altair.
What's the feeling to watch someone play using the character you modeled?
It's a great feeling to be part of something bigger than yourself and to see that you helped create something that looks alive.
Thanks very much for your time, we can imagine how it is busy over on your end!
Thank you for the opportunity! :)
