Tools of the trade A Interview with Windows Games Ambassador Gary Lloyd and his favourite tool SketchFab

Interview with @GaryLloyd89 Artist at @Sketchfab and @HyperSlothGames . Windows Games Ambassador.

I've been completely obsessed with pretty much all things related to 3d-art for four or five years now. I love being immersed in 3d worlds and my time at University, along with working in games for the past two years, has enabled me to work on some pretty awesome projects with some great visuals. However, there always comes the dilemma of building up a portfolio to show off to new clients or employers. Traditionally, myself and other artists have used 2d images, which usually consist of beauty and wireframe renders, along with a breakdown of the texturing process applied to the asset. This is still a great method, but times are changing and the future is here right now as a standard for every major web browser out there.

It was almost two years ago I was introduced to Sketchfab: a platform and community for sharing 3d content. I was really interested and immediately started testing their service. The absolute brilliance of the Sketchfab viewer is that it can be embedded into pretty much any website, forum or portfolio. With a few clicks the actual upload process for 3D content is quick, easy and painless. Rather than viewing 3d content in 2d through renders, you can now interact with and manipulate the content in real time, without any sort of plug-in, through the power of WebGL.

Necromancer Altar by Gary Lloyd on Sketchfab

Currently, the site supports over 27 different 3d file formats and has dedicated exporters for 3d software packages, such as Maya, 3ds Max and Blender, which makes it perfect for any aspiring game artists or developers to quickly share content with followers and friends. Best of all, they offer free unlimited uploads to all users, as well as access to their premium 'Pro' features for students! (As long as your college/university has signed up. Read more about that here if you're interested: https://sketchfab.com/students 
 
The applications for Sketchfab relate to pretty much anything that can be displayed in 3D: game art, architectural visualisation, 3d scanning and more. There's a huge variety of content on there but I think it's a particularly awesome service to help game developers and artists really show off their assets in a unique way. There are a variety of game developers on Sketchfab who are using the service to aid with their PR and Kickstarters, or as a tool to just share content with their communities.

With recent additions, such as post-processing and Physically-Based Rendering, on the way to browsers, I think Sketchfab is the perfect tool for showcasing 3d content and a unique opportunity for users to showcase their work to everyone in an interactive way. Check out the video below and get involved in the community. The staff at Sketchfab are very active on social media and are only an e-mail away for any questions or help.

Discover Sketchfab from Sketchfab on Vimeo.