Sep 24, 2026 · 1 hr 52 min · 10 segments
Travis Sindewald explains a procedural-material workflow that combines 3D geometry and simulation in Houdini with baking, cleanup and finishing in Substance Designer. The conversation follows reusable…
Uh, so Travis, in terms of, um, like you, you, you basically already put it out there that, uh...
Um, so if, if we are taking, like, 2D art, and then you will start painting, right? Uh, 10 years can go by, and it still would be skill issue if that's n- n- you know, looking not good enough.
In 3D, that's kind of as we, as we go on with time, as you just said, tools are changing, et cetera.
So my question is, how much of an artist can actually push the boundaries, right? Um, if we're in 2025, how much it's, it's on artists to do, like, somewhere where you can put, "Oh, it feels very, very edgy.
I think, I think as a 3D artist, um, the more tools that you know how to use, the better.
That, that, that's where I would start is, uh, if you don't keep learning the new tools, like, you're going to fall behind.
I think- There's definitely a personal, personal vision, personal eye, and, and your, your artistic ability is massively important, of course.
Um, especially if you're, like with environment art, if you're putting your scene together, it's you're choosing to place your building there, trees there, and, and like you're painting a 3D picture essentially.
And so knowing your classical art skills of proportion, of like drawing the eye into certain areas of the canvas, that's all extremely important even in 3D, and you should absolutely study that stuff.
However, if you are not up to date with tools, you won't be able to express your artistic vision as effectively as other artists, and also you won't be able to do it nearly as quickly.
I think that the speed and quality are two of the most important things when it comes to developing, because oftentimes, actually all the time, always, you've got deadlines.
Development typically moves quickly and is dynamic, and if you want to express your vision, you need to be able to do it effectively and quickly.
So, for example, as an environment artist at ZeniMax Online Studios, we would once a year, the environment artist would do sculptures for actual statues that would be in the game.
Um, we would get a concept of a, of a statue from the concept team who often needed to do that extremely quickly.
So often the concept wasn't totally finished, did not have proper proportions of, of like the physical character, um, would only show specific angles of the statue, and you would need to make your 3D statue of that, and you were given two weeks.
So going from start to finish of 2D concept to finished, textured, sculpted asset in two weeks.
And if you wanna deliver your own skill, like your own artistic vision of, of what that sculpture is gonna-- what that 3D version of that concept is gonna look like, you need to be able to iterate really quickly.
And so that comes down to experience with the tools and learning new techniques.
Because often, al- almost always, tools are getting better and faster, but you need to learn how to use them.
Uh, so Travis, in terms of, um, like you, you, you basically already put it out there that, uh...
Um, so if, if we are taking, like, 2D art, and then you will start painting, right? Uh, 10 years can go by, and it still would be skill issue if that's n- n- you know, looking not good enough.
In 3D, that's kind of as we, as we go on with time, as you just said, tools are changing, et cetera.
So my question is, how much of an artist can actually push the boundaries, right? Um, if we're in 2025, how much it's, it's on artists to do, like, somewhere where you can put, "Oh, it feels very, very edgy.
I think, I think as a 3D artist, um, the more tools that you know how to use, the better.
That, that, that's where I would start is, uh, if you don't keep learning the new tools, like, you're going to fall behind.
I think- There's definitely a personal, personal vision, personal eye, and, and your, your artistic ability is massively important, of course.
Um, especially if you're, like with environment art, if you're putting your scene together, it's you're choosing to place your building there, trees there, and, and like you're painting a 3D picture essentially.
And so knowing your classical art skills of proportion, of like drawing the eye into certain areas of the canvas, that's all extremely important even in 3D, and you should absolutely study that stuff.
However, if you are not up to date with tools, you won't be able to express your artistic vision as effectively as other artists, and also you won't be able to do it nearly as quickly.
I think that the speed and quality are two of the most important things when it comes to developing, because oftentimes, actually all the time, always, you've got deadlines.
Development typically moves quickly and is dynamic, and if you want to express your vision, you need to be able to do it effectively and quickly.
So, for example, as an environment artist at ZeniMax Online Studios, we would once a year, the environment artist would do sculptures for actual statues that would be in the game.
Um, we would get a concept of a, of a statue from the concept team who often needed to do that extremely quickly.
So often the concept wasn't totally finished, did not have proper proportions of, of like the physical character, um, would only show specific angles of the statue, and you would need to make your 3D statue of that, and you were given two weeks.
So going from start to finish of 2D concept to finished, textured, sculpted asset in two weeks.
And if you wanna deliver your own skill, like your own artistic vision of, of what that sculpture is gonna-- what that 3D version of that concept is gonna look like, you need to be able to iterate really quickly.
And so that comes down to experience with the tools and learning new techniques.
Because often, al- almost always, tools are getting better and faster, but you need to learn how to use them.
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