Demo reels and flythroughs

A demo reel is a short video of your best work; for an environment or prop artist it is usually a flythrough, a slow camera move through a finished scene. For most 3D art roles it supports your still images rather than replacing them.

Keep it short. A former Riot Games intern's advice in Riot's portfolio study guide is direct: "Have your reel be less than one minute and only show your best work!" (Riot Games: Portfolio Tips & Advice: Riot Games…). This page covers when you need a reel, how to structure and shoot it, and how to capture it in a game engine.

#When you need a reel

It depends on the role. Motion roles (animation, VFX, cinematics) are judged mainly on video. For non-motion roles, Riot's guide notes that "Downloadable PDFs are acceptable" (Riot Games: Portfolio Tips & Advice: Riot Games…). Level designers sit in between: The Level Design Book asks for "3-5 screenshots and a short video" per project, because a level is something you move through (The Level Design Book: Level Design Portfolio).

#Length

Every source that gives a number recommends a short reel.

• Under one minute for an intern reel at Riot (Riot Games: Portfolio Tips & Advice: Riot Games…).
• Three and a half minutes is too long. In the 2017 Polycount thread, CrackRockSteady wrote that "most people/employers are not going to sit through 3 and a half minutes" of slow turnarounds; Rambo4you suggested cutting to about two minutes, and Sense42 to under one minute with only the best finished work (Polycount: 3d Portfolio).
• "A short video" per project, in The Level Design Book's words (The Level Design Book: Level Design Portfolio).

A single flythrough of one scene can be 20 to 40 seconds. A reel of several pieces should stay under a minute; cut a piece rather than speed it up.

#Structure

• Best first. Sobotta's rule for portfolios, "Put your best art first", applies to reels as well (CGSociety: How to Create a Stunning Portfolio with Jared…).
• Only finished work. Sense42 asks for "only the best finished work" (Polycount: 3d Portfolio).
• Tailor it. Another Riot intern, Liz H., advises: "If you can, make a reel specifically for the company you are applying" (Riot Games: Portfolio Tips & Advice: Riot Games…).
• Breakdown at the end. NomadSoul2501 suggests a short breakdown slide of two to three seconds at the end rather than text over the footage (Polycount: Environment Artist Showreel 2014). See making (and reading) an art breakdown.
• Name, role and contact on a title and end card. Sobotta stresses keeping contact information "easily accessible" (CGSociety: How to Create a Stunning Portfolio with Jared…).

#Shooting a flythrough

The 2014 Polycount critique lists common problems. dschmidt3d: "Your camera was moving so fast I could barely see your work." NomadSoul2501: "Slow down your cameras by A LOT and simplify your movements." MooseCommander counted "so many jump cuts" that little of the work was visible, and two reviewers singled out the music (Polycount: Environment Artist Showreel 2014).

#Process videos and time-lapses

Process can be its own short clip. Riot's guide suggests that "Creating a timelapse with a GIF or recording is a good way to show your process" (Riot Games: Portfolio Tips & Advice: Riot Games…), and Sobotta calls "a time-lapse of your environment from start to finish" "a nice touch" (CGSociety: How to Create a Stunning Portfolio with Jared…). Keep it separate from the main reel so it does not dilute it.

#Capturing in Unreal Engine

Unreal's cinematic tools support this workflow.

• Sequencer holds the camera animation in a Level Sequence. Clicking the Camera button in Sequencer's toolbar creates a Cine Camera Actor, which "becomes the current camera cut" (Unreal Engine 5.8 Documentation: Cinematic Cameras in Unreal Engine).
• The Cine Camera Actor mimics a real film camera: filmback presets set the sensor size and aspect ratio, setting Min and Max Focal Length to the same value emulates a prime lens, and focus can be manual or track an actor (Unreal Engine 5.8 Documentation: Cinematic Cameras in Unreal Engine). Prime lenses and gentle focus suit a flythrough.
• The Movie Render Pipeline is "Unreal Engine's offline image sequence and movie rendering solution" (Unreal Engine 5.8 Documentation: Movie Render Pipeline in Unreal Engine). It has three interfaces: Movie Render Graph (node-based), Movie Render Queue (jobs and presets) and Quick Render, a one-click real-time export for quick review (Unreal Engine 5.8 Documentation: Movie Render Pipeline in Unreal Engine).

Because it renders offline, the Movie Render Pipeline can enable ray-traced global illumination and reflections, improve motion blur and "remove unwanted anti-aliasing artifacts" (Unreal Engine 5.8 Documentation: Movie Render Pipeline in Unreal Engine). Its default output is an 8-bit JPG sequence; you can switch to PNG, and Movie Render Queue can "generate 16-bit HDR images with linear data" (Unreal Engine 5.8 Documentation: Movie Render Pipeline in Unreal Engine). Render an image sequence, then assemble and encode it in a video editor.

#Hosting and links

Reviewers must be able to open the reel. Stig Strand of the games recruiter Amiqus warns that dead portfolio links "can be a reason to reject" (MCV/DEVELOP: Top ten CV writing tips for game developers). Riot's application guide asks for links that are easy to access, with any password written in the application (Riot Games Internship Study Guide Vol. 2…). Test the link in a private browser window and on a phone before you send it.

#Further reading and watching

• portfolios, making (and reading) an art breakdown and cameras, lenses and field of view: the rest of a portfolio's presentation.