I am currently an undergraduate trying to make "scenes" for my portfolio and get better at maya or max.

One problem I keep hitting is I have no idea what to model, my friend (intern at Arenanet) made scenes and was able to get an internship, for example a jungle that consisted of 8 objects really. I figure if I make scenes for environment jobs that can get me more noticed than just a broken bridge or an airplane etc.

I for some reason cannot find anything I want to model to turn into a scene.

Any help is appreciated.

Go outside and look around. Bring a sketchbook. Sketch things you see - anything.

Or close your eyes and dream. Sketch what you see.

Or look at objects around you. A pen, a mouse, a keyboard, your cell phone? Sketch them.

Then model your sketch

There's no "answer" to this, and you don't need "help", just start *something*.

I for some reason cannot find anything I want to model to turn into a scene.

Any help is appreciated.

Think about environments you like found in games or movies. What did you like about them? What genre do you gravitate to?

Then make your version of that environment. Mix it up, get creative.

Some important things to remember:

- What encapsulates that environment? What makes a jungle a jungle? There are certain things found in a jungle environment that simply make sense. These things comprise a jungle. These things also form your asset list to populate that jungle environment.
-Wanna impress someone? Get your environment up and running in a real-time game engine
-Keep it small, and simple, but keep the quality high and make it cool (is a jungle good, or is a jungle at sunset with overgrown ruins better?)

Develop a good library of books, games, and videos to pull ideas from, and for modeling reference. Proper reference is essential. I get my stuff cheap from yard sales or clearance isles at bookstores.

And don't be hard on yourself, everyone gets creative blocks. ;)

Corals are really cool looking, you could do an underwater forest. Giant seashell or waving seaweed could be good too.

Cacti can be quite cool too, maybe combine with some shapes eroded out of red stone or a south american temple or a cliff dwelling.

It's always fun to have a scene where the player is very small, wandering among recognizable junk like needles and spools of thread, thumb tacks and erasers, dice and coins, building blocks, etc.

Or a fantasy cloud land with rainbows. Or a world where everything is ice crystals or quartz/opal crystals. Or things are made out of solidified flames and glass/lava.