The 3D Career De-Mystified

[Interlife]

hello
the article was quite good for me... a lot of points that one should be aware of...
but still there is on point not disscused in this article : creativity....
so you decided to do your demo reel and so... but your stuck with no good idea to put it into action ( with alot lot of reels that we see everyday I find it very hard to came up with a new idea)... so is it possible to came with an old idea from a movie or a character
and use it or this will affect your demo reel
thanks :)

[MarkusM]

I think everyone struggles to find inspiration. Coming up with storylines, funny, interesting, or dramatic scenes, gags, and dialog is about the most difficult thing you can do. And a short piece is perhaps the hardest. If you want to become an animator, do use what is out there. Some of the most promising work I've seen lately on show reels are young animators taking a scene or a sequence from a movie, making the character their own. Coming up with their own acting style. Giving the performance a different twist, a new approach, a depth or perhaps humour.

Also do remember, the most sought after people in the business aren't character animators. it's TDs. We all look for them.... everywhere. You can usually find a decent animator locally, but you will import a good TD from far and away. For those roles you have to show a completly different skill set. Storytelling or acting isn't as essential.

Good luck.

[Steveyola]

I have been de-mystified,thanks,good read.:beer:

[mimo8]

td, td, td?

realy outing mysef as a greenhorn
but can´t demystify this shortcut
what´s a TD?
:wavey:

[Leonard]

A TD is a "Technical Director"

Hope that helps.

Leo

[Metrini]

really great and inspiring article!!

I am a computer science major but I have decided to sway towards the visual effects industry and the article offers great advice and encouragement!

[future14]

hi guys, i just recently catch up with the articles, i found it extreamly useful, i am an university student major in Film and Animation...

as u guys stated, storytelling really isn't that important in this industry? i mean, all the while, i've been focusing on my storyline and content of my works..... and now i found out that i am running the wrong path?

[MarkusM]

I don't think it is a waist of time learning storytelling. However, when you first look for a job it's your skills in your craft that will count. The chances are slim that as a CG artist you will be asked to do story work as a first job. So what you want to focus your reel on is what you can do as a TD, or animator, or modeller, or texture artist, or whatever your particular skill is. Making it visible to your target audience - the person hiring at your company of choice. Make you stand out from every other reel he/she has been watching for the last two hours. Make sure he knows what you are good at and can see that clearly on the reel. Not necessarily what you'd like to do, eventually, but more so what your true talent is at that moment. You can learn other aspects of the craft as you progress in the industry, and land a job in the area you'd like to work in eventually. Be realistic, be pragmatic.

[future14]

MarkusM

u are right, skills come 1st at the first stage to step into this industry.....

hehe, a very good advise....i should hav forward this articles to my coursemates as well, to share wif them.....

thankx guys........i am still freshy and new....a lot to learn from u guys man~!!!!

[EdHarriss]

Markus is correct. Your demo reel should be for showcasing your talent not storytelling (in)ability, as your not going after a story writing job. However, a good story can go a long way to getting your reel seen. Which is a very important part of finding work. Take Victor Navone for example. http://www.navone.org He made a very good reel with a very funny story. He got a job at Pixar. When his reel first came out, it got passed around the internet for months. More than likely it was this high exposure that got his foot in the door at Pixar. It was his talent that got him the job. Had his reel had a funny story and terrible animation, I doubt that he would have gotten that job. On the other hand, if his reel had not had such a funny story it might not have gotten noticed, and no amount of talent will get you a job if no one knows about it.

As you can see. A story is important, but not always required. Talent is.

[Artbot]

It's always interesting to read people's accounts of how they got into the biz. There seem to be as many differing stories as there are people. As a senior artist who'd been in the games biz for 11 years, I've seen a lot of reels and a lot of good, and not so good, people come and go. It seems to me the the two constants I see among the most successful people (aside from the talentless back-stabbing climbers - you know who you are) are passion and creativity. These seem to get short-shrift by most of the interviewees, or they are looked upon as weightless buzzwords. The tools of the trade can almost be learned by monkeys - it's your ideas and attitude that are important and what you are truly being paid for.

I've worked with kids right out of art school who had no idea what they were getting into and suffered when they could not bend the whole industry to their unique "vision". On the other hand, a huge success from my early days was in hiring a guy who worked in a print shop, had done a rudimentary amount of cg work on his own, and who tested rather mediocre on his interview, but turned out to be our star animator. It was all about his attitude and his passion for the work, not the quest for status. He didn't openly possess cocky dreams of changing the world or immediately running his own project or silently fuming that those around him didn't recognize his brilliance. He happened to also have an amazing amount of talent, something you can't buy with tuition or all the fancy hardware/software in the world. More often than not, the career of "artist" chooses you, and not the other way around.

In that vein, I would encourage prospective 3d artists to do anything else besides 3d. Bring something new to the job. All the best 3d and 2d artists I know come from non-computer backgrounds. Mine was filmmaking and industrial design. Sitting at the computer 20 hours a day just makes you a bore, not a creative, interesting person with ideas and experiences to contribute. It's as if someone says, "I'm going to be a writer, so I'll write all day and night". But what life are you going to write about? Cross-pollination of fields is crucial to keeping the fresh ideas coming. All art students essentially study the same books and movies, so you need to set yourself apart. I've found it to be true in nearly all cases that those who were singularly fanatic about the "idea" of being a 3d artist rarely made good artists, or good employees.

[future14]

u guys r right, we can't just work within the boundries, we got to work more then that, creativitiy has no limitation right....?

and i heard some of my seniors talked about sketch book.... do employers look for sketch book during interview or hiring...?Besides the reel...

[MarkusM]

I find that depending on what you hire a person for you hope to see some extra stuff. We seem to forget that there are people who are not going to work only as animators.

Especially when hiring modellers, lighters and surfacers (texture/look people), the extra stuff is really helpful to give a perspective on their "eye". Photography, sculpting, painting, life drawing is all applicable. For an animator, if they have extra material, I like to see that they can sketch involving and interesting poses, not just copy a "typical" pose.

For a generalist animator (someone who does it all) I find that it is good to see some extra things. Especially if you are straight out of school it shows passion and keen interest in what you do. Observing life.

I think it always helps. But the same goes as with anything you put on the reel... only put stuff that show your talent. Don't just put togehter a portfolio cause someone told you it may be good. It should be the ace up your sleeve when you are meeting the potential employer. If they are not completley convinced by the material on your reel, or they are chosing between you and someone else, then this is what will win them over. So make sure it is quality material.

[future14]

i wanna ask something.for TD.......
if let say i am not from computer science or engineering background........is that means that i am not qualified to become TD?

[EdHarriss]

It depends. The definition of TD is not consistent from company to company. At some places only people who program most of the time are called TDs. At others people who only write the occasional script are called TDs. So I guess the answer to your question is maybe.

A very simple example: At one facility there might be a Character TD who uses an amazing amount of math and custom tools to set up his rigs. At another there might an a Character TD that does all of his rigging using the built in tools and very little or no math. Yet they are both TDs.

[future14]

i've got the idea....... so TD's definition is not consistant among the companies........ehm....

anyway....thankx for the information....:thumbsup:

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