johnny, its probably worth gaining skills beyond just CG and animation, especially in Perth where those graphic design/web design skills will probably pay the rent, considering the lack of CG work opportunities over there.
Whenever I’ve wanted to get experience in animation and work in the CG industry, I had to leave Perth to do it.
Oh and btw, knoxville, this shows you that the course i’ll be doing is quite intense when it comes to 3d and animation. Also, it sounds like you didn’t do TEE, but i think you can still get in by presenting a portfolio and scheduling an interview.
Especially look at the course structure. There are 3 main animation and 3D projects you have to complete.
The good thing about Multimedia is it educates you in other areas, which would could be vital in helping you gain the advantage over other people when seeking a job.
“digital convergence and integration of graphics, text, sound, video, animation and interactive computing”
Btw, i have plans to startup my own studio in around 3 or so years, because to be honest, i see no great 3d/animation studios here in Perth or atleast i haven’t heard of any. I want to go my own way and be different from the rest of the crowd (in Perth, that won’t be too hard, heh). Who knows, maybe i could help develop Perth into another Sydney or Melbourne in terms of the abundance of quality multimedia companies (i really doubt it, but anyway). None of this “that’s good enough” bullshit which seems to reflect the quality of work round here.
Anyway, you could look at this as a dream, heh. It’s going to be very difficult and hopefully i can achieve this goal. Oh and i’m not planning on doing it all alone.
Hope this helps you out dude.
Cheeri
Originally posted by retrovision
Btw, i have plans to startup my own studio in around 3 or so years, because to be honest, i see no great 3d/animation studios here in Perth or atleast i haven’t heard of any. I want to go my own way and be different from the rest of the crowd (in Perth, that won’t be too hard, heh). Who knows, maybe i could help develop Perth into another Sydney or Melbourne in terms of the abundance of quality multimedia companies (i really doubt it, but anyway). None of this “that’s good enough” bullshit which seems to reflect the quality of work round here.
Anyway, you could look at this as a dream, heh. It’s going to be very difficult and hopefully i can achieve this goal. Oh and i’m not planning on doing it all alone.
We tried that in Adelaide last year. It was a big flop as there simply weren’t enough clients to go around and there is a huge undervaluation of multimedia in general. Clients don’t understand multimedia - they just think it’s a buzzword - and the competition is extra tough as everyone is undercutting each other, trying to get the job, then delivering a shoddy product.
Clients don’t understand that 3D is expensive - you gotta pay for your hardware and software - and your competitors are fresh grad kids running pirated versions of Maya/Max who will do the same job for much cheaper, further confusing the issue.
Then there are the good clients - the ones that understand 3D and visual effects - the ones that give contracts out to the big boys like Iloura and Animal Logic. Those are hard to come by.
I’d talk to lot’s of people before venturing into this area. Cuz I’ve been there done that. You need a critical mass of demand (actual clients who are willing to pay you) before doing anything.
Leo
Yeh, i know what you mean.
It’s really frustrating to think that i’d have to leave Perth to seek a well-payed job in the multimedia field.
Btw, i’m more of a 2D fella. Haven’t done much 3d/animation as of yet, but that’s where i’m heading. I’ve already got Software like Photoshop and Illustrator under my belt because i’ve been using them for 5 and 2 years respectively. If i do build my own little company i plan on offering a wide variety of services like webdesign and print. The demand for websites is pretty strong here in my opinion.
Although i understand, the hardest thing is making people come to you. I’d have to put a lot of work firstly, into developing my skills so they standout above the pack and secondly letting people know, otherwise you might be great at what you do, but as long as no one knows about you, you’re going to struggle.
I’ll take your advice and study up the industry here when the time comes. See what the demand and supply is like and whether starting up my own business would be economically viable.
Cheeri
A lot of the people I’ve worked with have actually found it better to start their cg studio off by taking on American clients, then going on with local projects. It’s a real pain for client liason to begin with, but apparently the money is very good.
I’m in my last week ever of Ballarat Uni’s Bachelor of Graphic Design/Multimedia. Don’t let the name fool you, when they say “Multimedia”, they mean… “Packaging” I think (which is driving me insane right now!). Anyway, I’ve put together a showreel in my own time of stuff I’ve done outside uni, and now they’re gonna use it to promote the course on the end of year DVD. :annoyed: If you want to know more about this course, write to me personally, as I have LOTS to say about it :twisted:
Well, I’m not a CG Artist, but I live in Oz so I thought I’d reply.
CGTalk is aussie? Oh crap, I thought it was American. It must be crap then, I’m not coming back 
Oh yeah and I’m an architecture student at Curtin University in Perth. Perth is a great place to study because there are no distractions
:bounce:
No, the dvd is a showcase of student’s work, I put the showreel on there to promote myself, which also has the unfortunate sid-effect of promoting the course. The problem is, our lecturer is someone who will claim that you can learn to do what you see in the showreel in the course, when in reality he has given me no support whatsoever when it comes to learning multimedia (lightwave).
avoid:
Microfort`e
QANTM especially
haven’t heard too many negative things from either CGC or SGC and the talent that’s come out of that place has been quite impressive and most guys have gotten work straight up at places like animal, photon, ambience amongst other places.
I used to lecture at QANTM and was very put off to the fact that the students were so eager to learn, yet I had actually been talked to about teaching useful material to them since they seem to like the idea of just not teaching them anything at all. quote “it’s easier on them and it’s easier on us”
And I’ve got friends who’ve attended microfort`e and have plenty of horror stories to share.
I think essentially no matter what you do unless you’re a complete newbie you’re not going to gain much from doing a 3d course, you will get to make some nice contacts and meet friends through the courses which is great, but essentially for 3D you’re better off getting some training dvd’s and doing it that way. And if you just want to learn, do a degree in design, the information you’ll learn from courses like that is awesome and is probably one of the only types of courses that actually will do something on your resume as most quals don’t really count, your reel usually does all the talking.
Hope I haven’t burnt any bridges by writing this Although I think it’s worth mentioning what I’ve heard or know of some of the cg schools out there.
CGC and SGC seem to be in my good books today though
Allan
well i can say from experience that qantm is what you said. i’m finishing the 1 year course in multimedia this year and i could’ve learnt just as much teaching myself. for the first half of the year i sort of sat out since i knew all the stuff they were teaching. i only started to do some work when it got to 3d… but even then i was steaming ahead of everyone.
i spoke to the guy who ran the course before i started and told him i knew a fair bit of the software already. he said he would help me out by giving me extensions and helping out with what i wanted… lol as if that happened! all they want is your money. it’s a good course to pick up the basics if you have no idea about multimedia…that’s all.
The only thing I can thank my uni course’s section on 3d was introducing me to the product. After that, it was a bunch of books and a whole lot of self-teaching!
Personally, I think there’s a lot to be said for staying home for 3 years and learn through doing the stuff you want to do. I’d have learned much more, and be ridiculous amounts of money richer. The downside of course is missing out on the connections.
Vangaans: Sure is :argh: suppesses rage into a tight little ball What are your connections to the course?
Hey vangaans, I just checked your website and noticed you’re based in Ballarat! That’s awesome! I’ve been doing some freelance stuff for RU Advertising and they’ve mentioned your stuff a few times, and I’ve seen your ads on TV 
You might have seen mine… they’ve got it online at www.ruadvertising.com.au under Our Work> Television. It’s the Elders VP one. Our final year exhibition is coming up, will you be attending?
Hi Fasty
I haven’t been invited… when is it on and where is it?
Is Steve Roberts still at UB?
Paul
Let me add my 2.2 cents + gst
When i finshed my HSC i had the choice of either doing a cg type course etc but i decieded to do an industrail design course.
My reason behind this is software comes and goes and changes pretty quickly so the 3 years i spent learning say maya isn’t going to be very much help in 30 years time, where as the skills i learn as an industrial designer will be usefull forever as they are fundemental design skills that can be applied to what ever medium.
In my course so far we have learn’t photoshop, Illustrator, solid edge, rhino and you can choose to do film, 3d animation as an elective.
So keep that in mind.
Paul: About the exhibition dates, that’s a very good question. I’ll get back to you! Oh and Steve Roberts left at the end of last year.
So what’s the industry like locally? Is there much demand for the kind of stuff you’re doing? How long have you been working in Ballarat?
Kind Regards,
Stuart
I’ll also add my slightly late 2 cents…
Finished Industrial Design at Monash in 1999. Dunno what’s happened since but the 3d portion of the course was laughable. I do know that they were restructuring the course to lean towards digital when I was almost finished my course. But didn’t regret the course…too much
Had to learn photoshop, illustrator, max etc… by myself…The alias studio they taught was pretty basic and most people basically learned to use the program by pure fluke…there wasn’t much taught on the basic principles of 3D and nurbs… so people ended up learning the prog. instead.
Wish had this interesting thread earlier…I’m now stuck in Edinburgh, Scotland trying to find some temp work (did some traveling and now broke…having 3d & computer withdrawals…)
theres also alot to be said for getting a BA in media design (which I got at curtin) because it sounds good on my resume:cool:
But it did help me get a work visa for the UK as well.
If youve got the academic credentials, as well as a killer reel, you cant lose, probably. People will take you seriously, sooner.