Career Options

#1

Hi All,

I am about to graduate with a Bachelor of Information Technology and a Bachelor of Creative Industries (Communication Design) from QUT in Brisbane, Australia at the end of the year and I am wondering what career options are out there for me.

I am interested in graphics programming (I know C / C++, Java, OpenGL and a little CG) in a creative field, but the only area I am really aware of is games programming. I would love to do games programming, but I wouldn’t exactly call myself a hardcore gamer (although I do enjoy games), and I think this would lessen my chances of getting into that industry. I am also interested in 3d animation and have beginner to intermediate skills in Maya (as well as Flash and Director) but I think my strengths lie more in the programming rather than art side of things.

So my question is… What career options are there out there where I can use my programming skills in a creative industry?

Thanks in advance,
Miranda

#2

No one has any suggestions? Should this maybe be in another forum?

#3

you don’t need to be a hardcore gamer to work on engines for them. You just need to know it well. Are you looking for a career you will love or just a career that will pay well?

I would go for something that is fun for me, personally that is games. but maybe you would like to write programs like 3DS or maya, or GFX card drivers? Maybe programs used by movies ( like the program that controlled the wars in LotR ). There is a lot of stuff you could do, make an engine to run a CG movie, all kinds. Haven’t you imagined any of those yourself?

#4

Thanks for the reply Ataru.

I am looking for a career that I love and I know that there isn’t always alot of money in this industry. I may not have made this clear in my first post, but I am aware that there are many options out there in both vfx and games, and I had imagined them, but I wasn’t exactly sure of position titles of these jobs and it wouldn’t really say much for me ringing up a company and asking for a “cool, kinda graphics programming, but in the movies kinda job”!
I have since become aware of a few of the types of positions that I would be interested in, such as shader writer, technical director, renderman programmer, AI programmer etc

Now I just have to go about finding my way into one of these positions!

#5

You can definitely be a programmer in the vfx industry… it’s generally known as RnD… involves writing applications, plugins, tools, shaders, that kind of thing. It’s very cool…

#6

Good luck with your search man :slight_smile:

#7

If you are thinking about vfx then knowing RenderMan (RIB and shading languge) is a real advantage (and if you know CG not all that different).

The nearest place to you would be Photon http://www.photon.com.au/ on the Gold Coast who I have really good things about. There is also Animal Logic in Sydney. http://www.animallogic.com/ .

Knowing how to write plugins for Maya or Shake is a real advantage too.

There are also subtle differences between a TD and R&D. TD’s tend to work more on specific shows and shots - from setting up specific animation using MEL, writing render scripts, shader writing. R&D tends to do more long term projects - setting up renderfarm pipelines, dtabases, custom applications. Of course there are grey areas like crowd system, hair etc where both get involved.

It’s definitely worth it though!

Simon

#8

Thanks for all the replies!

I spoke to my 3d lecturer yesterday and he seemed very enthusiastic for me to learn RenderMan and he said he may even be able to fit it into my assessment for this semster. yay! RenderMan here I come!
rendermaniac, yeah I know of those 2 companies and I am definately going to give Photon a call soon. And if I have no luck in Brisbane, Animal Logic will be my next point of call. Thanks!

#9

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