3Ds max and getting into the industry self educated?

[Big.Xero]

Ok so I'm messing around with 3Ds Max lately and been teaching myself through videos and books on how to render/rig/light etc..

just a question for anyone in the industry: How hard is it to get your foot in the door, being self educated?

I've been a web dev since i've been a professional, but always dabbled in graphics/artistry....figured might want to give a new path a chance.

Any advice?

[mos_skeeto]

Fun to mess around with 3dmax. I use it sometimes for my webdesign. It's great for abstract shapes and stuff. Good that you're looking at different paths too.

2 big things in most animation jobs are hand drawing skills and portfolio. An animation studio will always analyze your drawing skills. Start by drawing naked people (honest). There are places where you can drop in and sketch for 5-10 bucks. Having a good portfolio is self explanatory.

Do some reasearch. I haven't done 3D in years. When I did, 3dsmax was getting less popular and Maya was the stable platform. I don't know what it is now but might wanna do some trend research. Maybe check out what job postings are asking for.

So I just blabbed a buncha stuff which doesn't really help you get a foot in the door. I'd start looking at job postings at companies you want to join and work backwards from their requirements. Remember you're competing with VFS grads who just dumped $$$ into a program and were taught by industry professionals. Getting a job over them at Pixar probably not. Doing some cool freelance or small studio 3d graphics work may be more realistic.

[Big.Xero]

yeah i've actually taken art classes...ended up going way of graphic design cuz i was too cheap to pay for a game design course at VFS...

i've always been drawing, and i do have classical artwork under my belt as well.

thanks for the tips, yeah i didn't think was gonna be applying for pixar and what not, but i always see in Craigslist job ads for a character rigger or environmental animator.

[freakshow]

My brother is a 3D animator, from what I understand, a lot of it has to do with your demo reel as well

[Soundy]

I used to work at CDIS/Art Institute, I know we HAD Max back then, but almost all the 3D work was done on Maya and SoftImage XSI. Granted, that was about 8 years ago... dunno just what everyone is using these days. But like everyone else says, your actual artistic skills and your portfolio are what will really land you work.

Thing is, your software skills are really only useful to someone who is using that software - if they're not using Max (which I don't think a lot of local production houses are), they won't care much that you know Max. If you demonstrate a knowledge of drawing and 3D modelling *in general*, you should be able to pick up most different software.

Honestly, a BIG part of what you get from these kinds of schools are the contacts, opportunities and experience. There are numerous CDIS students that went on to work, and then helped bring in other students who were coming up behind them (later semesters, etc.) Most of the instructors were also working, or had previously worked, in their industries as well, and always had good contacts and would regularly help hook students and graduates up with work (or at least, with the opportunities for work - it's still up to the person to land the job). Some employers would even come to the school looking for interns, temps, and so on - chances for students to generate their own contacts.


Fortunately it's not nearly so much of a "not what you know but who you know" industry as some others, so if you know your stuff and can demonstrate it, you have a pretty good shot even without having inside contacts.

My advice would be to look for some other software (like Maya and XSI) to practice with - see if you can get student or demo versions, for example; pirating software is bad, mmmkay? Work with that as well, to expand your portfolio. Maybe even create the same models and animations from scratch in all of them, to show that you can use different packages to end up at the same results. Not a necessity, but it would help show that you're versatile and not limited to one (relatively obscure) software package.

[Nismo200SX]

I went to CDIS back when it was CDIS and finished my program when it became AI.

Anyways. 3DS MAx is still used by many different studios and pretty much most major companies will let you choose while some smaller ones will restrict you to one or the other.
The thing is that now that Discreet owns both Maya, 3DS MAX and Autocad 3D you can create whatever you want in either and import into each other and pretty much most of the major 3D platforms out there.

So the main thing when trying to break into the industry is to have a strong Demo reel, portfolio and insane hand drawing skills. Things really have changed. When I was at CDIS the big thing was low poly modelling and optimizing models for low poly now its still low poly only what is considered low poly now is at least 100 times the count of what it was 10 years ago.

So I went and became a photographer instead.

[Soundy]

Originally Posted by Nismo200SX

I went to CDIS back when it was CDIS and finished my program when it became AI.

Yeah, I think I remember you, I was always having to rebuild the machines because you were installing spyware on them...

Anyways. 3DS MAx is still used by many different studios and pretty much most major companies will let you choose while some smaller ones will restrict you to one or the other.
The thing is that now that Discreet owns both Maya, 3DS MAX and Autocad 3D you can create whatever you want in either and import into each other and pretty much most of the major 3D platforms out there.

Yeah, cross-compatibility is the key to having a choice of programs. If the company is using one platform, and you do all your work in another, it doesn't do them any good if your output can't be imported, or at least be converted to be imported, to work with their projects. As long as you can do that, it really SHOULDN'T matter which program you want to use.... although I imagine software licensing could be an issue, especially for smaller companies (if they have a site license for one package, they may not want to shell out for a license for something else, just for one person).