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I'm not gonna complain.
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Jan 20, 2015 05:10
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I saw a cool background on WeTransfer. Followed the link and ended up at a French artist's website. Perusing through his work, I saw something that looked familiar. http://hugoarcier.com/en/unfolded-nature/ quote:With “unfolded nature” I follow my work, started some years ago, on computer graphics and nature. This time the three-dimensional object is not the result. In this series I take an interest in the phase where one unfold a polygonal 3D object to apply a texture. To create these images I started to create 3D objects – that will never been shown -, then I use an algorithm that automatically unfold, cut, and place the numerous fragments in an “optimised” way. Uh huh.
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Jan 20, 2015 21:47
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BonoMan posted:I saw a cool background on WeTransfer. Followed the link and ended up at a French artist's website. Familiar = stolen?
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Jan 20, 2015 22:03
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Travakian posted:Familiar = stolen? Oops, no definitely not stolen. From what I can tell it's just an unfolded automatically generated texture from PhotoScan (or something that uses the same texturing technique). Here's a rubber turkey decoy I scanned last month:  I meant familiar as in "people that use PhotoScan probably notice it right away" as that software has been discussed a lot in here. I thought it was just funny that he passes it off as some unique technique he's using.
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Jan 20, 2015 22:09
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BonoMan posted:I thought it was just funny that he passes it off as some unique technique he's using. ~*tRuE aRt*~
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Jan 20, 2015 22:40
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Probably a 3D artist that didn't really make it so he's now a ~visual artist~.
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Jan 20, 2015 23:19
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BonoMan posted:I saw a cool background on WeTransfer. Followed the link and ended up at a French artist's website. If somebody can help me with the pretentious description part I have some UV layouts I would love to sell.
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Jan 21, 2015 04:03
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http://www.artybollocks.com/
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Jan 22, 2015 04:24
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I will remember you when I am rich.
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Jan 22, 2015 05:12
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That....that is very very good.
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Jan 22, 2015 05:51
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Ccs posted:So this news just hit: 2013 was the shot across the bow for anyone still in California. Everyone i know has an exit plan to get out of VFX via games or any other related field, even Daniel/VFX Soldier got out of VFX and into a visualization field in another industry. That being said Vancouver is crazy right now. Especially for experienced houdini people, you can pretty much name you rate and get it instantly. Soon as I moved here, I had 3-4 job offers trying to poach me away from my current contract. Madness. One of my ex-supervisors from R+H never saw it this crazy, he wrapped up his last project in Vancouver and pretty much had 2 years worth of contracts laid out for him at 2 facilities within 2 days. Just did a shitload of OT for a superbowl trailer, banking all of that money, when Vancouver crashes it'll crash hard, all that subsidy money is going to be the first thing cut from the budget and Canada is going to be in a roller coaster ride pretty quickly with the loonie tanking and oil prices crashing. Oh sure it'll go back to pre subsidy levels but not the raging orgy of TFW visas and mad mad rates. Mad mad rates unless you have to exchange it to another currency  Big K of Justice fucked around with this message at 07:04 on Jan 22, 2015 |
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Jan 22, 2015 06:55
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Are you just packing money away during all of this? What a strange industry. I remember when Digital Domain came to my university program to give their dog and pony rah rah come work for us presentation. This was BYU, a Mormon college where everyone wants to get married and have kids, so the Q&A was pretty hilarious: "So how's family life for your employees?" "Uh... er... uh... well..."
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Jan 22, 2015 19:23
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Yup. No camera or hobby purchases over the past 2 years. Nothing for my cars and watching expenses. I made 30k on one shows overtime alone last year but I had to use that money to move and ride out gaps in work. Having savings means you can afford to turn down bad job Offers and bluff for more money. Oh PDI is being closed down 500 jobs gone at DreamWorks with most in redwood city ... As if the animation and vfx scene wasn't bad enough in the Bay Area .
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Jan 22, 2015 23:20
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Hey Big K and others, I'm trying to learn some maths as I haven't touched them for a very long time to learn a bit of houdini. Do you guys have a book that could make a rusty guy learn the basics? I have a ton of videos on youtube and stuff to plow through but i'd like something to read when I'm tired of being on the PC but still want to be productive/learning.
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Jan 22, 2015 23:27
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Big K of Justice posted:Just did a shitload of OT for a superbowl trailer, banking all of that money, when Vancouver crashes it'll crash hard, all that subsidy money is going to be the first thing cut from the budget and Canada is going to be in a roller coaster ride pretty quickly with the loonie tanking and oil prices crashing. Oh sure it'll go back to pre subsidy levels but not the raging orgy of TFW visas and mad mad rates. Yeah I'm in Canada right now, though not doing anything as glitzy as working in Vancouver on features. I'm in TV on the other side of the country. Still, it's funny how many international people are here even though the company clearly states on their website that they will not hire anyone who is not a citizen. But they HAVE to, because there aren't enough Canadians who can actually do the work haha.
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Jan 23, 2015 00:27
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Odddzy posted:Hey Big K and others, I'm trying to learn some maths as I haven't touched them for a very long time to learn a bit of houdini. Do you guys have a book that could make a rusty guy learn the basics? I have a ton of videos on youtube and stuff to plow through but i'd like something to read when I'm tired of being on the PC but still want to be productive/learning. I know of a few math for VFX type video courses but it sounds like you have that covered. There must be something in print along those lines as well but I can't say I know of anything off the top of my head. It's really just trigonometry and linear algebra, so you could search for free PDF textbooks, print them out and stick the pages in a binder. Also, these days you can go a long way in Houdini with even very basic math / programming skills. If I were you I'd just dive right in and add whatever you need to as you go along. The best thing you can do to get a leg up in Houdini early on is become familiar with expressions and always check the help card for any new node you use so you know what local variables it can use. Also, VOPS are awesome - start using them as soon as possible.
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Jan 23, 2015 01:29
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Cyne posted:I know of a few math for VFX type video courses but it sounds like you have that covered. There must be something in print along those lines as well but I can't say I know of anything off the top of my head. It's really just trigonometry and linear algebra, so you could search for free PDF textbooks, print them out and stick the pages in a binder. Thanks for the startup info on Houdini. It's a very neat program but really hard to get into having started as a purely 3D artist environment using Max and Poly Modeling tools. BTW, for those living in Montréal, there's a free Houdini seminar going on the 29th at the centre NAD.
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Jan 23, 2015 04:16
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Big K of Justice posted:2013 was the shot across the bow for anyone still in California. Everyone i know has an exit plan to get out of VFX via games or any other related field, even Daniel/VFX Soldier got out of VFX and into a visualization field in another industry. Loonie tanking is not going to hurt Vancouver, it's quite the opposite. This province does not make it's money from oil. Unless Alberta was paying our subsidies I am not seeing your point. Also there is a 5 year notice (might be even more) on the subsidies if you think the subsidies are going to disappear overnight you have been reading too much vfx soldier.
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Jan 23, 2015 05:31
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Big K of Justice posted:Oh PDI is being closed down 500 jobs gone at DreamWorks with most in redwood city ... As if the animation and vfx scene wasn't bad enough in the Bay Area . Aye, acquaintances on Facebook posting about their layoffs.
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Jan 23, 2015 06:02
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Its funny how a few years and a more mature perspective turns the view of my dream job into a nightmare situation.
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Jan 23, 2015 06:07
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keyframe posted:Loonie tanking is not going to hurt Vancouver, it's quite the opposite. This province does not make it's money from oil. Unless Alberta was paying our subsidies I am not seeing your point. Also there is a 5 year notice (might be even more) on the subsidies if you think the subsidies are going to disappear overnight you have been reading too much vfx soldier. The larger studios like Sony has a deal in place but its still a bad deal [For Canadians] and can be changed. CORE had a subsidy guarantee in Toronto back in the day and when the provincial government had a few MP's voted out including a subsidy sponsor, the bank called in their notes, and Core went into bankruptcy and a few hundred people were tossed out of work over the course of a single weekend. What I'm saying is, nothing goes up forever. If you haven't seen the up and down cycles, then you haven't been in the industry long enough. We'll see what the new BC budget will bring. Low Loonie and low oil [they are connected] will impact all of Canada, the real estate is in a huge bubble here and when that bursts, you'll see all governments at levels making cuts. Quebec had deals with their subsidies and when the last election came through they turned around and slashed all subsidies by 25%. A lot of VFX companies froze on their Montreal plans, until the cuts they had a better scheme that BC since they could recoup 20-24% of their non-labor costs in addition to over half of their labor. The only reason the subsidies exist is that the general public here thinks its a tax break and not a straight handout. They're cutting health and education, but still keep 0.5-1.0 billion open so a bunch of TFW's and a handful of Canadians can push pixels around? Great deal there. Some above hit the nail on the head. Where the gently caress are they going to find all the people to fill all the positions needed? Even Dreamworks is going to be doing one of their animated films in Montreal as fallout from PDI being shut down. It's a great time if you have a Canadian passport and production experience, you can name your price if you are willing to hop around.
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Jan 23, 2015 12:47
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Ccs posted:Yeah I'm in Canada right now, though not doing anything as glitzy as working in Vancouver on features. I'm in TV on the other side of the country. Still, it's funny how many international people are here even though the company clearly states on their website that they will not hire anyone who is not a citizen. But they HAVE to, because there aren't enough Canadians who can actually do the work haha. In the states companies do the same thing. They advertise that hiring locals/nationals is priority, its a legal requirement for most visas that you have to attempt to fill a job position with a local national. The joke is the job posting is often in a break room in a random building on site that the general public doesn't have access to. That full fills the legal requirement in the US.  On the flip side they also have to post the salary of the position, so the workers there can get an idea what the position pays, they can't bring in someone for less money, they have to be paid at what is determined to be the local prevailing wage. In the cases of special visas like an O1 for entertainment, you have to show that someone is highly skilled and paid at a higher rate as a result. Canada is interesting because the TFW program doesn't have provisions like that, it keeps Canadians in the dark on whats going on, vs the US program which has its own range of bullshit issues, but all the visa and salary information is public knowledge, that's why down south you have sites like H1Bwage where you can look up what visa dudes are getting paid at your respective company. I don't know where they can get all the workers, there's only so many VFS/Sheridan/Seneca/ECarr juniors you can throw into a room before you have to add journeyman and senior workers. Plus you got Captain Underpants being removed from PDI and moved to Montreal, they're going to need 300 or so people for that.
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Jan 23, 2015 12:53
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Odddzy posted:Hey Big K and others, I'm trying to learn some maths as I haven't touched them for a very long time to learn a bit of houdini. Do you guys have a book that could make a rusty guy learn the basics? I have a ton of videos on youtube and stuff to plow through but i'd like something to read when I'm tired of being on the PC but still want to be productive/learning. Any primer on matrix math operations can be useful, and learn how to apply it in VEX operations and VOP's. I'm horrible at math but I can convert a euler to quaternion and then transform and rotate that quaternion without breaking anything. If you ask me how to do that on paper I'd have no idea to be honest. The peter quinn videos on vimeo have lots of great examples of learning how stuff works in Houdini. The documentation sidefx has is... "ok" their examples can leave a bit to be desired.
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Jan 23, 2015 17:58
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SynthOrange posted:Its funny how a few years and a more mature perspective turns the view of my dream job into a nightmare situation. So true. Another scan here. This one is only 10 pics and seems to be raising questions about whether it is a good idea to scan stuff in a museum or not. IMO it doesn't matter unless the guards say otherwise. 
sigma 6 fucked around with this message at 01:35 on Jan 24, 2015 |
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Jan 24, 2015 01:22
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Haha all this stuff about the ins and outs of the industry is so interesting. Producers I know in NYC recently found out about how many subsidies Canada gives their industry, and now are trying to get competing subsidies passed in New York. It's all a race to the bottom. But they don't think of it that way. They just think of it as a necessary part of business, and are leveraging all the nationalism and emotional appeals that they can to get lawmakers to listen to them. :/ So is Dreamworks moving production to Mikros? That's the only company I think of able to produce Hollywood quality. Anyway I'm just a lowly animator, not a VFX person, so I don't have much leverage in this industry. Hopefully I can continue to keep working.
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Jan 24, 2015 01:30
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Ccs posted:Haha all this stuff about the ins and outs of the industry is so interesting. Producers I know in NYC recently found out about how many subsidies Canada gives their industry, and now are trying to get competing subsidies passed in New York. It's all a race to the bottom. But they don't think of it that way. They just think of it as a necessary part of business, and are leveraging all the nationalism and emotional appeals that they can to get lawmakers to listen to them. :/ Do you know much about blendshapes? or just the theory about it? I really like using them to animate moving mouths, but It would also be cool to animate blinks and eyebrow raises with them too. The problem is you have your "base" pose and make your "blink" and "eyebrow" pose from that, but then when you go to put your face in the "smile" pose and attempt to also blend it with the eyebrow or blink poses the mouth is influenced as well and mixes the pose from "base" which means my guy isn't smiling properly anymore since his mouth was neutral in the base pose so it's also neutral in the blink and eyebrow raise poses. Is the only option to make a pose with every variation of blink and eyebrow raise combined with every variation of mouth shape? It's like I want to delete vertices for everything other than the eyebrows but still have them maintain their vertex order so then could influence some parts of my model but not the poses I've made for the mouth. Is this possible? To blend 2 shapes together even though the geometry is different because the vertex orders are the same? I hope this came out right, I confused myself trying to describe the problem. bring back old gbs fucked around with this message at 09:45 on Jan 24, 2015 |
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Jan 24, 2015 09:41
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Perhaps use some form of vertex painting, white where the blendshape is used and black everywhere else. and then multiply that with another blendshape you want used in conjunction with it? I'd try it in houdini but i'm not sure what program you're using.
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Jan 24, 2015 12:12
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BonoMan posted:Not sure how ultra real you want it, but turbo squid had one for $16 bucks Tyvm  I need to bring them into blender to take what I need for 3d printing. Basically a friends partner wants a hop crown and I drunkenly agreed 
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Jan 24, 2015 12:39
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32MB OF ESRAM posted:Do you know much about blendshapes? or just the theory about it? I really like using them to animate moving mouths, but It would also be cool to animate blinks and eyebrow raises with them too. Yeah, you just duplicate the geo and sculpt a new pose using only the vertices you want to alter. Here's how to do it in Maya. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpBsWuPvbFo Here's a video about Cinema 4d: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vk3f3xplyVA
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Jan 24, 2015 16:37
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sigma 6 posted:So true. Do you have a device that you attach to your nikon to track the cameras position? I nabbed a cheap 3D scanner from CES (Occipital's Structure Sensor), and you get about what you pay for with the scans but it tracks where my iPad is as I move around it. I'd much rather use my D800 for this though...
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Jan 24, 2015 16:39
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RizieN posted:Do you have a device that you attach to your nikon to track the cameras position? I nabbed a cheap 3D scanner from CES (Occipital's Structure Sensor), and you get about what you pay for with the scans but it tracks where my iPad is as I move around it. I'd much rather use my D800 for this though... AgiSoft's PhotoScan determines the positioning of the cameras itself (by analyzing the relativity of the data in the photos) so no need to have a position tracker.
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Jan 24, 2015 18:30
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32MB OF ESRAM posted:Do you know much about blendshapes? or just the theory about it? I really like using them to animate moving mouths, but It would also be cool to animate blinks and eyebrow raises with them too.
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Jan 25, 2015 00:40
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Here is a roman sarcophagus scanned from the Getty. Didn't pick up as much detail as I had hoped but it is only 34 pics after all. The difference between the shaded view and the textured view is pretty extreme. Still, it could make a pretty good asset with some cleanup. 
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Jan 25, 2015 02:51
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Hazed_blue posted:I can't recall what program you're using, but this shouldn't happen. Blendshapes are / can be additive, meaning that only vertices that deviate from the base shape are recorded so that you can do exactly what you described, i.e. blinking the eyes and talking at the same time. Check your settings and see if you have something that's acting as an override for the base shape, or something like that. Yeah in the linked Maya video it works exactly as I'd like it to but in C4D it doesn't seem to. I'm sure it is user error, I'm just futzing with things. I am going to try and re-create the very simple squared head example from the Maya video in c4d.
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Jan 25, 2015 03:18
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Ccs posted:Anyway I'm just a lowly animator, not a VFX person, so I don't have much leverage in this industry. Hopefully I can continue to keep working. Nonsense. Everyone has to start somewhere. I started with wedding videos in a town of 3000 people doing lovely lightwave logos, I wound up working on some pretty big poo poo. Most of my friends and myself worked a few years on low budget tv animation and kids shows after 10 years they managed to work towards working on higher end work. All my animator friends worked on preschool bullshit but kept working on their private stuff and got their demo reel up to the point where they could eventually transfer over to film via feature animation or live action VFX work. Everyones got leverage. I know a number of HR people and the business community regard artists and creatives low on the totem bowl because creatives don't stick up for themselves or take whatever they can get. When I got my first "real" production job, I was only making 35,000$ a year. After 2 years with no raises and an expired contract, I was getting ignored. I didn't say anything I figured it was time to look for a new gig elsewhere and just packed my desk up when I went home. Someone must have seen me because I had one of the owners call me that night. I wound up getting a paybump to 55k and after that started getting regular raises after that. So on that note, do good work, get poo poo done and be organized and make friends on folks on the production side and see what happens. Always look for work, always. No harm in doing the rounds with demo reels and user group meetings a few times a year. You'll be welcome back in the future if you leave after a projects done. Remember you are trading your life away for a paycheck, make every day count in that regard, stick around for a place for 2 projects, move on, that's the fastest way to move up money wise. You may be just a number on a spreadsheet but work that to your advantage. Don't fall for the "we're family" line every studio states. It's a job. Most animation studios and vfx studios are 3-4 months from bankruptcy at any moment. Don't believe me check the books. Oh right 99% of them don't share that info with employees because they'd all freak the gently caress out. That's why when you see a film get pushed back on release, the vendors start freaking out [Like what happened with MPC the other day]. Things are booming in Canada now, where I'm working we got competitors constantly poaching people and we're doing the same to them. It's an arms race now and we're running out of people to hire. Everyone we talk to has 3-4 counter offers. If you are a Canadian that's a huge huge advantage now. Everyones resorting to hiring TFW's and foreigners because there's not enough Canadians to go around. Where are you located? Vancouver? Toronto? Montreal? Big K of Justice fucked around with this message at 07:26 on Jan 25, 2015 |
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Jan 25, 2015 07:19
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Houdini 14's looking pretty nice. I've been burned with each new version in regards to stability of new features on each new major build but I'm optimistic this time around. The position/grain solvers look pretty nice. And it seems like they finally updated the lovely viewport drawing engine finally 
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Jan 25, 2015 07:21
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Big K of Justice posted:So on that note, do good work, get poo poo done and be organized a gently caress
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Jan 25, 2015 07:25
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echinopsis posted:gently caress Don't do what I did at one studio. I only communicated to my lead/supe in the department and not production management. Turns out they loving threw me under the bus and fed bullshit to the PM's. Talk to both sides always
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Jan 25, 2015 07:28
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Ccs posted:Anyway I'm just a lowly animator, not a VFX person, so I don't have much leverage in this industry. Hopefully I can continue to keep working. To add to what Big K said, don't believe you're just a lowly animator. It helps to be cocky to an extent but back it up with solid work and references and some cool projects and you'll have no problem finding work. The second you don't feel valuable to a company start looking for another company that might appreciate your work and the projects you were on before. I don't always have a plan B or escape plan, but 3 years into the industry and I have plenty of friends and former coworkers that would gladly refer to me to their companies because they know I bust rear end and I'm good at my job.
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Jan 25, 2015 10:41
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| # ? Jun 5, 2024 13:32 |
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To be contrary to those posts, we only hire people who want to be in a family. i've had 2 jobs in my entire life and i'm 12 years into my career. Yeah you don't get $600 a day, but you also don't get laid off the day your job wraps, we have downtime to piss about and you get health insurance. working in 3d isnt just vfx. I have to be contrary to this negative bullshit because working in advertising is healthy, based around small teams, they only hire people who stay for long term and the job satisfaction is way up there. if I didnt work at dbox i'd happily take a paycut to be at taylor james and make creative decisions over being in a production line. The vfx on stalingrad proved that great 3d can be done by very small teams. those are the shops that will thrive, thats where to have a career - movies, ads or buildings. (obv i'm not talking for the houdini guys who can name their price - more power to you. trying to remind everyone that 3d is much bigger than movies) cubicle gangster fucked around with this message at 11:00 on Jan 25, 2015 |
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Jan 25, 2015 10:56
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