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I'm finishing up a year of Art Fundamentals at my provincial community college (NBCC Miramichi) and it's been pretty drat educational for the money. I was planning to continue on for their two-year classical animation course, but lately I've been thinking that the 3D industry is where I'd rather be. I'd love to do special effects, CG environments, etc. for Hollywood movies. Thing is, I have no experience with 3D programs. I have solid art skills, and I'm not too bad with Photoshop and Illustrator, but I've never designed or animated a 3D object. Now, I'm willing to learn, of course. But what I'm debating is whether to take both the two-year classical animation program and then the two-year CG graphics course. I'm 23, so I'm not in a huge rush to graduate. I'm thinking that being able to do both environmental and character CG animation would make me more appealing to prospective employers, rather than just the CG graphics course itself (which focuses mostly on Maya & 3ds Max, but doesn't have courses devoted to the principles of animation - timing, character design, layout, etc.) Our classical animation course here is quite intensive, though - it's designed to produce animators who can move directly into the industry. Since I'm not too enthusiastic about said industry, I'm not sure I could muster the enthusiasm to make it through two years of 14-hour-days hunched over an animation table. And cartooning has never been my strong suit, anyways. So my questions would be: Is it fairly easy to get a handle on working with CG? How hard is it to break into the industry? Do any Hollywood FX houses hire new graduates? Would someone with a classical animation background have a huge leg up over those with only straight technical animation training? And is it enough to only be taught Maya and 3ds Max? Thanks! (This is kind of bewildering for me - I've gone the whole past year confident that I was going to move onto the animation program... but now I'm looking at maybe another two years on top of that. Five years total here was more than I was expecting. But on the other hand, I don't want to enter the working world half-baked.) Hatter106 fucked around with this message at 05:33 on Jun 10, 2008 |
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Jun 10, 2008 05:31
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Villon posted:Do you want to be a character animator or an effects artist? A traditional (2D) animation program will be really useful if you want to be a character animator, and a lot of places are willing to teach 3D software to someone who already has the core skills. Well honestly I'd prefer effects, environments, matte painting, etc. to character work. But knowing how to animate characters might help me get a job. I dunno... I've talked to industry pros, and I keep hearing "specialize in one thing!" but also "learn everything!"... I can see how knowing classical animation would serve you as a CG animator, but I don't think I have it in me to animate on paper for two years. I've seen how much work they have to put in, it's nuts. I'm just not a cartoonist. I'd much prefer creating photo-realistic scenes. Which brings me to my other question: When it comes to getting a professional job in the CG industry, does it come down to talent or training? Do you need to take those $25,000 courses at places like SCAD to get the high-profile jobs? Or can you figure out enough on your own by messing with those programs? I've seen the results of a community college two-year Maya & Max course, and they weren't very impressive... either the students just weren't talented, or you need to shill out the big bucks for top-notch education. I know I'm not making much sense, sorry... ultimately, my goal is to do CG work for a major studio like ILM, Weta, Rhythm & Hues, etc. I'm just trying to figure out how to achieve that goal.
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Jun 14, 2008 05:52
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