[Fade2Black]

I'm starting new. I'd like to be a 3d modeler/texture artist and maybe later animator. I'm currently going to school to get a A.A. degree in art with a certificate in computer art/animation. My question is, would this schooling be enough to start in this industry?, and what advise can anyone give.

"I hate it when that happens."

-Fade2Black

[Derek]

It's hard to say without knowing exactly what kind of work you'll be doing in the courses. If it's just based on your schoolwork, maybe not enough. But if you take what you get in school and go nuts on your own, then perhaps. Start to create a lot of textures and such on your own, if you own photoshop. Don't worry too much about applying them to any geometry. And begin to take a lot of notes, mental and otherwise, about what's absolutely necessary to 'sell' the texture you mean to create. Color, sheen, surface deails or a lack of, etc etc etc. Learn a bit about surface maps, grunge maps, displacement etc. Check out dvgarage.com if you can. It's a great site for this kind of stuff, and Alex is a cool guy. Also, someone posted a great site not too long ago for image reference. Check out the images on there, as that is a good deal of what you'd do, using those types of images as well as creating and combining them.

Jeez, I think I've got something to say about everything tonight... must be the cold medicine...

[RumpusKing]

In my experience, most modelers texture what they model. Makes sense, as they're the ones most familiar with the geometry that they created.

My advice would be to just do it. Make some models in the software of your choice and texture them to your satisfaction. Light them, do a 360 deg. turnaround or a couple of cool stills, and put it on a website to show to people and get your name out there. There are several good websites that feature individual artists (CGChannel jumps to mind).

Any education you can get is great and there is no "enough" education. You never stop learning, even (especially!) when you're teaching.

I say keep on keepin' on and keep in mind that content is more important that a degree and quality is more important that quantity.

[RumpusKing]

I mean "...THAN a degree" and "...THAN quality."

sheesh!

[lildragon]

quote:

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Originally posted by Fade2Black:
I'm starting new. I'd like to be a 3d modeler/texture artist and maybe later animator. I'm currently going to school to get a A.A. degree in art with a certificate in computer art/animation. My question is, would this schooling be enough to start in this industry?, and what advise can anyone give.

"I hate it when that happens."

-Fade2Black

---

to summarize below, schooling will only take you so far (pretty much the understanding of the tool) but creativity is what's going to land you the job...


Interesting question.... first of all ask yourself *why* you want to be in this medium and is it *right* for you... otherwise you'll be wasting very valuable time... the reason I say this is you're looking down a very long road, if not infinite in length...

As for schooling many employers don't really worry to much about where you went and what you learnt, they just want to see a demo reel with what you're best at... so IMHO schooling is a part of it, but defiantly not all of it... I'm self taught like most 3D artist, but that takes ooodles of discipline and patience on your part.... teaching yourself is not easy, but it's very rewarding, more so IMHO but that's me...

As a modeler make sure you have a good sense of anatomy, it's essential, you should also learn to draw if you don't know how, you'll find it's easier to sketch something and model it from that reference.... try not to get caught up on all the different types of ways to model, sample them yes, but pick what you're most comfortable with, because it's what you'll be doing for quite a while... if you're getting into the gaming industry then low poly modeling is a *must* and learning to optimize meshes is an absolute essential, but creating an impressive texture is more important...

On that note, being a texture artist isn't easy, there's many pain in the a$$ issues like mapping coordinates, such as planar (very popular mapping method) box, cylindrical and so on.. learn these and be intimate with them, trust me... also learn a painting app such as photoshop and go at it...

sorry for the book

[ October 23, 2001: Message edited by: lildragon ]

[StrangeFate]

in other words, there's no degree that will help you land a job, or even give you slightly better chances.

It's all up to your 'mad skillz' and you should do whatever helps to improve them, most people do it in the communities in their freetime.

[AfterShoxX]

Which modeling program should I use to start some real base organic modeling?

I've done some very, very, very base modeling in my day, so I have at least some experience.

FIRST POST. yay...