Aw: Re: VFX->UX

[Leo Quensel]

 

Hey Eric,

 

let me say that you are definitely not alone with your decision.

I have been playing with the idea of leaving this industry altogether before the demise of Softimage aswell, and the announcement to kill it by Autodesk was the final nail in the coffin.

Although my experience is abysmal to yours (3 years as a professional, 6 years as a hobbyist before that) the decision was not an easy one.

Luckily as a TD I was always more on the technical side of things, and my education in computer science is allowing me to switch to full-time software development right now

(not that you need to have studied to do this, but it sure helps finding a job).

All I can say there are worlds in between the VFX industry and any other field in terms of working conditions - everything so far is better.

I wish you all the best on your new way, lets hope it turns out well!

 

Best Regards,

Leo

Gesendet: Montag, 22. September 2014 um 10:46 Uhr
Von: "Morten Bartholdy" <x...@colorshopvfx.dk>
An: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
Betreff: Re: VFX->UX

I fully understand your reasoning and decision on this. It is sad how this industry has evolved - only a few years back it seemed like anyone knowing how to do what we do would have a bright future, given how much demand there was and now is for CG in so many media. I would say the business model has turned sour for a great part of the industry, which all the recent VFX company collapses have shown. This is sad since I still love doing what I do, after having been at it for close to 30 years now.

 

Kudos to you for making the jump, and I wish you the best of luck and hope for you that you find a place to be happy for the future, and thank you for your input on this list too.

 

Cheers

Morten Bartholdy aka Pitcher

 

 

 

 

Den 22. september 2014 kl. 08:15 skrev Eric Lampi <ericla...@gmail.com>:
 

Hi All,

I was getting off a plane in Austin on my way to SXSW when I read the news about Soft being discontinued. Even though, as I said for a long time, I expected it to happen, it was still a shock. That was the day I unsubscribed to this list.

For a variety of reasons and for quite some time, I had been trying find something else to do. The state of the industry is pretty awful compared to even just a few years ago. Soft being killed was the last straw. I started using Soft 3D in 1995 and next year would have been 20 years since I began my 3D career in NYC.

So instead of continuing on and having to learn a whole new set of tools, it was time to seriously evaluate my future in VFX. I was at the point where if one more person asked me to make a car out of smoke and turn it into 3 dragons made of water and one made out of fire, I was going to shoot myself.

I decided to go in an entirely new direction and began coursework to become a User Experience (UX) designer, which I completed a short time ago.

I spent a great deal of time on this list and I have to thank all of you who have pitched in over the years and helped me out. You're a great group of people. I felt a little bad having just signed off like I did, so on that note...

So long and thanks for all the fish.

Eric