Hi Matthew,
A recurring thing going through your mails is "I am technically and
mechanically minded though". To me this suggests something similar to what
Bernie is involved in - Architectural Previz. Not too much organics in that
area [ as in character stuff ] . I notice an upsurge in this over here in
Ireland due to the massive building boom going on for the last few years.
Massive tax breaks on apartment construction and rental etc. I find most of
the pre viz stuff is done in England for the Irish market for example, so a
niche in my case straight away.
3D in Ireland is very conservative. To most it is "Mechanical Drawing" on a
computer. Autocad and Cad is what most people will trip off their lips. The
concept of 3D / CG movies and creative 3D is - well - not taken seriously.
This because you are dealing with a conservative business environment here.
The most creative aspect then is pre viz for new building projects. At
least one can use a bit of creativity with texturing etc. AND the
conservative business model can see some use in this area of 3D.
Not alone would I restrict it to pre viz stills, but also walk throughs. I
have one of these walk throughs on CD by a company in Dublin for a property
here in Cork for example. [ too big to upload + copyright ].
From above a big consideration to get into the 3D business OR any business
is the demographic makeup, size and attitude. For most businesses here,
conservatism rules the roost. Trying to sell them all bells and whistles CG
is useless. They cannot see the potential. It sounds like a waste of money.
So either arc pre viz OR product pre viz is as close to something they can
see makes sense. Why not also - web 3d. www.realviz.com are following this
route with a new app on the market called VTour. Once this app is up a few
versions it could be interesting for Auctioneer animated pre viz of new
properties or any property.
I hope you see where I am coming from. Its all fine to be great at the
technicalities of 3D and being able to do whiz bang stuff, but down in the
trenches its got to make sense and have purpose for the perspective client.
The previz area is one of these "purpose" areas of CG that makes sense, so
maybe you could look at this area in your neck of the woods. Also what is
business attitude like in your area? Conservative? OR Yip we will give that
a go type thing? Or is nepotism [ who you know ] and insular viewpoints [
inward looking and local ] the order of the day? These things will restrict
or open out perspective biz areas in CG.
I have no doubt Bernie is your man for a further comment here and to expand
on requirements, he is on the ground with this type of stuff.
[ PS bernie, now you know why my interest is in that LWCad toolset :) ]
Cheers
Aidan
At 06:11 19/07/2006, you wrote:
Wow, that's a lot of time doing graphics! I certainly don't have a degree
in anything (I a self learner), and only 12 years of hobby experience with
Realsoft. I technically and mechanically minded though, and understand
spacial relationships really well, so I think I'd do okay with non-organic
kinds of models and such.
I wonder if computer graphics are suffering the same attitude that
programming gets, i.e. they are considered more a commodity and should be
able to be created by any 18-year old with a cracked copy of Max (as
Bernie pointed out), and bought for next to nothing? I wonder where I
might find a niche?
Oh, and I'll definitely wear my spacesuit! :-)
Matthew
Neil Cooke wrote:
Beware ... it's one thing to have fun with 3D graphics and it's quite
another thing to require it to pay your mortgage. Usually it's not all that
much fun until you've put more than a few years in the sweat shops and have
gained a bit of seniority. You're probably best advised to simply scale back
your other job so that you can have more time for fun.
In my case, an Honours Degree in Fine Arts, ten years in agencies and twenty
years freelance ... and I'm only now beginning to scale back the non-fun
parts of graphics in favour of the fun (but not paying) parts.
However, if your fun turns into a decent skill level, you'll know it and
you'll know if you can take on strange requests from friends and who knows
where things lead.
Don't bother with the starving artist thing, it's been done before and seems
to end the fun sooner than need be. Maybe just to tend towards a certain
direction at any chance, have fun, stay healthy, don't wander about outside
the ship without your spacesuit on, things like that ...
Neil Cooke
----- Original Message -----
From: "Matthew Hagerty" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Realsoft Mailing List" <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, July 19, 2006 3:30 PM
Subject: OT: graphics for a living?
I would really like to try and do a career change and get into computer
graphics instead of database programming and such. Any advice from
those of you who make a living with your work would be greatly
appreciated. How does one go about cutting their teeth and earning a
living? Also, what do you think of sites like this?
http://www.ifreelance.com/Freelance-Jobs/3D-Graphic-Design-Freelance-Jobs/
Thanks,
Matthew
