Qualifications?

[sjk]

hello,

 

i'm a young architectural visualiser working in a very large company, just without any qualifications. Just recently i decided that the best way to progress my carreer is to go back to college/university for a while.

 

i was just wondering what degrees/courses/diplomas some of you guys did to get into this field of work as i cant seem to find the right course for me, and as a result am thinking of going back into the graphic design industry, which whilst im happy to do, would rather not.

 

any pointers are suggestions are most welcome, thanks in advance

[Ray]

Not to be rude, but a little searching the forums goes a long way:

 

http://www.cgarchitect.com/vb/showthread.php?t=11613

 

 

http://www.cgarchitect.com/vb/showthread.php?t=11495

 

http://www.cgarchitect.com/vb/showthread.php?t=11608

[Eric]

Personally, I purchased a student copy of Max2.5 back when I was in school for a Communication Design (Advertising Art) degree. A motorcycle wreck, and getting married, slowed down my school, and forced me to focus on working full time. Now, with a kid, well, I just might never finish school....

 

The place I work now hired me to do 2D cad drafting, and I knew absolutely no cad. I learned everything on the job. The only thing that helped me was that I'd gone through every tutorial I could find on Max, so I was able to immediately start creating some presentation images.

 

If I had it to do over again, I'd have to seriously decide which direction I wanted my career to go.

 

I'd love to do 3D set creation for major movies. Other than skills with the software used in a given studio, I'd assume a degree in Radio TV Film would be extremely helpful.

 

If I wanted to do renderings of products, like the latest cell phone or ipod, I'd think an art degree would help tremendously.

 

For rendering buildings, obviously I'd think an architectural degree would be great.

 

Now, before everyone jumps in and says you don't need that stuff, I agree. It would definitely be helpful though to have a background in the area so that when someone comes to you and says "hey, make it look like an art deco style painting", or "hey, use something with an analogous color scheme", or "hey, blah blah blah" (I know nothing about movie industry termonology), you'll know what they're talking about.

 

So, your idea of going back into the Graphic Design industry is a good one, if you really want to. It will give you a strong background artistically, and develop you in many different areas. However, most of what you learn will be in your career. Your degree will just help you get the position. After that, it's up to you.

[sjk]

thank you for the links ray, some useful information in there. ill search first next time (although i did stumble across one of them after i had posted this).

 

thanks for the reply tooEric, some food for thought in there.

 

after reading all of those threads and having a chat with my current employer i think im going to decide what kind of path i want to do and do something a bit more specialised such as Interior Architecture, as opposed to a more generalised subject like Multimedia Design.

 

thanks again