What would you do when you feel hopeless

[maryam]

Hi,

Ok,i am very upset.i have spent lot of times on working to be good.but today i am hopeless.sick & i have stayed at house today.

i am working with vray & 3dsmax.i make my models in 3dsmax.my rendertimes are time consuming (vray standards) but some times the clients wants the work to be the same as accurender images!not real!or some other stuff.

untill now i didnt have any problem with interior.but i am having lots of problems with exteriors.specially high rise buildings.i am not confident anymore.tired to death.

They asked me to switch to revit or archicad! but i love max & working real.i am really tired.i am afraid of staying depressed & jobless!

i really need some advice.plz.

[kippu]

well take some time off ... relax , recharge your batteries ... work on revit for a while to satisfy your bosses and on the same time practice on your 3dsmax for exteriors and work your quality up ....

 

theres so much more to life than doing good visuals

[alexthg]

1. Sleep

2. Outsource the job to some guys doing archicad / accurender.

[ihabkal]

Listen, I worked in the US for more than 4 years, my last job was as a senior design viz specialist at Parsons Brinckerhoff, I won Cadalyst 2002 and was published many times. When I came back to Lebanon last year, I basically hit the wall. for years I was doing amazing renderings that have grass and trees as backgrounds, with realistic colors, lighting and really nice stuff, but here in Lebanon, and in Dubai, Saudi Arabia and the region in general they don't like that. THey want cartoony stuff that has too much saturation and looks like one of Pixar's animations. Every client and every country has it's style. ANd every artist has his style too. the client should approach you becasue he likes your product. You probably have worked likle I have with a few of those artistically void clients who want a tree that covers 60% of the rendering and a person (a girl mostly) that covers 40% of the rendering in the foreground. Is that your fault??? Not at all, you do great work, I promise you without seeing your work, simply brecause I have seen what clients here want. All of the clients in the Middle East would love it if you take a picture of a living room done by a photographer and scan it and stick it in your 4 walls interior and call that a rendering like what Moustapha Majzoub does. You can make tons of money like he did by using other people's photographs and publishings, or you can like me try to find appreciative clients elsewhere. These middle east clients don't pay well, they ask for their renderings to be done yesterday, they nag too much, and they criticise your portfolio idiotically (like some of tham say why all this grass? becasue this rendering was done in the US where there is grass not in the desert you cheap masochist!!!)

So don't let these ugly people make you feel bad like they did to me when I first came back to the middle east, say to yourself everyday that you're the best illustrator and don't let them break you down. they only do it so that they can pay you $50 per rendering. and they call themselves businessmen...

And about the looks of your renderings, follow the style that is more accepted in the country you're in if you just want to work and get paid (see what your competitors are doing), and follow your style if you want to hang your renderings on the wall and be happy with your artistic sense. it's logic.

[ihabkal]

I just checked your renderings and you really do great renderings. Don't let these #%#%@$# break you down, they only do it becasue they want you to lower your price or do renderings for free. You could make a ton of money in the US. you have an international style that is fit everywhere, but especially in the US, Canada and UK where they pay 10 times for a rendering more than in Iran, Lebanon or whatever. If you put the H1B visa problems aside, any US architectural firm would be lucky to have you. I'm talking from personal experience from working there with more than 300 clients on more than 400 projects since 2001.

[maryam]

thank you every body.

thanks ihab,i should wait & see what willl happen in the future.

[colinsmith]

I'm not sure if it's the case here, but I think sometimes we need to present a bit stronger appearance to clients. Not be nasty, not burn bridges, but not roll over and accept stuff too much.

 

If they want to meet, don't just accept any time they say, make it seem like you are being nice by squeezing them in sometime in the next week.

 

If they want something for $50 let them know they are only getting $50 of your time, "Ah, something cheap and nasty as a starting point, yeah, I can have a guy work on that for an hour"

 

If there's a big push for lower costs from them, trade it off against time, say you are busy with high end projects and can maybe fit in their budget stuff over a longer time, but can't give up "real" work to go fast for them.

 

I understand it's not always easy to give up a chance of some income, but I think things can spiral downhill quickly unless you try and make the client value what you do.

[IC]

I don't really understand the point of this thread Maryam. Are you just burned out or are you facing a constant struggle against unappreciative employers/clients?

 

Your work is of the highest quality but if your boss/client wants something less realistic or more conceptual, you might just have to quickly learn how to change style for that project. Business success all about adapting and there is more to CGI than photorealism. If you don't want to change however I'm sure you'd find work elsewhere.

 

I hope things get better for you.

[maryam]

yes ian,i had a very bad time.i had a very conceptual plan from my employer, they wanted to montage it on a real picture & it didnt come out very well.it made me crazy when they asked another person to do that.i couldnt stand it.but now i saw that the other person made it worse than mine!but it is true that some time i should adjust myself to be able to do some conceptual renders.like the chinese & korean renders.but we all know that its not easy.

also i dont know any reference for those renders.

& colin is right,some times i am doing every stupid thing that they ask me.i should not do that.i will lose some money but then i wont get mad & upset becoz of the ugly render.

but i think i need to take some rest.

thanks every body again.

[Chris Johnson]

Mary

 

I just looked at your portfolio and was amazed at how good your work is. I wish I had a chance to do such work.

 

If you have clients who criticize your work, just

A. Tell them to go to hell.

B. Raise your rates on them.

C. Protect yourself with an iron clad contract that specifiies that changes equals money, and lots of it if done after 5 PM.

 

Chris J.

[3DIFX]

Maryam,

 

Sounds to me like the problem may be more with your employer than with the clients. You may want to consider being your own boss. This way you choose the clients that you want to work for. Your work is excellent and I'm sure you wouldn't have any trouble getting work. Never give up on Hope. Life is about much much more than work.

[Ky Lane]

I know I get very passionate about my work too, and the frustration of having a receptionist dictate design guidelines to a masters graduate can often be so amazingly frustrating, I consider packing my bags and backpacking around Canada again before I burn out.

 

Remember, its just a job. Your 9-5 just pays for your 5-9.

 

I can sympathise though. Just realise, theres always more work out there, and unlimited clients. Dont be scared to try elsewhere, it would end up lucrative.

[kuneho]

Why not just try learning Accurender. It's not hard. It doesn't mean you have to use all your artistic talent in a 3D job all the time. The client should get what they pay for. The good thing is, you can add this new software to your resume. You can cater to a wider audience.

[maryam]

I can learn accurender & i can learn to do 3d modeling in autocad.but as u know those are limited softwares for 3d.i spent a lot of time on learning 3dstudio max & vray renderer.& i really enjoy it.i willnot go any better if i work in autocad & accurender.i wont be an artist.but i can improve lots of skills with 3dsmax & vray.The Reason that i am doing 3drenders is that i can see the reality of my design.i can see how is the real architecture in real life ,good or bad.then improve it.

the problem is that some clients want to make money very fast,they really dont care for a unique work or good design.they prefer the cartoonish style & fake long starnge shades made by omni lights!to cover all the ugly design.

 

I can fix 3dcad models or sketch up models to render them in max.(some times they are horrible & i have to remodel some parts from scratch)& i never complain.but any others who are working in sketch up & cad,& some times we need to work to gether.they just want to have every thing perfect .all the layers & different textures should be seperate & should have name.they will never try to find a way to fix it.i think its better for me bcoz i will learn to work in order.but some times i will go mad.

 

unfortunately the architectural firms dont care for realistic renderings yet.& they will blame on me when the work is ugly.they dont want to pay money to buy powerfull computers or hire more 3dartists to work in groups.or they dont care for real materials on renders if they are going to take a long time.

 

but its not fair.

[mahorela]

From reading your thread you just seem a little downtrodden, your work is indeed good though and if your clients are hiring you and then telling you that you need to change styles then something is wrong. I think it is important to insure that clients know they are hiring you based on the work you have shown them. If they decide at some point throughout the process that they want a different style that's their problem.....they should not have hired you in the first place. Stick up for yourself, remind them that they are the ones who hired you based on your portfolio.

[rotten42]

Hi,

Ok,i am very upset.i have spent lot of times on working to be good.but today i am hopeless.sick & i have stayed at house today.

i am working with vray & 3dsmax.i make my models in 3dsmax.my rendertimes are time consuming (vray standards) but some times the clients wants the work to be the same as accurender images!not real!or some other stuff.

untill now i didnt have any problem with interior.but i am having lots of problems with exteriors.specially high rise buildings.i am not confident anymore.tired to death.

They asked me to switch to revit or archicad! but i love max & working real.i am really tired.i am afraid of staying depressed & jobless!

i really need some advice.plz.

 

 

you need to step away for a break...maybe a week. Go do things you like to do for the majority of the time and then take the last portion to decide your future. Whatever you decide, do it 100% with confidence and no regrets.

For me when I get really stressed I have two mechanisms for elevating them:

1) Hop in the car and go attack some mountain twisties

2) Kick everyone out of the house while I test the limits of my guitar amplifier.

[itoocson]

I work with autocad and accurender and they are no match to 3dsmax. They are, however, fast. Most of the time I am required to produce 3 to 4 rendered images by the end of the day. AAARRRGHHH! I just find a private space and kick the drywall to release the pressure. I think your employers know how good you are, they just want to squeeze more out of you.

[Mario Pende]

Have sex!