Outsider

[broozee]

Hi all,

 

I've been curious for a very long time, and finally built up the courage to ask the question. Is it possible for someone to enter into architectural visualization with an Industrial Design degree? Currently, I've been designing trade show exhibits but am starting to burn out.

 

I like rendering and have taken an interest to it more thanks to Maxwell and Vray. Unfortunately, my income is based on being a designer. Is it possible, that a company from the architectural community would give an outsider a chance at rendering?

 

Regards,

Bill

[AJLynn]

Sure, if you've got some expertise and a good portfolio.

[broozee]

Thanks! Perhaps there's hope after all .

 

Regards,

Bill

[AJLynn]

If you want, you can post some portfolio images here or on the image board and get some advice on that. Also, be warned that some patience may be needed, and as in any field a lot will depend on where you are, what you know and who you know.

[broozee]

Thanks Andrew for the extra info. I figured the transition would take some time. Especially since I don't know anyone in the industry. If I have something decent to post, I will give it a try. Right now, i'm brushing up on my Max skills since that seems to be the program of choice for your industry.

 

Thanks again!

[jophus14]

I work at a great architecture firm doing their 3D architectural visualizations and all I have is an Associate Degree from a community college. I didn't even learn half of what I know from my classes at school. Not to say that they didn't help, but my portfolio is what got me the job. It's not about what a resume says, it's about what you can do for the company and they wanna see examples of your work. Go for it.

[Adehus]

Sure... it can be done. My degree was in ID, but I'm designing retail stores and doing visualization for retail. It just takes time to generate a portfolio and generate relationships.

 

Personally I feel as though a design/visualization offering is an ideal mix- primarily because the amount of viz work local to me isn't adequate to keep me busy full time. Naturally, your circumstances may vary, and perhaps if I was more aggressive on the viz front then mine would as well.

 

Anyhow, good luck with whatever you decide to do!

[broozee]

jophus14 and Adehus,

 

Thank you both for the response. All the insight in this thread is giving me encouragement. I know I'm ready for a change and the transition will take time. But from what I'm gathering, it seems my efforts may be worth while.

 

If you don't mind me asking, is 3DS Max the preferred program? From my research, Studio seems to be the program most firms use to import an Autocad model and then render? Is this accurate?

 

Thanks again!

 

Regards,

Bill

[NOOXY]

hey man if you have the talent then ehy not persue it, most of what i do is self taught and by being a member in here only makes your skills increase with time and practise and some effort..

 

just my 2 cents:cool:

[AJLynn]

Max has the biggest market share but there are others that get used, like Cinema4D and Maya, and it's not that hard to switch if you need to once you learn the concepts. Max has good Autocad compatibility and more render plugin options than the others, but it's expensive. One nice thing about Cinema is you can buy a less expensive base program and add modules as you need them. Maya has great mental ray integration and some really high end modeling and scripting, and gets the most use among architects who use computation as a design medium.

[broozee]

hey man if you have the talent then ehy not persue it, most of what i do is self taught and by being a member in here only makes your skills increase with time and practise and some effort..

 

just my 2 cents:cool:

 

Im considering having a go with it. I'm not a total virgin with rendering. I'm just nervouse about entering a completely different field and catching up the pro's.

 

I can tell already this site has a ton of knowlege which is encouraging.

 

Thanks for the response!

 

Regards,

Bill

[broozee]

Max has the biggest market share but there are others that get used, like Cinema4D and Maya, and it's not that hard to switch if you need to once you learn the concepts. Max has good Autocad compatibility and more render plugin options than the others, but it's expensive. One nice thing about Cinema is you can buy a less expensive base program and add modules as you need them. Maya has great mental ray integration and some really high end modeling and scripting, and gets the most use among architects who use computation as a design medium.

 

Interesting. Do a lot of visualization experts also do their own modeling? I was under the assumption a model is provided and then a visualization department for example, would render? Maybe this is depends on the firm?

 

I have 3DS Max 7.0 that I'm brushing up on and I prefer / love Rhino as a modeler. One of the hardest things I will struggle with letting go is Rhino.