advice for someone starting off

[coolian`]

I want to get into Architectural and Product visualization but i need to know where to begin. I have experience in Maya and mental ray. Right now im in college taking 3d animation courses but im leaning more towards visualization.

 

What kinds of things should i be practicing. Should i create a demo reel?

[skywalker]

My suggestion would be to study various renderings and animations done by artists from this site and others that relate to visualization. I started asking the same questions three years ago while in college and realized that building a solid portfolio of your best work will get you the jobs. Learn as much as you can about architecture from an exterior to interior point of view. Don't worry about getting it right at first, it will take you some time to develop good technical and artistic skill in this field. Make several conceptual hand drawings of your work before modeling to show that you have an artistic quality to your approach as well. If you are going free lance, create a online website of your work showing your strengths and skill level, also including your demo reel. Keep your demo reel down to three minutes at best. Most clients or potential employers will not spend too much time on your reel. Make sure you create several good still images showing correct composition and lighting. Hope I have answered all your questions and good luck.............

 

Pixal Animation

 

Rudy Lovato

[shaneis]

I've been down the same path, sitting amongst animators to learn a 3D app.

Always remember the following...

 

1. Animators (often) have a problem with ego - any 3D that does not involve a transforming robot, or a penguin is not cool, and is a "lower form of 3D". Hmm, I'm expecting a "really cool" movie about transforming penguins any time now.

2. Practise your modelling, become fast and accurate,

3. Don't let anyone tell you that NURBS are old-fashioned. Using Maya, you have access to one of the better NURBS toolsets available.

4. Throw yourself head-first into mr4m. Turn your back on Maya Software with the contempt it deserves. Know mentalRay, and you can adapt that knowledge to any real renderer.

5. Realise that you'll probably learn very little about rendering - particularly mentalRay - at an animation college, you'll have to carry yourself through most of it.

6. Rendering concerns in film/ animation aren't quite the same as those for archVis. For example, G.I., IES and DoF are not dirty words in vis.

7. Pass your vfx/ particles, rigging modules, but don't stress over it.

8. Get your hands on as many Gnomon DVD's about lighting, rendering and mentalRay as possible - they'll get you started on how to tune your lights/ render settings for speed and quality. Also get the Digital Tutors DVD's for architectural rendering and mentalRay - these are often less in depth but are more up-to-date and easier to follow when you're starting out. Buy Jeremy Birn's "Digtal Lighting and Rendering 2nd Ed." book - though remember that it is a guide, not a rule-book. Hang- out on this site, along with myMentalRay.

9. Find a lecturer at your college that is interested in rendering/ mentalRay and get as much info out of them as possible. Ask questions...always.

10. Practice on simple models. You can learn a lot from rendering a few primitives in hundreds of different ways.

11. Don't limit your study to 3D, learning about photography, colour theory and so-on will help enormously.

12. When you become overwhelmed at how much there is to learn (and you will be), don't give up. Push even harder.

13. At the end of your animation course, when your cool animator colleagues start begging you to help them rendering their transforming-penguins/ really-Cool-Mech-Bot-monster-thing for their student reels ...laugh at them

 

All the best.

 

S.

[coolian`]

Thank you guys so much for the response. great posts

 

What kind of work should i be including in a portfolio? Stills, flybye's?

 

also, when should i think im ready to take on viz jobs? and how would i go about finding clients?