Where did you start?

[MannyG]

I was just curious as to how and maybe what led you to get in the industry? what particular difficulties did you endure while starting out?

 

I would like to hear from everyone.

[ronll]

In 1991 I was an architect in private practice and I realized computers might have potential in architectural visualization. No software existed at the time so I adapted a shareware raytracer to autocad. It worked well so I started doing it full time and have never looked back. BTW, I still use the same shareware raytracer and Autocad.

 

One of the difficulties at that time was getting prints. I remember building a cardboard pyramid mounted to the front of my monitor with a 35mm film camera at the end to photograph the screen. The pix were terrible.

 

Ron Lloyd

http://www.ronlloyd.com

[STRAT]

started out as a trainee architect when i left school at 17 back in '89. quicky figured out that an architect was the last thing on earth i wanted to be, but started learning and doing in-house graphics for the firm i was working for at the time. This was in the days before 3dstudio (although i did help beta test the first 3d studio for DOS). I used AutoCAD R9/R10, Design CAD 3D, AEC for rendering, and AutoDESK Animator and Animator Pro for post.

[luckytohaveher]

In second grade, on the back of a spelling test... I failed the spelling test because I was too busy drawing a picture. It was uphill from there...

[Crazy Homeless Guy]

i don't know if there is a definetive point for myself. more or less several steps...

 

in second grade i would fill out the question about what do you want to be when you grow up as either a artist or architect. (i started here for a reference to you Ted.)

 

in third grade we used an Apple IIe or something with a program called Logo, that had a cursor called Turtle. it was more or less Basic coding that caused the Turtle to draw geometric patterns on the screen.

 

in 4th thru 6th grade or so, i would do fairly detailed 2 point perspectives of cities and buildings by hand.

 

in 7th and 8th i spent time programming my TI-81 to draw houses and such on the graph chart for extra credit in math class.

 

high school was mainly focused on more traditional art, with a few mechanical drawing classes thrown in.

 

then, in college studied architecture.

 

senior year of college i took job as an intern using FormZ and Photoshop on a 486, combined with picking up red-lines

 

then took my first full time visualization job.

 

i should also add that i have heavy exposure to the construction industry since i was 5 or so. i remember going to construction sites with my dad on Saturdays when i was young. i had my own hard hat and safety glasses. also, my dad would bring home spare sets of construction drawings for me to look at and decipher. after i turned 18 i spent a couple of summers working as a laborer for a construction company.

 

as for difficulties starting out when working professionally...

 

slow computers were a major factor (circa 1998), as i said above, i started professionally on a 486. after that, it took me a couple of years to get past the notion that everything had to be rendered, instead of doing some things in post. some things look so much better in post, and are about ten times faster to do in photoshop than to try and render them correctly. then there were the principles/owners of the firm to deal with. they knew the wanted to experiment in 3d, but did not have an understanding how long something would take, or why it was difficult for me to make tress, or why i needed a budget for software and hardware.

 

also, it took some time to learn how to estimate the amount of time it took to complete a project.

 

sorry, for the long post, i am just procrastinating, ...and it was fun to remember past things.

[dinhtuan]

I had computer in 1998 when i was 3year architect student and try to lean 3D follow friends . At this time they used Alantis render with autocad12 - it very slow at this time. I dont want to wait so I learned 3Dstudio for Dos .

[BrianKitts]

for the my starting point I have one word for ya.... LEGOs!!!!

 

In college I quickly saw the advantages that ctrl-Z has over re-inking mylar, which hooked me on the computer side of it. And I wasn't the best hand sketcher so I gravitated towards computer visualization.... haven't looked back and love it.... but regardless I think a degree in architecture will set anyone on the right path if they are looking to go into arch viz.

[Macpod]

Im still an architecture student and loving it. I want to be an architect but a lot of students are taking advantage of 3d softwares because they are becoming easier to use.

 

However what we do are mostly conceptual renders with minimal textures. Highly detailed renders don't 'sell' in crits. So most of us never bother to learn the finer details of computer rendering.

 

 

Although 3d programs are becoming more everyday i believe there will still always be a market for professional highly detailed renders in the commercial field.

[luckytohaveher]

Did I mention 3D Studio R1 on a 486?

 

How about autocad R9 on a 286 (and an 8088 XT Turbo with a math coprocessor).

 

How about my BA in Architecture Thesis on the Diamond Ranch High School site with a 100% digital 3DS MAX presentation. I was the first person in by program to ever deliver a 100% digital presentation. No drawings -- It was so high-risk, but it did work...

 

Oh the memories -- and the the pain. Doing anything complicated took ssssooooo much time and arduous effort. You young guys with the SketchUp have no idea of the pleasure and the pain!

[Crazy Homeless Guy]

\

However what we do are mostly conceptual renders with minimal textures. Highly detailed renders don't 'sell' in crits. So most of us never bother to learn the finer details of computer rendering.

 

nor should they. highly detailed renders are about communicating design concept, function, environment, etc.. in lehman's terms to someone who doesn't understand architecture or can envision design.

 

when i was in school, and when i was learning 3d, i often built my models in a similar manner that i would chipboards models. no more detail than that. although i do not recommend texturing it like a chipboard model. morphosis diamond ranch high school was rendered when i was school, so it more or less set a standard for style and concept in both model detail level, and rendering style.

 

if you concentrate on to much detail, or trying to make your renders look perfect, then you are spending time on something besides what your professors are trying to teach you. the time line you typically have to complete a project is equal to what is considered schematic design to early design development stages. detailed finished level renderings, especially photoreal renderings are often counter productive at this stage in a firm, where you have a longer time line for the same amount of work, and more people working on the same amount of work. your goal in school is should be simply to develop and understand design, concepts, and ideas. use the computer to communicate that, not to make a photoreal picture.

[MannyG]

hmmm..very interesting..thanks for that

[RodT]

My start with visuals began with my work as an environmental geoligist. I was involved in remediating contaminated sites and the animations we did were to demonstrate the various processes that we use to citizen groups, governmental agencies and the like. My loss of interest in wearing space suits to work, concern that I was bringing nasty compounds home to small children, prompted me to swing back into the land development arena. Never schooled in architecture, my association with architects and engineers drove my interest in their disiplines. Being the "nuts and bolts" guy I was on the sideline regarding the marketing of projects, but it was my observation that the hand done renderings were always a bottleneck and the dynamic aspect of land development was causing endless redo's of these hand done renderings causing delays in timelines and schedules. I began taking on visualizations when a particular project was nearing a public hearing and our rendering person was on vacation. I was hooked and have not looked back.

[luckytohaveher]

the bees knees

 

NO! just crazy...

[blowback]

Lego and ctrl-z......got that right.

 

I got my degree in fine arts but was disolusioned with the ivory tower route and hated artspeak, so the prospect of working a day job just so I could be seen at a certain opening or getting coffee for some has been local faculty member just didn't cut it. I created a lot of computer based art and admired architectural visualization from afar. I decided to obtain an architectural technologist diploma and combine my two educations. I thought I could bring a fresh approach to visualization. HA.

 

Starting out in the industry was a little tough because the early employers I had wanted construction documents, laughed at my art degree and out-sourced there renderings. So after work I said good buy to sleep and would model, model, and model, render, render, and render! Once the the portfolio was looking good I quite my tech job and have not looked back.

 

Now its good bye sleep hello model and render.

 

There is so much potential in this field. I am really excited to be a part of it.

[notamondayfan]

i started back around 1994, (when i was 16 ), when i discovered TRUE SPACE! woot! ive always enjoyed art, although i wasnt great, i found it fun. durning GCSE and alevels i combined 3d, 2d, and physical models to get my grades.

my carears advisors computer sugested architecture or jewlery design, and i then had a few work placements in architecture studios, and hated it! it was probably down to the fact they were small, new businesses, but neither inspired me.

when i started lookin at uni, my art teacher showed me a brochure for huddersfield school of architecture, where i saw a course called "smart design" and "multimedia and virtual reality design".

i eventually chose MMVR ba, mainly because i didnt really know which direction i wanted to take.

in my 3rd yr at uni i was desperate for a placement, and was lucky enough to land a placement at a large architects in leeds. as the only 3d person in the company, my skills improved quickly (well they had to!), and so my intersted in the industry really took over.

following my placement, i got offered a parttime job in a visualisation studio during my final year at uni, i graduated, and here i am today!

basically my advice is if you want to get into the industry, placements are the key!

[zzaharbo]

Did I mention 3D Studio R1 on a 486?

 

How about autocad R9 on a 286 (and an 8088 XT Turbo with a math coprocessor).

 

How about my BA in Architecture Thesis on the Diamond Ranch High School site with a 100% digital 3DS MAX presentation. I was the first person in by program to ever deliver a 100% digital presentation. No drawings -- It was so high-risk, but it did work...

 

Oh the memories -- and the the pain. Doing anything complicated took ssssooooo much time and arduous effort. You young guys with the SketchUp have no idea of the pleasure and the pain!

I Started in 1984, on Autocad 1.2 where we had two 5 1/2 disks and had to change them each time to save or run the programme. imagine Revit on two 256k disks. I was one of the first to run cad on pc in Brisbane Australia

[Antisthenes]

in 1990 at the Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology where i used to watch 3d animation in a little theater next to the omniverse and at home on autocad 11 with the 3d revolve command on my dads 486. before that i was always big into art and design drawing and making plans for possible transformers

 

always thinking i was going to do mechanical cad and winning competitions in that later to find out there was no work available in that field but there was for architecture so that is where i put my 3d multi media animation skills to use in the DR process only to end up earning for architects license the AZ way like FLW and Bruder

[architectandy]

I started out as an architect, but gave it up after a guy showed me all the cool stuff you can do with 3D. So Pat Hickey who used to work at Gilbert's in Edinburgh ... cheers mate, you set me on the path! If you're out there drop me a PM!

[Neil_cg]

I was your typical 15 year old computer nerd, playing with images and flash thinking I was an awesome designer (even though I was awful)

Spent some time playing with vue, but for a year I didnt really do anything with it.

 

Got a job as a CAD technician at a 3 man shop which left with very little to do a lot of the time, so I convinced by boss to buy me a copy of rhino because 3d was going to be the new in thing. Which I then got to spend around 3/4 hours a day learning.

2 years later when I went to my 'local' arch viz place to ask them how i'd go about getting into the industry, I got 3 hours of awesome advice and a job offer at the end because of my apparent enthusiasm. Still there now.

[jinsley]

in third grade we used an Apple IIe or something with a program called Logo, that had a cursor called Turtle. it was more or less Basic coding that caused the Turtle to draw geometric patterns on the screen.

 

Dude, I had mad skills at Logo... that turtle was my bitch...

 

It's interesting for me to read all these posts because I am starting out and it is reassuring to know that there is hope down the road...

 

I went to BCIT to learn Architectural and Buidling Sciences, dropped out when I got married and had a kid to find work and support my family and eventually got work drafting concrete gang-forms...

 

I work in Vancouver now with a firm near Granville Island, last year I started rendering projects for them by building 3d models in CAD, printing out my camera views and colouring them up in Photoshop... took me almost a year to convince them buy Viz and slowly, but surely the department (me) is picking up.

[Claudio Branch]

I started out using a Mac Quadra and PageMaker as a Layout Artist for the school newspaper. I loved working on the computer because I was surrounded by this magnificent substance known as AIR CONDITIONING.

 

From there, I became a Technical Illustrator for 5 years using a PC and AutoCAD to create artwork for helicopter manuals. After 5 years of wiring diagrams, flow charts, and instrumentation diagrams, I WAS BEATEN DOWN.

 

Next stop, I decided that I needed to continue using AutoCAD, but now as a Mechanical Designer. So I am designing refinery equipment for 2 years and I walk by a guy who is using Pro/E. Suddenly, I find 2D AutoCAD design work quite BORING.

 

Time to go learn Pro/E, switch jobs, and design pharmaceutical equipment for 5 years. I became weary of working in the manufacturing industry and bought a student version of Max 6. UH, HELLO ADDICTION!

 

Now I am a 3D Visualizer for a 114 year old engineering consulting firm. I still use AutoCAD alot and I don't mind it all. Because over the years, one thing didn't change - the AIR CONDITIONING.

[Joseph Petrino]

In the mid 80's I was working with a Cad program call GDS. I found out it had a well hidden 3D module. After about a 1/2 hour of manual typing I got a cube. Not just any cube, but one you could revolve around!

 

Everything changed right there.

 

btw, for years I was told I was wasting my time and the real money was in drafting.

[blowback]

 

btw, for years I was told I was wasting my time and the real money was in drafting.

 

 

ha

[Scott Dombrowski]

In 1996 I was going to school for graphic design outside of Chicago, but working for an engineering company cleaning up AutoCAD drawings. The drawing I was working on was of some automated assembly equipment and was for a presentation the following Monday. I had some free time, so I was playing around in AutoCAD (we used R12, I think) and found the "extrude" command. I thought it was so cool that I ended up modeling the whole machine in AutoCAD and brought the file to school where we had TrueSpace. I worked on the thing all weekend and brought images of the render back into work that Monday and the boss was floored. Soon after that, we had 3D Studio Max v1.2 and instead of cleaning up AutoCAD drawings, I made 3D renderings for presentations.

 

I finished up my AA in Graphic Design, got a BFA in Computer Art at SCAD, and did renderings and animations of machinery up until 2006. Then I followed a girl out here to Baltimore and shifted from machines to buildings when I got a job at an architecture/engineering firm. Now I'm happy as a clam.

 

I remember seeing a demonstration of Max v1 and the thing that hooked me was ironically what turned out to be one of Max's weaker links... booleans. The realtime viewport booleans were just cool beans when you've been working in AutoCAD R13/14 for so long. I also had fun with Truespace in the Mac lab at school. I tried FormZ, but for some reason it never really stuck for me. My first 3D "workstation" was a Pentium 266. I eventually convinced management to get me a dual PII 400. I had no idea if I could ever use all that processing power.

 

Sorry, was this a "where did you start" thread, or a "reminisce about the old days" thread?

[Guest nazcaLine]

i had my first computer ever in 2003, at 28 years old. i had finished architecture college by then (and yes, my whole college years were done in a drawing board with rotrings and rulers and hand-made sketches).

i started playing with autocad 3d, you know, extruding,revolving, cutting...usual stuff. i was amazed and fascinated. i discovered a little program called Bryce3D. this was my first 3d application and thought it was hiperrealistic. by that time i heard the most advanced program for making archviz was Viz, so i learned it on my own, just with the program-packaged tutorials. then i just learned all the rest on the internet. then switched to max (wasn't that difficult) and now i'm learning inverse kinematics, particles and reactor, and soon i'll start a course on character animation.

also i learned flash and actionscript, premiere, after effects, photoshop, dreamweaver, etc.

in just 5 years. but you got to be constantly learning new things in this career, to be up to date, so it isn't that unusual.

i want to learn something new everyday. just today, for example, i did a tut about making a teapot vanish like sand flowing in the wind with particle flow. amazing stuff.

Eduardo