Fran Posted December 18, 2007 Share Posted December 18, 2007 I started doing 3d viz in 1997 while I was with McKinney and Co (thanks Art). After my son was born in 1998, I started doing freelance 3d from home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommy L Posted December 18, 2007 Share Posted December 18, 2007 I was born rendering in 1978, when they cut my cord they said I went wireless, my first words were 'vray' and 'i hate maxwell'. My mother abandoned me in a computer factory and I was raised by IBM. I speak binary and have 3 exhaust fans...... but seriously, I started using 3d/Acad whilst doing my architecture degree (97), 1st 3d job in 2000, now run a studio in Chicago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chasteen Posted December 18, 2007 Share Posted December 18, 2007 First professional job in '92. It was for 2 stills and a short animation. All of it was done on a 486DX running at 66MHz (Ouch). Opened an office in '95 and I've been a recovering "All-Nighter" since 2003. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjornkn Posted December 18, 2007 Share Posted December 18, 2007 To you "old-timers" working since '86 or '87, what was the software like then? What rendering engines were you using? Render engines?? I was using Atari ST (1MB RAM running at 8MHz and floppy drive - later 60MB HDD and 2MB RAM) with Cyber Studio (and later also Cyber Sculpt), made by Tom Hudson, who later made 3D Studio (with the Yost group). B&W with dithered grey shades at 640x480, or 16 colors at 320x240res. But it was a great help for dimensioning and placing my art projects in public buildings, which was my full-time profession at that time. Later I was swallowed by the tools Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horhe Posted December 18, 2007 Author Share Posted December 18, 2007 Render engines?? I was using Atari ST (1MB RAM running at 8MHz and floppy drive - later 60MB HDD and 2MB RAM) with Cyber Studio (and later also Cyber Sculpt), made by .... And im complaining when max hungs up... I was playing with ZX spectrum when i was a kid, making all sorts of images using the keyboard characters and 8 colours.... dont know if anyone recalls this - but the screen was your canvas and you had about 50 lines of text you could input and modify line by line to create castles and giants...IN FULL (well almost) COLOUR!... does that count as a rendering? Not to mention the free techno music from the tape recorder ...i hate techno... Lambros Potamianos im with you ;] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Hunt Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 I remeamber a friend showing me how to etrude text and BEVEL it back in '89 on a Atari, I though well thats all well and good but what use is it? Fast forward 10 years and most 3D packages still couldnt extrude text let alone bevel it:p I learnt 3D with Strata Studio Pro, then onto 3DS Dos, now that was a great piece of software. My first real computer was a 286 wit ha whole 16mb of Ram. When I eventually upgraded to 32mb I had to go lie down. My first computer was a second hand specturm with a tape drive, I still remeaber playing 'Who Dares Wins" on it. JHV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horhe Posted December 19, 2007 Author Share Posted December 19, 2007 wow...its already been 5 years with my own company. ..a.bout 1.5 years playing around with it before then. I think I might take a few months off. I'm feeling really burnt out right now. Too many people wanting too many projects on tight timelines. Gotten yourself into another "108 renders in 21" days mess ? heh... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archi Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 Since 1992 as hobby, in 1998 3D become my regular job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rotten42 Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 Gotten yourself into another "108 renders in 21" days mess ? heh... no no no! I'm not doing that again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hockley91 Posted January 25, 2008 Share Posted January 25, 2008 I've been doing it since 1997. I've been moonlighting during the evenings since around 2002. The pay has been great for the work I have done. I do architecture during the day and my real passion lies with 3D visualization. Unfortunately, I'm having a hard time leaving the day job and making that massive leap to form my own business. It's been stressful doing both and having a wife and 3 kids. Not much room for great family time sometimes. Plus, health insurance is a big deal for us. We both have pre-existing conditions and private health insurance won't cover us unless we're in a business group health plan. Here in Texas a group health plan "must" cover pre-existing conditions. All I need is me and one other employee and I could have group health insurance. A lot of people have their spouse as the other employee. I'm sure my monthly premiums will be incredibly high.....no one wants to insure me. How did all of you guys make that giant leap? I'm really sick of architecture right now. All the problems and stress that I don't have control of. Dealing with the developers and AEC consultants who don't really care about the project timeline? Sheesh. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blowback Posted January 26, 2008 Share Posted January 26, 2008 I love hearing the stories of 32mb or ram..... sounds like covered covered wagon times. I have been doing this professionally for 2 years. work all night, work all weekend, work , and more work. There is just so much to learn, so many good artists...... and so little time. Best job ever ever! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyinHawaiian Posted January 28, 2008 Share Posted January 28, 2008 Wow, a bunch of old pros here! I feel like a noob again! I've only been doing 3d for 7 years. And yep, learning something new all the time! When I first started out, I landed at a small company, working 6 months straight without weekends or holidays (16hr days). Since then, things haven't been quite so hectic up until I started off on my own near the end of this past year. Back to crazy hours and long days. But, it ain't a bad gig. Besides, it's for the family, so any sacrifice is worth it. You do kind of have to do be a perfectionist/masochist to put up with hardware/software/IT issues though. When kids come along, it'll be a breeze by comparison! BTW, Hockley, you might want to check out the insurance Costco.com offers. I looked into it briefly before I figured out that I could add myself to my working wife's coverage. And at least you don't have any state income tax in your state. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Cassil Posted January 28, 2008 Share Posted January 28, 2008 I'm also surprised to see so many doing this for 15 years plus. I got started learning and dabbling in 95. Started getting paid for it in 97. Started doing work on the side a little while after that. I now manage a small staff of visualization artists in a large architecture firm (large for the region ~150 people), and still do my side work. It's a perfect fit for me. I love the steady paychech and the interaction with the designers during the day and I also love the extra money and the chance to be in charge for the work on the side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creasia Posted January 28, 2008 Share Posted January 28, 2008 I started using Max for interactive learning in 1998. Started doing vector rendering in 2000 for export into Flash. I did my first Arch Vis job in 2004 and have been hooked on CGA and vray ever since. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gfa2 Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 Interesting thread. I started teaching myself 3D in AutoCAD in '93, I did everything with 3d faces....ouch, I didn't know any better. Solids all the way now. Started learning max with version 2 and quickly stopped doing the renderings in AutoCAD. Going even further back, when I was 12 I designed a deck on a Microsoft Paint type of program but it was on a Commodore 64, I drew it to scale and dimensioned it....pixel by pixel. I built that deck with my dad 7 years later. Good times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D.B. Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 Do you remember Topaz? I started with this program in ‘91, after working and waiting 20 years for computers and software to develop.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redzuan3828 Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 so inspired me this tread... I start teaching myself in 2006 using sketchUp 4 then after that 3ds max 8 And now 3ds Max 9. But I think a lot of skill to be learn before start freelance. I'm working at architect firm. I hope I can be like You guy..... It my dream Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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