Asai

[Tommy L]

We will need a leader tho. Im all for getting work delegated to me and then me doing it, its the 'rudderless ship' syndrome that would scare me off.

[Jeff Mottle]

We will need a leader tho. Im all for getting work delegated to me and then me doing it, its the 'rudderless ship' syndrome that would scare me off.

 

The ASAI has an entire board of members who are driving the ship and a new president who I spoke with at the last conference.

 

http://www.asai.org/ContactDetails

 

There's plenty of rudder, just not enough rowers. That's where this group comes in.

[Devin Johnston]

Now that we've signed up what will we be doing?

[sv@tangram3ds.com]

I just signed Tangram 3DS up on the ASAI web page. I was very positive surprised how easy and fast you can become a member online now. Nice upgrade right there. I will wait for further instructions. I guess we have to get the 50 people together first....can't spend more than the 40 hours

[Jeff Mottle]

Now that we've signed up what will we be doing?

 

I have a meeting tomorrow with the board, so I'll let them know where we are with numbers here and I'm sure they have plenty of places to use people. They still run the show, so I'm just helping the cause.

[Scott Erstad]

Thanks Jeff... and Mrs. Mottle.

[Crazy Homeless Guy]

I am interested in helping, but I also work in a architecture firm environment. Preferably I would be interested in whatever is asked of me to be related to the arch firm, but even if it is not, I am still interested. I am not currently a member, but have considered it in the past, and will proceed with joining if we are going to throw muscle into it.

 

So, a ‘in’ from here.

[aaron-cds]

I just got an e-mail from an advertising agency

 

Dear Aaron,

 

I would like to discuss with you a freelance project that we have available. We found your information on asai.org and were very impressed with the quality of your work. We would need for you to create 6 3d photo realistic renderings of a small private airport located near ....

 

I've had three repeat clients that found me through ASAI last year. $170 is well worth it, IMO.

[Sawyer]

Maybe we should now start putting together the list of suggestions and goals that we want or want to address. Getting the 50 will happen lets be ready to roll when we get there.

[Devin Johnston]

Well it seem like Jeff is saying the ASAI is going to give us a list of things that they want done and it's going to be our job to do it. The goal as I see it is to make the ASAI more responsive and interactive to the community, not just to specific situations that only benefit a small number of people. The membership should be a tangible benefit to those who hold it, while some seem to get their money's worth others don't and there should be other incentives to join besides the possibility of new work.

[Nils Norgren]

I remember when we first signed up for a "Corporate Membership" to ASAI (then ASAP) back in the mid 90's, when I went to the website some time later I found that under "Corporate Members" we were listed all alone.

 

I will throw my name in the ring, I have been looking forward to talking with Frank at the DMVC, and I will what I can to help the cause. There are many ways in which a group like ASAI can help the industry, some of which I think could come out during events like DMVC as well as the ASAI conference.

 

Lon from our office has gone to the last few ASAI events and had had a good response from the traditional renderers looking to learn more about the digital side of the industry.

 

-Nils

[Jeff Mottle]

Maybe we should now start putting together the list of suggestions and goals that we want or want to address. Getting the 50 will happen lets be ready to roll when we get there.

 

By all means, please do post what you want out of "your" organization. The only way to grow and improve the organization is for members to ask for what they want and then help the ASAI get it off the ground.

[Raycerx]

Great dialog we have here. I have not participated on this forum as of yet but I have been know to lurk from time to time. I would like to say thanks to Jeff for 'gathering the troops'. I think all of your participation in the ASAI would be invaluable. I have been newly elected to the boad as Member at Large so I guess my duty , among a bunch of things, is to try and be a connection between the membership and the 'board'. So, as Jeff has stated, please feel free to voice any and all concerns/ideas to me and I will be happy to pass them along as best as I can.

Basically ASAI is only as good as the effort that is put into it, simply put. What the ASAI has is a great deal of clout with the AIA and the architectural community as a whole. It is also a tremendous source of inspiration and talent. I am a digital guy -I guess- and was always intimidated by the already established illustrators who work in WC. I found that once I got involved these people were very helpful and approachable. My whole thing is to find the best out there regardless of what medium they use and learn as much as I can, even if it means just observing.

Anyway I will be there tomorrow afternoon for the meeting and look forward to getting things moving. As an aside, I am organizing the ASAI booth at the AIA national conference this May. One; this is great exposure to those who would be hiring illustrators/designers (and therefor a benefit of being a member of the ASAI) and two; it may open up some opportunities to get involved.

 

Anyway thanks for reading my ramblings.

 

Cheers,

Dennis

[aaron-cds]

Dennis,

 

I'm a huge fan of your work. It's some of the best digital arch-viz work that's out there.

 

I'm excited to hear that ASAI has a booth at the AIA show. As we all know, architects usually don't have the deepest pockets. Is there any attempt to expose the ASAI as a resource to developers or advertising agencies?

[Tommy L]

Dennis,

 

Is there any attempt to expose the ASAI as a resource to developers or advertising agencies?

 

Good point Aaron. I know alot of people here have said that being a channel for acquiring work is not the ASAI's function, but if you ask members who are responsible for their bottom line, its a priority.

[Raycerx]

Hey Aaron, thanks for the positive feedback... I greatly appreciate it. To answer your question, yes. There are several places where this happens and I think we can/should add more. The AIA conference will be filled with developers or at the very least, there will be a contingent of developer's there from across the nation. Second, my understanding is that the catalog being produced this year, AIP23, will be sent out by ASAI to about 1000 developers and architects. This mass mailing is accomplished with a good turn out and of course a healthy membership. Those are a couple of situations that come to mind. There may be more and like I said we could certainly add more. Also back to the ol individual thing... You could enter work in the Expose, Spectrum, and Play publications. Some are free, some are expensive. They do offer the illustrator an alternate audience for there work to be showcased...

[Ernest Burden III]

I know alot of people here have said that being a channel for acquiring work is not the ASAI's function, but if you ask members who are responsible for their bottom line, its a priority.

 

That is a top priority with the NYSR. But there's no reason that a group cannot be an advocate for their member's careers (help them market, get work) and also be a networking nexus and general industry leader and watchdog. All of the groups have done all of those things in varying amounts fo effort and success.

 

I have not participated on this forum as of yet but I have been know to lurk from time to time.

 

Dennis, I think you know the high esteem I hold your work from posts I've made on CGtalk, but for those here--I think Dennis' work is the bees-knees. Damn, this guy's good!

[Raycerx]

Hi Ernest... Thank you. I have also enjoyed your work and am amazed at the breadth of your work AND the consistent high quality that you achieve - very impressive.

 

Thinking about the AIA as a model they: advocate, help with standardizing documentation, continuing education, networking, etc. So although our organization(s) are small they can still approach several major areas that can help its membership professionally...

[Chad Warner]

It seems like the AIA is the closest Role model that everyone is looking for the ASAI to be, so I think it would be great if there could be some implementation of what the AIA has into the ASAI (standard contracts would be a good start).

[jkletzien]

While it needs to be cleaned up, and updated:

 

http://www.asai.org/Contracts

 

is already free for everyone as a starting point.

[Chad Warner]

I'm not an official member yet, so it's hand's off for me (for now)

[Jeff Mottle]

Here's the latest. Keep them coming.

 

 

1. Jeff Mottle

2. Devin Johnston (Maxer)

3. Sawyer Fischer (Sawyer)

4. Ian Kinman (ikinman)

5. Stefan Vittori

6. jon kletzien (jkletzien)

7. John Dollus

8. Chad Warner

9. Tom Livings

10. Gary Allison

11. Aaron Coon

12. Scott Erstad

13. Travis Schmiesing

14. Nils Norgren

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[moshenko]

I would love to offer up my time, but can anyone fill me in on how the ASAI helps with companies that are outside of the US? I have always been aware of their "North American" membership but I haven't seen anything that specifically relates to Canada, which is my location. I have been interested in setting up an affiliation here in Toronto for some time, but I am not sure if the ASAI is the organization to cozy up with. Any thoughts from those that are currently ASAI members?

[gfa2]

I would love to offer up my time, but can anyone fill me in on how the ASAI helps with companies that are outside of the US? I have always been aware of their "North American" membership but I haven't seen anything that specifically relates to Canada, which is my location. I have been interested in setting up an affiliation here in Toronto for some time, but I am not sure if the ASAI is the organization to cozy up with. Any thoughts from those that are currently ASAI members?

 

I just recently joined, so I can't really comment other than it looks like they currently have about 38 members from Canada.

[Brian Cassil]

I've been buried under work for the last several weeks and just came across this thread. To be honest, I'm actually surprised it has taken this long for something like this to happen. There have been many discussions about the value of organizations like asai, sai, nysr, etc. but the discussion has always ended with something to the effect of "you get out of it what you put into it" (which is very true of course). Nice to see some some real action (or at least plans for real action) to make something even better and I especially like Jeff's comments about why do we need to limit our organization to be only like that what others offer?

 

A couple of years ago I was part of a group of people behind starting a local organization here in the Salt Lake area. Our goal was to become a registered Siggraph chapter. We were going great with bi-monthly meetings, guest speakers, competitions, etc. We had some great attendance, close to 100 people at a couple of the meetings but we had a hard time adding people who were dedicated to the core group to keep the thing moving forward. One person moved, another had to bail out because of other commitments, and before we knew it the thing was dead. So I can appreciate how vital having commited people to an organization can be, and how delicate the structure of that organization can get if just one or two people were to go away.