why did u go into aarch vis

[DAN212222]

personally, i used to work for an architects who had one man doing there arch vis.. and he was always surfing the internet looking on here, and fhm.com, when i asked him has he not got anything to do he said im rendering and started laughing at me as i was chained back to my drawing board doing technical amendments to a housing scheme... thats when it clicked for me...

 

dan

[STRAT]

when i was leaving school i wanted to be a graphics designer, but there wasn't much scope or opportunity at the time for me, so mt careers master in school advised i go into architecture.

 

at the time (way before cg was invented ) i didnt even know what architecture was, so i thought as long as it involves drawing i'd give it a bash.

 

within 2 years or so the practice i was in bought in some ever so expensive 286/386 pc's, and a copy of autocad. i like doing this so much i self tought myself the 3d side of things.

 

i much prefer the 3d/visualisation side of this business, so i decided to follow this route instead of the architects route.

[IC]

I kind of fell into my architectural technician apprenticeship like Strat, not really knowing what I could do that involved drawing. I applied to do architecture at uni but my mate's dad was an architect and he told me that if I didn't love architecture I shouldn't do an intensive 7 year course (good advice!).

 

3d Graphics (not architectural!) was always an interest ever since I saw the Dire Straits Money For Nothing video.

Then when I realised anybody could do it, it became my hobby and I slowly got drawn to the arch viz side. Now I kind of sleep, eat and breathe it!

[mbr]

I wanted to be an architect since I was about 13. I went through 7 years of school (4+3 for grad), did very well, and started working. I design(ed) in 3D, so I'd be doing the viz work, too. The dedicated 3D guy had his own office, 3 duals, 3 monitors, and I'd catch him sleeping on the job all the time! This, and he never worked past 4 were I'd be there 60-70 hours a week.

Once I found out how much he made and how much people charge for this, I never looked back.

 

Many other reasons, of course, but mostly came down to getting paid much more than architecture and working less.

[Jeff Mottle]

I'd known since I was about 13 or 14 I wanted to do something in Architecture. Originally I was planning to go to Architecture school but I was not too keen on the idea of 6 or 7 years of school and an undergrad for 4 years doing advanced High School, so I opted to go the technical college to take Architecture Technology, which was about 50/50 design and drafting. Main advantage was only 2 years and you were pretty much guranteed a job. I started working for a local estate home builder out of school and about 6 months in he wanted to start getting into 3D, so we purchased a copy of 3D Studio 4 DOS and away I went hacking my way along. Only ended up working there for another 6 months before I left for SMED where I did Lightscape work for nearly 7 years and is where I really realized this is something I wanted to do for life and never again draft! Oddly other than technical school I've not intentionally planned much in my carreer to end me up where I am. So I guess the only reason I am here is becuase I like it and it kind of just worked out that way. Of course having started CGA has taken things to a whole other level and much bigger career options (Smoothe and now Element2).

 

I still find it funny that CGA and my career are where there are today. All becuase as the trailers were rolling for the first Shrek I had this "crazy" idea that I would start a portal so that people would post jobs to the site and I would not have to go job hunting. Somehow it spiralled out of control LOL.

[Ernest Burden III]

I'd known since I was about 13 or 14 I wanted to do something in Architecture....So I guess the only reason I am here is becuase I like it and it kind of just worked out that way.

 

The opposite is true with me on the first point, but not the second. The path of least resistance does not necessarily take you where you really want to go.

 

If you are interested in a more detailed explanation of how someone falls into being a renderer, read the interview I did for CGA way back when: http://www.cgarchitect.com/upclose/article1_EB.asp

 

warning--it's a lot of words.

[jlaezza]

I have always been fascinated by computer renderings. I think it was the idea that you can create something beautiful and lifelike within a lifeless set of controls.

 

While working on my Bachelors and Masters degrees in architecture, I made it a point to incorporate as many 3D images and Visualization techniques as possible.

 

For my graduate thesis I designed a web based, 3D, interactive system and it worked out so well that they added a thesis award for use of computer in thesis design and presentation. Needless to say, I won the award. That moment pretty much sealed it up.

 

Then when someone was willing to pay me to do what I already enjoyed and put me in a position where I could learn more and become even more skilled; I took it in a second.

 

Now, all I need to do is make the full jump from grad student/TA to professional 3D modeler/freelance artist. So far I am about 70% there.

[Devin Johnston]

In High school I loved drafting and naturally I thought that Architecture would be the perfect career for me. I got my bachelors degree and started working at a small architecture firm and quickly found out that I was going to be a CAD monkey for at least the next 3 years; I also found out that the money really wasn’t that good. Luckily in school I took every 3d class they offered and loved it. So I decided to start looking for a job just doing 3d work and I was shocked to find out that the salary was a good 60% higher than what an architectural intern would make strait out of school. That was the straw that broke the camels back, I jumped on it and never looked back. I have to say that I love the way people in our position are looked to, and are treated by the architects we work for. I am far more involved in projects than most of the architects are, I'm given all the resources I need, I really don't have to answer to anyone, and I get to basically play on the computer all day....and they call this a job!

[Brian Cassil]

 

All becuase as the trailers were rolling for the first Shrek I had this "crazy" idea that I would start a portal so that people would post jobs to the site and I would not have to go job hunting.

 

 

Aren't we all so glad you had that "crazy" idea.

 

For me, I first started drafting part time for my Dad's small arch firm when I was 16 and I thought for a long time that I wanted to be an architect just like him. It wasn't untill I returned from 2 years in Brazil that I seriously evaluated what I wanted to do with my career.

 

However, I was in a two year school planning to soon transfer to a university when one of the instructors asked some of the more advanced drafting students about starting a 3D class. Having never even heard of doing 3D in ACAD before it sounded fun so I jumped on board. I remember thinking that there had to be a better way and my instructor told me to check out 3D studio R4. Once I saw how that worked I was hooked and knew that I wanted to do something with 3D graphics for my career.

 

As far as education went from there I had to give up on pursuing a degree, because I couldn't find any to pursue. So I made up my own curriculum: a bunch of art classes, some computer graphics classes, bought a computer and a student version of 3D studio, and started building a portfolio. At first the plan was to use architectural viz as a spring board into a gaming career, but somewhere slowly I became convinced that arch viz was a career itself.

 

Now, besides the full time gig managing all the viz work at the largest arch firm in the intermountain area (which isn't all that big, only about 100 people) I also teach part time in the same lab where I took that first 3D class almost 10 years ago.

[Bugga_Guy]

I totally landed in this field by accident and now, would not change it for anything. I never even knew this field existed until 3 years ago.

 

I was originally a 2D animator tied to a chair and whipped making Sat morning cartoons ( I mainly did storyboards and backgrounds) - doing backgrounds gave me a keen sense in designing buildings and architecture. I loved drawing but I hated my workplace and the directors (who had a "I am god - and you suck" kind of attitude). Also drawing stupid turtles and fuzzy bunnies didn't help either. I tell you folks, 2D animation is the worst job out there. Already when I graduated from Sheridan (Canada's leading school in animation and 2nd to CalArts in the US), the industry was very saturated with 2D animators, and the rumor was - 3D animation is where it's at.

 

So part from my 2D animation job I took 4 nightschool classes in Maya and 3ds Max to get me started, and taught myself the rest. With max at my side I got an interesting job where became a lead artist for a video game company. But after Sept 11 (as you all know) the company lost all its investors and folded - sadly which left me to scamble to find some work.

 

Luckily, I got a call from an agent saying that a company was up to their head in 3D work -(doing walkthroughs for condos in dubai). They were so desperate for anyone who knew 3d, even people who didn't even have a background in architecture.

 

I loved the job, worked on some pretty cool projects too. I learned alot and enjoyed the idea of 3d and architecture so much I went to night school and got my architcture technologist degree and did freelance for a few years. Oddly my work became very popular with landscape and architecture firms (one of them now which I work fulltime) that delt with animation companies/corporations wanting to do themed architecture like in theme parks.

[caddiellac]

I saw my senior's work using CG when I was in my 1st year of architecture school- when i was just picking up on manual renderings. Then i saw a more professionally done CG work on a billboard promoting a renovation design of an office building in town. I think thats when i started looking around for 3d classes because there was none at where i was studying. So i went to this autodesk training center to learn 3d. The lecturer / trainer there introduced me to this world of 3d visualization and i'm loving it! thats where i found out about cgarchitect.com too..

wahaa!

[Iain Denby]

* 3 years at art college studying furniture and interior design.

* Several years designing and visualising domestic interiors for interior design companies.

* Several more years visualising others' designs and developing my Marker, Pastel and Gouache techniques. This expanded to include exhibitions and architecture.

* My cross over to digital came about by my frustration and anger at seeing dreadful computer renderings appearing in all the magazines and knowing that clients actually payed 3 - 4 times what they paid me for this rubbish! I knew I could do a better job once I learned the technical side of things, so that's what I set out to do.

[Alex York]

I just love architectural renders for some reason. I'm not a fan of organic modeling at the best of times, so archi-vis lends itself very nicely to clean lines and form that can be blocked out very quickly, allowing me to spend the bulk of my project time on the lighting which is my main area of speciality. It's also an area being supported very nicely by rendering engine manufacturers, so there's always the challenge to produce the "most photo-realistic scene ever", which I enjoy participating in