3d-artist moving from Video-Games to Ads/Movies

chrisradsby

Hi guys & girls, I have something I've been wondering about for quite some time and I bet some other people have been wondering as well.

I've always created 3d art with the intention of creating it for video-games, however with the industry looking the way it's looking it might be intresting to expand upon ones skillset and maybe learn more about how to create 3d for movies and ads.
I'm from Sweden and there are not a lot of video-game companies over there, so maybe expanding to another industry that is still related to 3D might be a good idea.

My question is, do you guys have any experience with working with movies/ads? From the top of your head what would be the main things for a 3d game artist to learn to be able to get into that industry? The most obvious one I know is to know a little bit more about rendering (I've always preferred real-time) but is there something else maybe?

Thanks!
- Chris

Zephiris

Small studios might want you to have some post processing/video editing skills as well, i.e. After Effects.

chrisradsby

Yeah, I got those already though working with photo/video editing and post-processing since I usually spend a lot of money on my photography equipment ^^

haiddasalami

If you can learn a compositing package, pretty sure most places wont turn you down especially with 3d experience.

r_fletch_r

Get some mental ray or Vray under your belt.
Master Zap does a great course on FXPHD which I can personally recommend. It covers all the basic information you need for doing integration work in mental ray and alot of core technical knowledge.

(I think haiddasalami, was in my class, or was that just math?)

Tenchi

I think I recall you said in a previous thread you are from the UK in the north? Should check EscapeStudios.co.uk for tuts/courses in VFX. It's maybe even harder to break into character modeling for VFX, but there's always a need for compositors in shake or nuke. Also VFX is mainly contract based per project, although games seems to be moving that way, I idk Games might still be more secure? And then you'd have to move, all VFX is in soho...

bunda4th

I currently work for an ad/film related company. It really depends on the company. What I do is 3d model, basic animation, create custom shader, and mental ray render.

You should know how to composite in 3d space as well. We usually have a back plate with the animation running while we place objects where it needs to be in perspective to the shot and render those in a farm for the guys that finalize it all in After Effects.

haiddasalami

r_fletch_r wrote: »

(I think haiddasalami, was in my class, or was that just math?)

Was just in the math one. Wish I took Zaps though

Saman

I would say lighting, match-moving and dynamics. Other than 3d some compositing like shake and after effects would be good too.

Rwolf

I can say working in the Movie/TV industry it can vary in discipline. With TV I found you hafta be more versatile. I did mostly modeling and texturing characters, but also did hardbody surfaces on the side, and rendering out some shots.

The current VFX studio i'm at is very discipline specific. You have modeling and texturing as separate departments. And w/ modelers dedicated to character/organics and env/hardsurface. Of course there are more hardsurface modelers than character, so it might be easier breaking in the industry doing that.

To complement what skills to help get you in would be:
Rendering - Not necessary but an advantage
lighting - "" ""
low - high poly modeling - Yes
Sub-d modeling - Yes if you want to advance
Clean modeling - A must
Image projection modeling - "" ""
Displacement mapping - "" ""
normal mapping - Yes, but the studio I work at doesn't use it
UV mapping - Optimal use of UV space, while keeping all checkers even and scaled
MAYA - probably the most used in the industry so get used to it if you don't

haiddasalami

If you have the money to spare, I can definitely vouch for FXPhd. Its ~300$ for 3 courses and you get to watch 2 weeks for free from all classes and then you have to commit to 3. Think there's one that starts in June.

Entity

If you're working for TV, be prepared to work under extremely tight deadlines. You'll also have to be pretty versatile and be able to do multiple things

chrisradsby

Tenchi wrote: »

I think I recall you said in a previous thread you are from the UK in the north? Should check EscapeStudios.co.uk for tuts/courses in VFX. It's maybe even harder to break into character modeling for VFX, but there's always a need for compositors in shake or nuke. Also VFX is mainly contract based per project, although games seems to be moving that way, I idk Games might still be more secure? And then you'd have to move, all VFX is in soho...

Hey man, well yeah right now I'm in the UK , but I might move back to Sweden soon and I'm looking for options Learning a new skillset sounds interesting as well. I haven't tried shake or nuke before. Yeah games are probably more secure but there are a lot of VFX and Ad-studios in Sweden. Small companies that do pretty cool things.