Modeler or Animator?
Hello guys,
I hope that someone can help me with this doubt that I have. I am coursing a Master's in the UK to put my career on track. We are given the option to specialize in one area. I am doubtful about what to choose because I will focus in that area for the next years if not the rest of my career. I love both animation and modeling. So can you tell me based on your experience what is like to work as an animator and what is like to work as a modeler? Are you given the chance to do creative work or you just have to stick to the concept art or storyboard? Which one is the easier to find a job? How are the working hours? Thank you guys. I really really appreciate your help.
I hope that someone can help me with this doubt that I have. I am coursing a Master's in the UK to put my career on track. We are given the option to specialize in one area. I am doubtful about what to choose because I will focus in that area for the next years if not the rest of my career. I love both animation and modeling. So can you tell me based on your experience what is like to work as an animator and what is like to work as a modeler? Are you given the chance to do creative work or you just have to stick to the concept art or storyboard? Which one is the easier to find a job? How are the working hours? Thank you guys. I really really appreciate your help.
Replies
you can always do both, but focus on something you like the most.
this might help http://wiki.polycount.com/CategoryDiscipline
I understand that there are maybe 5 animators hanging around here, and I tend to kind of understand why there are so few - but to think that there are more than 5 PROGRAMMERS here? these are dark times indeed
my professional experience of animation (in sweden) is very negative (not because of what I'm about to write, but more personal), not with the assignments you'd get, which range from pre-vis to ingame. ingame animations that have to be deleted because game design figured that what they'd designed wasn't fun at all or whatever.. which is to be expected and not something that I personally take offence to. but just be ready to spend 2-3-4-5 years making animations that all go in the bin
but I'd say that animation is a bit more free than modeling, as you're not constrained AS MUCH by concept art but rather by mocap or what you've handkeyed earlier. and you can add your own poses and feel to the animations as a whole..
Thank you VERY much for your answers!
Hi Timidy,
Yes, I thought the same thing in the first place, it would be awesome if polycount would have an animation area with showcase and WIPs. Anyway any insight about professional experience from the people here it's unvaluable. Thanks!
Hi Curtis,
Thanks for the link! I will read the thread right now. To be honest I would like to find a job easily because I have invested a lot in my education. I do agree with you that it's not the best motivation, maybe it can affect the quality of my work :S. Yes, maybe it's a good idea to focus on one and to have the other as a hobby or as a backup. I will also search information about generalists. Do you know something about the generealists' role in the studio?
Hi Thatanimator,
That's a shame but I suppose that the years of experience were worth it. Based on my college experience, sometimes I think the same about modeling, once the concept is approved it seems that there isn't too much space for adding something. I like modeling anyway. In animation there seems to be more space to add your feel and poses like you said. Thanks!
If it doesn't bother you guys, can you tell me about the working hours. I've heard that animators do a lot more hours than the rest of the people in the studio. Is that true?
With that said your performance is what brings attacks to life. Look at Rocksteadys Batman where the punch reactions and hitting power of Batman comes to life because of the animations.
But the sound guy is your bitch, that's something right?
Edit: ~8 hours. The studio head doesn't want zombies at work so it's frowned upon to do it for longer stretches.
Cexar, what are the chances an animator with no college degree can get hired with the right portfolio? Aaaand do animators even have portfolios? I want to create one.
lol @ sound guy is your bitch. As you said about animation being what bring the creation to life, the sound can do the same to the animation.
This is a little out of the blue but do you guys know they didn't use any mocap in the Disney animated movie "Tangled"? Wow. "Rage" has some excellent animation too, very stylized, and so does "Dishonored". Bethesda's animation team has got talent
And I agree it would be very nice to have an Animators section here on PolyCount.
Hi Cexar,
Thanks for your answer! I guess there are more animators than what I thought here. Cool!
Do you guys know if there are some generalists opportunities nowadays or do you think that we live in a specialization era?
Disney has never and will never use mo cap in their films. I just find it funny that you're amazed that they didn't use it
yes, most the time if it isn't trying to look "real" it's hand animated. Dreamworks hand animates as well.
It's because some of the animation is so fluid and realistic. When I saw the film there was no doubt in my mind that it was good old fashioned manual animation but I found a thread with a lot of people speculating as to whether or not any mocap was used. It took someone who actually worked with the team to come in there and confirm there WASN'T any mocap before people finally bought it.
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Interesting. What forum was the thread on? Those people must not know anything about Disney/animation because I feel like its obvious Disney would never use mocap in their films. Same goes for Pixar and Dreamworks.
Same fluid motion, lacking the snappy exaggerated appeal of what cartoon characters are all about.
I don't blame anyone for speculating
The hours, the freedom to deviate from the concept or from the reference, all those things will depend on the company, project, etc. So base it only on your level of enjoyment of doing that for 40 hours a week.
I can't remember the name of the ..... OK wait
Baha! Found the thread here :http://www.11secondclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=10929
There is all sorts of speculation besides mocap ; some people in the thread actually speculate that Disney may have also "reused" old material from their older great animations like "Tarzan" and even "Jungle Book". Some say there is rotoscoping involved (when you trace, frame-for-frame over pre-made motion, whether live-action or animated) and all sorts of cheats.
Personally, if I was part of the team who animated Tangled, I'd be feeling glorified and proud as hell. The animation has got to be really impressive to people if it's so good that they speculate whether there was mocap or copying of old material involved. If you skim through the thread you'll find the one comment from someone who may have worked with the team or at least has better working knowledge of their workflow, who comes in and confirms that it was all just good old fashioned hand animation.
I wouldn't doubt Disney, they obviously have some of the best animation talent the world has to offer working there.
Edit : on a side-note, I agree mocap with toony characters looks creepy, but Tintin actually benefited from using mocap, IMO.