Thinking of starting an small animation studio - Advice?
polycounter lvl 7
So as sad as it may seem to some of you, what I really want to do is Intro/Outros for Tv shows/movies or idents, small animation projects.
I'm struggling to find work, and the work I want to really do is usually made by small VFX studios that are usually just 3 people, so rarely employ.
So now I'm thinking... "If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door"
But where to start?
Any advice from studio members/creators/artists would be greatly appreciated.
I'm struggling to find work, and the work I want to really do is usually made by small VFX studios that are usually just 3 people, so rarely employ.
So now I'm thinking... "If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door"
But where to start?
Any advice from studio members/creators/artists would be greatly appreciated.
Replies
Build constant stream of projects first. Build client base. Build you credentials. Only when you will be overwhelmed with work, start thinking about making a studio.
Just my .50
Usually that type of stuff will require knowledge of the Adobe Creative Suite as well, aka Premiere, AfterEffects (especially for motion graphics which is what most of intro/outro video graphics are for TV shows/small animation projects/broadcast)
You'd probably see more of them using Cinema 4D or Maya as well versus 3D Studio Max/Maya. The one nice thing Cinema 4D has (only played around it for a bit mind you) is their Mograph set of features, basically animation tools dedicated to doing 3D motion graphics. Of course you could probably recreate any thing you can do with Mograph in Maya or 3D Studio Max, but the tools are there.
There still are some that use 3D Studio Max although most job applications for that which I see (not being video games) are architectural visualization, and typically require some working knowledge of autoCad as well.
You should also note that said small VFX studios/ Ad Agencies may typically function as a freelance outsourcer that brings in freelancers they know when they have more projects on their table or a contract that requires a more specialized set of skills.
It's a little strange, but I find when working for an Ad Agency as a freelancer you basically have two clients you need to satisfy. There's the people/company that contacted the Ad Agency to do a project for them, and then there is the Ad Agency themselves, and sometimes both parties may have different views of where to take the project creatively so your job is to figure out a way to please them both in the established time frame. In the end though always go with what the Agency wants to pursue since they in actuality are your client, not the company that contacted them.
I currently only render out on my singular ASUS laptop that I bring into work so I'm basically forced to use lower quality materials/stylize everything and use the cheaper/quicker QuickSilver renderer as my deadlines never allow for a mental ray renderer and spending too much time on in-depth modeling and texturing. I find clients in this field like fast turn-arounds and numerous changes throughout the process, and if you're a 3-man startup you can basically forget about spending six months on a high-quality/detailed 3D animation like Blur Studios does.
You wouldn't have to worry about that too much if you only did flat motion graphics in AfterEffects, basically life is easier on you when you go with what is simpler. 3D tends to make everything a lot more complicated and time-consuming.
It's why I'd much rather work on creating work for real-time applications, no hours/days wasted of having to sit there while your computers render out something that quite possibly is going to be changed again when the client changes their mind (which they WILL do)
But if you can get around all that you might like it. Basically though, if you want to do high-level stuff you need a studio that has their own render network. Otherwise, prepare to be twiddling your thumbs a lot or praying that Windows doesn't do an automatic update while you leave your computer on rendering at night.
I would advise you to work on small game projects while finding your center in the network so you have something to show. So that people will know that you aren't just talking. Start small and understand how things work.
I'm a pretty advanced user with 3dsmax, and pretty handy with Premiere, but have little knowledge of After Effects, so think that's where I really need to start developing skills for the long run.
The trouble as always is time, and I guess money. It's just that I kinda call myself a generalist, and I kinda am, but feel like I'm being pulled in several directions at once, and to get 'a job' not 'the job', I really need to focus on one area.
I think that one focus area is gonna be games environment art, just because after 5 months of job seeking there seems to be more opportunities.
Thought I'd return the favour with some useful info. I'm not sure what software you're using but with 3dsmax it's easier than you'd think to set up 'back burner'. You basically set up a render farm/network of one pc, your pc. You have to open backburner 'Manager','Server'and 'Monitor'. Then if you render to an image (I use tga.) and set it to render to network, backburner opens up a separate, mini-max and renders the frames. Then if everything goes pop, when it turns back on it'll just pick it up from the frame it cut out on
I'm sure with a search you can find a better explanation, but PM me if you want more info. As far as i know it diesn't give much improvement to the render times though, but you can queue things up! I once went away for a weekend and just queued up 5 shots.
Thanks
And of course, an animation portfolio showing some complex scenes with difficult rigs solved cleverly.