AutoCAD Tecnician wanting to learn more 3D visualisation skills
Hi all,
It feels good to sign up on here. Hopefully the start of good things. First thing, what a great community this forum seems to be. I have been looking around online for information with regards to 3D Studio Max and Maya. This forum name kept popping up. Some of the talent on here is very inspiring. Things have moved on so far since I last looked into rendering etc.
I have been a CAD Technician in the engineering industry for about 15 years now. I'm currently 37 years old. I used to do way more CAD work than I do now. Nowadays my day mostly consists of checking other peoples work and marking up PDF's with corrections and making some fixes to the drawing myself. Also dealing with sub-contractors and all the other boring things I have zero passion for. I have used 3D AutoCAD commercially and I have dipped my toe into rendering using 3D Studio Max ages ago.
I have been thinking a lot lately about trying to improve my 3D skills and trying to become more of a 3D Visualiser, rather than just a CAD Technician. I was always quite creative when I was younger but was convinced that art wasn't important and that I should get a job in engineering like my dad. He was a draftsman but has recently retired. I have always enjoyed the CAD side of things but I am gradually being pushed more and more into the aspects I really don't enjoy as mentioned above. I've moved jobs but keep being put into similar roles now.
If I want to change paths I need to put some work into it. I've always admired the polished rendered images people produce. My thinking is that it can only be a good thing for me to brush up on those skills. Perhaps I could then find work in an Architectural office or somewhere similar. However, ideally I would like to move into something completely different. In a more creative and inspiring industry. I did try this for a couple of years when I moved to a custom stage set company. They designed and built huge custom stage sets for rock bands, the Olympics etc The money was less and I had to travel a long way to work so eventually I had to move on as I ran out of money for the travel etc. But it made me realise that I enjoyed more creative work like that.
I was thinking along the lines of environment artist within the video game industry. However, the competition looks like it is pretty fierce with some hugely talented people out there. My thinking is that my previous 3D modelling experience may help me with this. Would I need to be hugely artistically talented to do that role. Or are there positions in the industry for people who are good at modelling for the environments and game assets without all of the texturing, rendering, lighting, animation skills etc ? Even then I would have to learn to model better in 3DS Max and Maya as currently I use AutoCAD to model.
I was thinking that a good path for me would be to exaust the free materials on 3DTotal and Youtube and then maybe move onto a Pluralsight subscription. Then once I've got a good foundation, move onto Gnomon and Eat3D tutorials. Although Eat3D tutorials do seem quite old.
So far I've modelled the downstairs of my house quickly and basically last night in AutoCAD. Then I reference this in to 3DS max and applied some materials. Then I imported it into Unreal Engine 4 and walked around inside the house. I still haven't set up clash detection on it yet as I'm a noob and don't know how yet. I'll try and do it in max and import it I guess. I plan on spending some time on this over the Christmas break.
Sorry for the long first message. I guess I've had this on my mind a lot lately and spewed it out on this page
Once I actually produce something I'll get some pictures up to be ripped apart 
Even if this goes nowhere job wise, it's going to be fun to learn so I'm not worried about spending time learning.
It feels good to sign up on here. Hopefully the start of good things. First thing, what a great community this forum seems to be. I have been looking around online for information with regards to 3D Studio Max and Maya. This forum name kept popping up. Some of the talent on here is very inspiring. Things have moved on so far since I last looked into rendering etc.
I have been a CAD Technician in the engineering industry for about 15 years now. I'm currently 37 years old. I used to do way more CAD work than I do now. Nowadays my day mostly consists of checking other peoples work and marking up PDF's with corrections and making some fixes to the drawing myself. Also dealing with sub-contractors and all the other boring things I have zero passion for. I have used 3D AutoCAD commercially and I have dipped my toe into rendering using 3D Studio Max ages ago.
I have been thinking a lot lately about trying to improve my 3D skills and trying to become more of a 3D Visualiser, rather than just a CAD Technician. I was always quite creative when I was younger but was convinced that art wasn't important and that I should get a job in engineering like my dad. He was a draftsman but has recently retired. I have always enjoyed the CAD side of things but I am gradually being pushed more and more into the aspects I really don't enjoy as mentioned above. I've moved jobs but keep being put into similar roles now.
If I want to change paths I need to put some work into it. I've always admired the polished rendered images people produce. My thinking is that it can only be a good thing for me to brush up on those skills. Perhaps I could then find work in an Architectural office or somewhere similar. However, ideally I would like to move into something completely different. In a more creative and inspiring industry. I did try this for a couple of years when I moved to a custom stage set company. They designed and built huge custom stage sets for rock bands, the Olympics etc The money was less and I had to travel a long way to work so eventually I had to move on as I ran out of money for the travel etc. But it made me realise that I enjoyed more creative work like that.
I was thinking along the lines of environment artist within the video game industry. However, the competition looks like it is pretty fierce with some hugely talented people out there. My thinking is that my previous 3D modelling experience may help me with this. Would I need to be hugely artistically talented to do that role. Or are there positions in the industry for people who are good at modelling for the environments and game assets without all of the texturing, rendering, lighting, animation skills etc ? Even then I would have to learn to model better in 3DS Max and Maya as currently I use AutoCAD to model.
I was thinking that a good path for me would be to exaust the free materials on 3DTotal and Youtube and then maybe move onto a Pluralsight subscription. Then once I've got a good foundation, move onto Gnomon and Eat3D tutorials. Although Eat3D tutorials do seem quite old.
So far I've modelled the downstairs of my house quickly and basically last night in AutoCAD. Then I reference this in to 3DS max and applied some materials. Then I imported it into Unreal Engine 4 and walked around inside the house. I still haven't set up clash detection on it yet as I'm a noob and don't know how yet. I'll try and do it in max and import it I guess. I plan on spending some time on this over the Christmas break.
Sorry for the long first message. I guess I've had this on my mind a lot lately and spewed it out on this page
Once I actually produce something I'll get some pictures up to be ripped apart Even if this goes nowhere job wise, it's going to be fun to learn so I'm not worried about spending time learning.
Replies
You are in a great position if you want to move into more of a concept artist/industrial designer role. The best of the best in the entertainment industry have come from architecture and cad roles. Check out Daniel Simon, vitally bulgarov and Daniel Docieu. Vitally uses moi 3d and XSI with key shot to render. Daniel Simon uses bunk speed to render and uses alias to model. I've noticed that more game artists are using cad and then creating a low poly model around the tessilated nurbs model in maya or max.
I noticed that you imported models into unreal 4. Are you looking to get more into creating production ready game assets or just using unreal 4 as a renderer?
I'm just checking out the names you mentioned above and wow, so inspirational. I love Daniel Simon's concept Lotus motorcycle. Your website is also very cool, I love gumdrop.
I was just experimenting really with Unreal Engine to see if I could create a model and import it. I'm not really too sure what direction I want to take just yet. I was impressed with how easy it was to import a model into Unreal and navigate around it. The last time I played with 3DS years ago I had to animate a set path around my model for a walk through. Now I can just do that in Unreal.
As an initial small project, I am planning to model the rest of my house and possibly some of the street outside. Then walk around it in first person. I was also thinking about trying to make some game assets for an existing game. I guess I'll just practice for a while with 3D Studio, applying textures, rendering and modelling from concept art posted on this forum and see how I go. I'm sure once I start practicing more I'll find a path that suits me best.