When doing retopo or something at your studio, do you ever watch a show on your other monitor?

Travis C

I do this at university, specifically when doing the more tedious part of work like UVing or retopoing. I've noticed alot of other people here do this too. Most of the time it's an anime, a series, or a lets play walkthrough of a game.

Just wondering if anyone does this when working at a studio, or if it is even acceptable.

Jaston3D

It's definitely a weird grey area, that ultimately just depends on where you work. Anything that doesn't require your eye is almost always 100% okay (podcasts, music). If you want to push it further all you have to do is ask and you'll get a clear cut answer.

bounchfx

I did it a lot at almost every studio I worked in. It would rarely be bigger than 1/4th of my screen (if even) and, most importantly, don't let it interfere with you getting shit done. Most of the time I'm not really 'watching' anything so much as just having something in the background to listen to and glance at every now and then. Two of the places tried to put restrictions on it at one time or another but it never really works out. Morale is a thing too, haha.

thomasp

depends on how visible your screens are to others. in an open plan office with you sitting in some spot where people walk past i think it's inevitable that management at some point will have a chat with you about this.

just does not look like you're 100% into your work. other than that it can be a copyright issue if it's ripped tv shows, etc and people are sharing them within the company.

Eric Chadwick

Yeah, most management will have a lower opinion of you if you do this, which can in turn lead to missed opportunities down the line.

Managers will wonder (rightly or not) how much slower your output was with periodic distractions constantly on display.

In their eyes someone who has shows on might not be worthy of a promotion vs. another coworker who seems more focused. Or might not be as good a candidate for a Lead position later on. Would they be able to handle the increased demands? Or would they get distracted, not manage their time well.

Not all managers fall into that trap, but enough do that it should be something to think about. 

R3D

1/4th of one of the screens is fine in my experience.

Now if its fullscreen and you've got popcorn, we might have some issues.

monster

We do this all the time at our studio. Not everyone, but we understand some people need ambient noise to work.

Spoon

I have always envied people who can do this. I constantly listen to music, but my productivity drastically drops as soon as I put on any kind of video. Therefore, I dont.

Also, I have had colleagues who have had talks with producers because of this. I'm not sure whether their productivity drops or not, but I can understand how it looks weird from a producer's perspective, that you miss a task deadline, but finished a few seasons of your favorite show

Kwramm

as a manager I think lower of you if you tap around your mobile phone all the time
As former artist I can totally relate to having something running in the background to ease the boredom of some repetitive tasks, but people with different backgrounds may have a hard time to relate.

thomasp brings up another good point: bringing pirated or even legally ripped material into the company can get you into serious trouble. For example if you have a zealous IT department.

Gilgamesh

I use headphones and audiobooks/music although we are allowed to have shows/films on, I just think it's bad form personally.

McGreed

Yeah, I used to do this with my secondary monitor, but I noticed that my productivity drops when I have stuff on the screen that kinda require your eyes, such as watching series and such. Music is okay, but music videos also often gets too distracting, that I just dropped it. Either I watch something or I work.

ambelamba

I'd just listen to music or audiobooks. Well, is retopology such a tedious job? (I am a newbie.)

Joopson

I agree about the 1/4 of a monitor rule. I think as long as it's mostly something you listen to and glance at every once in a while, it's probably alright. Don't let it interfere with productivity.

The two companies I've worked for (both fairly small) were cool with it, and almost all the artists did it.

But as others have said, it depends on the company as well. Best to just ask, or take a look around and see what others are doing.

Spoon

ambelamba said:

I'd just listen to music or audiobooks. Well, is retopology such a tedious job? (I am a newbie.)

@ambelamba
Retopology is, in my opinion, the absolute worst part of my job!
There is just nothing fun about it. Even UV's are much more enjoyable

skyline5gtr

I only do video when my PC is doing something like rendering 

Travis C

Dang, I guess I'll have to enjoy it while it lasts haha. But I do also enjoy a good audiobook while sculpting or something. Though I find that it's almost the same as having a show on the other screen since it requires some imagination, especially if its got a lot of politics going on. My last read (or listen) was The Three Body Problem and The Dark Forest. Really awesome sci fi series.

But a related question, how many of you are able to talk to someone next to you casually, while working?  I'm not able to and I've always envied people that could do that. Though i'm not sure if there are studios that accept that.

Kwramm

Travis C said:

But a related question, how many of you are able to talk to someone next to you casually, while working? 

For the love of all things holy, please take your chatter outside to the water cooler, if you happen to work in an open plan office. Yes, I have headphones, but music isn't a replacement for quietness. Please think of your fellow artists.

gsokol

Your surroundings and whats acceptable can vary a lot depending upon where you work.  At any time I could look around my office and at least half the people have something running, youtube, netlfix etc.  Nobody here really cares as long as your work is getting done.

I usually stick to music, or youtube vids that I can listen to without watching though.  Its very easy to get distracted otherwise.

Casually talking while working happens quite a bit as well.  I'm not in an open office, got about 10 people in my room, and we all casually shoot the shit at times throughout the day.  Most of the time people are headphones on, focused on their work though.

chrisradsby

I go with the 1/4th rule as well, but it needs to be monitored for sure. If it's actually distracting you from your work then you might want to switch to podcasts or any other content that doesn't need your full attention. Watching movies or tv-shows on there I'd say it's not okay. 

It's def worse during the boring periods of game-development, like tedious brain-dead bugfixing for weeks on end. 

gavku

Haha no way.Video is distracting. Podcasts, audiobooks, music all fine.  

ambelamba

Maybe I will end up enjoying the retopology...

FourtyNights

In a small animation/games & vfx studio I've been working, I've seen my co-worker watching something while working. His video size was way smaller than 1/4. Like a small little square in the corner of the screen. Sometimes with occasional medium laughing. I think he was watching a funny talk show or something. Anyway, our boss mentioned this in one of the monday meetings back then, and said that we can watch videos while working but if the productivity gets too slow because of the distraction, it will be forbidden.

Personally I could never work with a video running on the screen. No matter the size. I like music, but I can't concentrate if it's my favourite music. Some sort of calm and relaxing random background music or podcasts are the ones I listen to once in a while. But mostly I work in a complete silence. I have headphones on just to mute a bit of the noise from the work environment.

About retopo, I like it. It's great problem solving, especially when retopoing heads, and particularly ears and connecting them to the head, ah, such a rewarding moment to have a clean topology, like this.
http://i.imgur.com/yp6oNXd.jpg

EarthQuake

Music or audiobooks.

Sometimes if I'm working after hours on my own time I'll put a show or movie on a secondary display. But generally no, watching any sort of video is a serious distraction and hurts my productivity. Even if I'm still getting stuff done it's at a reduced pace.

I wouldn't suggest watching TV or videos while working on company hours, unless it's some sort of relevant tutorial or something like that. As others have said it's bad form and even if you don't think it hurts your productivity, it almost certainly does.

radiancef0rge

EarthQuake said:

 As others have said it's bad form and even if you don't think it hurts your productivity, it almost certainly does.

I wrote a whole thing where I disagreed with you but then just realized I have too small of a music taste and listened to the Astroneer soundtrack too many times on repeat and it got boring.  

Bruno Afonseca

A lot of people watch hockey matches at the studios I've worked on

Sunray

I'm not working at a studio, but when I'm busy with 3d stuff I always have music or a podcast or stream and some times some youtube videos.

Drocho

I've personally found that having such distractions reduces my productivity far more dramatically than I originally thought. As much as I enjoy having music playing, I've found that even that really hurts my ability to focus. 

Different for everyone, of course.

Amsterdam Hilton Hotel

There's some activities that don't require 1) my second monitor and 2) too much attention, like reducing an HP to an LP, and for that I might put videos on or whatever, but usually I need the screen real estate for reference or secondary applications. I had a boss once who chewed out a lead artist for having a baseball game up on his third monitor, but cunts like that seem rare.