Should I learn to code? :(
polycounter lvl 4
I am facing a strange dilemma.
I want to learn to make awesome 3D environment art.
Have been told that it is more important to learn and master art fundamentals (like shapes value and color) than to learn the technical side of things.
It is more important to learn how to think. Knowing things such as game design theory, culture, etc is more important than learning to code or use a program.
I agree 100% with that.
But should I learn to code as well?
Will coding help me make more usable and well-designed environment art?
Every second I am learning to code is time not used to better my art and design related skills.
Does coding help me as an artist at all?
I am debating whether to spend extra time doing painting and drawings or learning to code. I don't want to spread too thin so I have to make a choice.
As a community with so much experience in the entertainment industry, I would like to hear your opinions on this.
What are your job positions or educational path? What are the skills that helped you the most in your area of work or study?
- Thank you!
I want to learn to make awesome 3D environment art.
Have been told that it is more important to learn and master art fundamentals (like shapes value and color) than to learn the technical side of things.
It is more important to learn how to think. Knowing things such as game design theory, culture, etc is more important than learning to code or use a program.
I agree 100% with that.
But should I learn to code as well?
Will coding help me make more usable and well-designed environment art?
Every second I am learning to code is time not used to better my art and design related skills.
Does coding help me as an artist at all?
I am debating whether to spend extra time doing painting and drawings or learning to code. I don't want to spread too thin so I have to make a choice.
As a community with so much experience in the entertainment industry, I would like to hear your opinions on this.
What are your job positions or educational path? What are the skills that helped you the most in your area of work or study?
- Thank you!
Replies
Traditional comp sci will not effectively indirectly contribute to your education path as an environment artist.
Will matter only if you decide to code HLSL shaders, etc.
Environment Art, at most, requires scripting and node scripting skills.
Feel free to do if it if it's fun or still interests you.
http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/Technical_Art
If you are a beginner, focus on making the best looking environments you can until you can at least get a paid junior postion. This means focusing on layout, composition, and being able to translate 2d concepts to 3d environments efficiently. Most other things are distractions and irrelevant until your aristic eye is developed and you are consistently putting out aaa quality work.
Learningto get good at lighting would be 10x more valueable than coding for an environment related career path.
Tl;dr - coding would be a distraction and take away hours that could be better spent developing your core env art skillset. Thats whats going to get you a job 👍
Learn just to get comfortable to approach it, if your main modeling package is Max, knowing how Maxscript work will help you alot by automating stuff, for example. Just enough to get comfortable to open that script editor, wrote few lines of code, and let Max do it's stuff, instead of you doing repetition work on hundreds of mesh on your scene (cleaning pivots/ renaming UVs, aligning objects and lots of other things imaginable..)
But yeah, I know coding is not for everyone. It's up to your interest really
I started programming (ActionScript, anyone?) first before enter game industry as a 3d artist so it gives me a head start to learn Maxscript on my own after that.
But like what PixelMasher said, if you just started on all this, probably focusing on one might be the most benefit for you. Learning to code does take away lots of hours, but if you know how to use it well it can save you even more hours in the future from doing many repetitive works manually.
It's like remembering vanilla WoW.
If I tried to switch gears all of a sudden -- heck, switch brain hemispheres entirely -- to something like coding, I think I might have a mental breakdown. Probably some people are more flexible than me, but I doubt most would be.
So, like somebody else mentioned, I'd recommend mastering your art over some years, then branching into coding and following that path completely, if it still interest you in the future.
coding is like a 1% gain towards the goal of an environment artist position....if that.
getting phenomenal at composition, lighting and scene layout and having 3-5 rock solid finished scenes would move that needle towards getting a job a hell of a lot more. relevance is super important.
It's totally ok to enjoy random side hobbies and activities, you just have to be aware it's going to add time to the overall reaching of your heavy hitter goals. If coding is something that interests you go for it! I spend a ton of my time improving my scuba diving abilities and don't regret that. But judging from the frowny face attached to the thread title I'm guessing the OP isn't a fan.
Just use self awareness to deploy your time against goals and things you are really passionate about and actually enjoy, and money will usually sort itself out.
yes it will, Knowing scripting in max/maya can help you setup scenes and debug them much faster.
knowing scripting inside of unreal/unity will help you create fx (rain/snow/storms) in your scenes which will help you create better art.
visual scripting is also there for you BTW , unreal blueprints and unity's playmaker .
It's like having an alternate attack type in your main weapon, you don't use it all the time but if used effectively it helps you land massive damage.