Need advice about ' Industry Standard' vs ''the rest..''
polycounter lvl 6
hey guys(and girls of course) .. I work as a 2d artist and finally after a big while I gathered some money and can study 3D (specially modeling and rendering.. ), with Zbrush I'm already learning it ..
but now that I would have more free time ( I will stop taking commissions a lot of commissions)..
so I started to look more deeply into 3d programs .. looking here and there what people say about them
How programs evolved ,whats new, etc..etc..
after reading a lot one word keep annoying/hunting me .. and its ''Industry Standard''
I have to say that my experience in Maya and Modo were barely 3-4 days ..
so I decided to ask you folks here what you think ..your opinions and advice's..
What are the Cons if I pick up not a ''Industry Standard'' program like Modo or Blender for my work/career? I mean of course I could learn 3ds max or maya later but .. gosh they are so damn expensive!
should I invest my bucks studying 3ds max or maya .. paying 2 or 4 years rent will that increase my chances of getting good jobs or getting a full time job in some studio? (why 2o 4 years plan? because thats the $$ I have and thats where they give a discount )
but after that? what if I wont get enough $$ to keep paying the expensive fees ?
and if I go to a school/institute.. I would be burning my bucks spending half of what I saved .. for things I can learn online.. and after that what? I would still had to rent a program if I want to freelance.
right now all its hypothetical coz I'm downloading trials of some of this programs ..
and the only one I've been learning is ZBrush (6 months now) ..
my brief experiences so far was a week with Maya (thanks to a friend ), and 3 days with Modo.*thanks to another friend who is a industry designer ..
what is bugging me a lot is the phrase ''industry standard'' ( its like a big heavy cloud over my head )
its ,.. I feel like if I choose non industry standard I would be marked as an outsider or of some kind of elite Guild (sorry Im exaggerating I know )
and if they could be a barrier to ''eventually'' get a full time job in a Studio that don't use any of them.
ps: I see a lot of kickass talented artists using Modo such as TorFrick.. or Warren Marshall..
so I guess there's always difficulty's but .. well I just want to hear your opinions and thoughts.
many thanks in advance.
but now that I would have more free time ( I will stop taking commissions a lot of commissions)..
so I started to look more deeply into 3d programs .. looking here and there what people say about them
How programs evolved ,whats new, etc..etc..
after reading a lot one word keep annoying/hunting me .. and its ''Industry Standard''
I have to say that my experience in Maya and Modo were barely 3-4 days ..
so I decided to ask you folks here what you think ..your opinions and advice's..
What are the Cons if I pick up not a ''Industry Standard'' program like Modo or Blender for my work/career? I mean of course I could learn 3ds max or maya later but .. gosh they are so damn expensive!
should I invest my bucks studying 3ds max or maya .. paying 2 or 4 years rent will that increase my chances of getting good jobs or getting a full time job in some studio? (why 2o 4 years plan? because thats the $$ I have and thats where they give a discount )
but after that? what if I wont get enough $$ to keep paying the expensive fees ?
and if I go to a school/institute.. I would be burning my bucks spending half of what I saved .. for things I can learn online.. and after that what? I would still had to rent a program if I want to freelance.
right now all its hypothetical coz I'm downloading trials of some of this programs ..
and the only one I've been learning is ZBrush (6 months now) ..
my brief experiences so far was a week with Maya (thanks to a friend ), and 3 days with Modo.*thanks to another friend who is a industry designer ..
what is bugging me a lot is the phrase ''industry standard'' ( its like a big heavy cloud over my head )
its ,.. I feel like if I choose non industry standard I would be marked as an outsider or of some kind of elite Guild (sorry Im exaggerating I know )
and on the other hand .. what about ''choose whatever program you like, choose that program because you feel comfortable to work with! ? '' after all they are tools
and we are 3d ''artist''!
so theres that .. what are the Cons learning Modo or Blender technically speaking (for instance.. I model in Modo or Blender ..
..and I need to send the file to a studio were they use Max or Maya.)
Modo.. I heard it has some problems handling /work with laarge scenes ? or something like that ? and if they could be a barrier to ''eventually'' get a full time job in a Studio that don't use any of them.
ps: I see a lot of kickass talented artists using Modo such as TorFrick.. or Warren Marshall..
so I guess there's always difficulty's but .. well I just want to hear your opinions and thoughts.
many thanks in advance.
Replies
You may run into studios who want users to use this or that software for a very specific technical reason, but this should be none of your worry at this time. And regardless, this kind of requirements is waaaaay secondary to the quality of one's art. A clever studio would not pass on a fantastic artist just because he/she uses Blender. BTW, as of today, Blender is running circles around Max and Maya in some areas.
Just go for Blender 2.79 for now, and 2.8 once it releases (around June next year). That's all you need, along with ToolBag3 (baking) and Photoshop for texturing. With these, you'll be able to make modern content for UE4 and Unity - and these are the industry standard. You could also spend a month or so in Max and Maya just to learn the very basics (import/export, basic model management, and so on).
Background : 10+ years of experience with so-called "industry standard" stuff.
TLDR : go for Blender. And if a studio asks you to send a file in Maya or Max format, you ask *them* to provide you with a temporary license of these programs.
https://i.imgur.com/03kcWxy.mp4
Anyways : take your time, relax and learn one thing at a time, and focus on quality and accuracy. Good luck.
you don't recommend zbrush? I guess OP didn't mention if it was character art or other, but I was under the impression zbrush is essential at least for the character artist.
And, briefly if you have the time, what areas is blender surpassing the autodesk programs in? I ask because I own maya lt, but all the time I have to use full Maya version anyway. So maybe it's worthwhile to drop the maya LT subscription and migrate to blender soon.
I don't mean to hijack here, I am thinking the answers to my questions may be helpful to the OP as well. Sorry if it's not.
That said, I am also a bit of an outlier in the sense that I personally think that an over-reliance on Zbrush does more harm than good, especially for character art - because its viewport is so completely off. If anything Blender has some very decent sculpting anyways. So overall it's a non-issue here since the OP has access to both.
As for comparing programs : I won't get into details since all it takes is trying them out. But indeed, there is imho no point in paying for a MayaLT subscription these days.
I'm all on that train now bruh
Regarding hard surface, have you ever given thought to medium poly modeling, or subD modeling?
Agree with @pior
So essentially I'd suggest saving your money for rent and bandwidth via self teaching yourself online rather than a conventional 'College' environment where most of the syllabus 'taught' can actually be learnt for free.
Background: worked with Blender for 13yrs as a hobbyist and semi-pro Hardsurface Modeller.
3D packages are easy to learn. Stop worrying about it too much, and if you worry tthat much, just switch over and quell the fear. It's not like the theory you've learned in Blender wouldn't translate as well to Maya or Max.
@Vlad 28
Yes I'm also a competent 3ds Max user, though that's not to say a mandated choice by any means, made specifically for seizing a potential job/client opportunity when working freelance.
To be honest mainly for satisfying my own curiosity, so in essence pushing the bounds of my comfort zone as an artist.
Zbrush orthographic