At uni and feels like a waste of time, advice on stay or go?

TannedBatman

Studying game art at university, Ive had 2 years of maya experience and they teach 3dsmax here and trying it out it just seems inferior to maya, everytime I use max it just feels stupid since I know maya why shouldnt I just be able to use it instead. If i did use maya then whats the point of me being here because they cant critique it. I'm not really sure what I will get here that I wont if I just solo studied where I feel il be better off doing. Not sure if a placement year with an internship is a thing but I think its something they try but to have to be industry ready in 3 years just seems like a lot of pressure and a rush. I mainly just want to know what I will gain here uniquely that I wont studying by myself, if they taught maya I think i would much prefer it and would stay because atleast im in an environment with other artists in person.It feels like knowing photoshop then being forced to use gimp even though photoshop is readily available.

Alex_J

Would you turn down a job because they require max? 

TannedBatman

well if I know maya then yeah I suppose there wouldnt be anything I could do. Atleast not in a short amount of time

Alex_J

how long do you think it's going to take you to learn max?

TannedBatman

 well at a professional industry ready standard, years, I imagine. 

Alex_J

I doubt it would take you more than a few months to get as good in max as you are in maya. There's lot of discussion here about how long it takes to learn one coming from the other, so you can see what people who've already done so are saying. 

And then, knowing both the big programs. you have the benefit of being more flexible, which makes you more hirable. 

Only you can decide if school is worth the hassle or not, but don't make the decision based on frustration. You quit for the wrong reasons and you end up doing that your whole life. Very bad habit and hard to break. Beware the fact that it is possible to justify anything, so make sure you are aware of your true motivations. 

I'd only recommend quitting school if you are like waaaay ahead of the coursework and it's just so easy you are bored mindless plus you are already spending all your free time on personal projects. In that case, then maybe you can make an informed choice about how much extra time and energy you could feasibly be putting into self-study/personal projects.

rollin

You might be lucky.. or you might end up working in a non-game related environment bc of your attitude. 
You are expected to adjust to any software. Of course they'll try to give you what you prefer but there is no guarantee. And even without ruling out certain software it's already hard enough to find a job.

If your studies are worth the time is another question. Which I unfortunately can't answer. I personally would value self-taught skills higher but you might have access to certain valuable connections the uni can offer.

sacboi

Yeah, just limiting yourself to a DCC app of choice will likewise effect potential employment prospects down the track. A personal example, as a longtime FOSS adherent I'd steered clear of learning proprietry software, simply because at that time I foresaw no real need to do so however not until when freelancing certain well paying jobs required a 3ds Max workflow so in due course over a series of months had to retrain the brain. Quite a challenge in and of itself but thankfully justified once the level of compensation by far exceeded my expectations versus time and effort invested.

jdellinger98

Only you can decide that but I can share my decision,

 I Quit Uni and went down the rocky self taught path. Reason being I wanted/want to do 3d modeling, that's why I started University in the first place. Going in I was bombarded with drawing and design courses. I didn't mind and enjoyed the courses like color theory, Design Fundamentals, art history. Each of those fundamentals I could see how they could be helpful to my modeling. After awhile however, I got sick of the drawing; I never really liked to draw and having to do it constantly made me hate it. 

My second to last semester going In had my first class in 3ds Max; Difference being that was my prime software. Anyways I was excited and learned some things, problem being that I had been using 3ds max going on 3 years at the time and this class was more about the fundamentals. It felt nice being one of the top of the class (not the school) and being around a group of being that enjoyed the same thing. But, I didn't learn much from it. 

Last semester, Back to that cursed drawing again, and again, and again. The drawing all the time and never learning any 3D, and the little free time I had learning software's via youtube and plurasight; made me start to hate art as a whole and made me question what I was doing with my life. I assumed being a great 2D artist was a requirement to become a 3d artist, I mean there had to be a reason there was so damn much of it. Plus, not really ever being into drawing nor good at it and seeing other people produce amazing artwork I starting really doubting myself and that I could ever make it in the industry.

 Meeting with my adviser I asked how many classes would I be taking that focused on 3D modeling... 4

Yep 4 modeling intensive courses in 4 years.
I was constantly improving a skill I hated, and had no confidence my 2D skill would match my classmates, let alone the industry standards. So I left and was a biology major for a short time with a 3.8 GPA (pretty impressive since I didn't take really any moderate math or science classes in high school since All I wanted was to be a 3D artist) still modeling and watching tutorials and being away from the 2D side I started reading, researching and gained confidence in the fact 3D artist don't HAVE to contain drawing in their portfolio. The rest is history after that.

As someone stated above my true intentions for leaving probably were hating to draw, and I don't regret that I went. But for me, the environment that was suppose to launch me further became toxic to my growth.  

If your only reason for deciding involves learning another 3D PROGRAM! then I wouldn't but, i'm also not you. Really you should be thankful your learning it in a classroom setting where you can ask questions, get in person advice from students, and most importantly not having to scavenge the deep corners of the web to try and find solutions from people that you can actually understand.

zachagreg

Your reasoning for thinking it's a waste of time comes from the difference in software and not from learning outdated or redundant things. Your red flags are that you don't like 3ds max. You need to take a deep retrospective at if you actually want to do this as a job and career.

You will never stop learning new tools in this field. You will never have to stop pushing yourself. Companies don't care what software you know, like Rollin said. If you believe it would take you years to adjust to a 3ds max workflow then you will not be hired.

I can almost never recommend university for learning game art due to my experiences with it and others that I know of, it is not time nor cost effective in most cases.

However, this is not an issue with the university it seems this a problem you need to solve for yourself because it comes from your own reservations. If you bust ass for 3 years making art that is enough time to be industry ready and people do it. They don't complain about the difference in control schemes or menu systems of a software, they work.