To carry on in XSI or switch now?

MRFlynn

Hey all Ive always wanted to do game animation/animation and ive run into a problem.

At the minute im in my 3rd year of University, about to undertake my personal project (demoreel/short), do you think it wise to switch to either Maya or 3DMax for my last 4-5 months? (bare in mind the UK game scene uses what mostly? im at loss!)

I only ask this because Ive been hunting around and sending emails off to certain companies near Manchester regarding what they use and if they mind me using xsi to animate. The responses havent been thrilling to say the least.
So far I know of one company (Lionhead) who use XSI but there all the way to the south so should I just carry on and hope more follow suite by time I graduate? Or cut my losses now and learn as fast as possible something else for game animation?

Im at my wits end ><

PS if anyone is from Swordfish Manchester / Blade Interactive Manchester a headsup would be appreciated.

EarthQuake

Never assume the industry will just move in a particular direction thats convienint to you, if you need to learn multiple programs to increase your chances of getting a job then of course you should.

thomasp

the problem you run into is that usually animation is closely tied to the game engine format used. therefore, the program used for animating forms the backbone of the pipeline in most cases and cannot be switched easily. transferring animation into their software usually means lot~s of trouble that is simply not worth it, especially when you deal with the more complicated rigs of today.

it is rather trivial however, to model/texture with whatever package you prefer and then convert into the format used by the package that is used for setup/animation/export.

in your case it seems you have to pick up some other app, since it totally makes no sense (imo!) to only restrict your job hunt to places that happen to use your software of choice as their main tool, especially if it~s an application with a comparably tiny market as xsi seems to have one.

Sage

I suggest you try and learn Maya as well as Max since it doesn't take take that long to learn provided you are willing to do the work and you are pushing yourself and if your professors know what they are doing it shouldn't be too hard. Do the tutorials that ship with the software and if needed get some books on the software. Some of these companies will be willing to train you if you have great work in your reel. Good luck.

go here

http://forums.ego-farms.com/index.php

check poops site should get you started in Max fast.

www.poopinmymouth.com

Alex

Ryno

Yeah, 95%+ of the industry use Max and/or Maya. You've got to go with what the employers use.

If you're an animator, I'd probably focus more on Maya, and just get a general working knowledge of Max. Around my area, it's pretty common for modelers and prop/environment artists to use Max, and the riggers/animators use Maya. This will obviously vary from company to company, but it is a pretty common combination for many studios.

ElysiumGX

Learn Maya. After you've gotten the job and learned the pipeline, see if XSI will work for their needs, and show someone how much easier it is for you to use. Maya is easier to switch from.

MRFlynn

Cheers guys, tahnks for the great advice ive already started dling plenty video tutorials.