Studios and outside software

mvelasquez

Hey i was wondering what the general stance was regarding studios and using your own software.
Say you're working for a studio that uses maya. If you have your own license of silo, would you be able to install and use it in house? I mean, an .obj is an .obj right?
Obviously its going to vary between companies but is there a more common stance on the subject?

Ghostscape

Too much of the art pipeline is built into the studio's programs. Custom exporters, rigging and other systems setup type stuff. You might possibly be able to make the model in a non-studio piece of software, but you're going to need to export it to a common format, and then import it into the studio software, and hope to hell that whatever the import/export method you're using doesn't destroy the normals or UVs or something.

Jesse Moody

From what I have heard from most of my friends that work in studios is that there is not much lee way (sp) on this because of the tools and stuff built.

I do contract work so I have quite a variety of ways to get around some stuff but sometimes it's just not worth it. I know max and maya quite well, max more than maya but I won't turn down maya projects if they are something worth working on.

I don't know too many studios that use silo though. Who knows...

EarthQuake

As long as your final assets are ending up in the right format it really dosent matter, in most cases.

Daz

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is there a more common stance on the subject?

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Quite honestly Michael, I don't think there is such a thing as a common stance on the subject no. I think its probably going to be a case by case scenario. That said, of all the disciplines out of modeling, rigging and animation, obviously modeling being at the beginning of the pipeline makes it far more transportable to other packages. At the end of the day, as long as you can get the asset into the app. you need to without issue, it shouldn't matter *too* much. I would guess bigger studios have stricter guidelines than smaller ones overall.

Mongrelman

Been pretty lucky so far here, just watching video tutorials (to help get back into the swing of maya) had me groaning when watching modelling. The art director let me use silo for modelling, which reignited the interest of the lead character artist, and now we're getting some silo licenses hehe (though I have my own anyway).

But I wouldn't expect the same result everywhere. I'm really not sure what tools in other apps would be used that allow for faster than modelling than using an app you are much more comfortable (and faster) in than silo. Perhaps that's more for enviornments than characters?

Justin Meisse

From an IT standpoint, users bringing in their own software is a liability if the company is ever audited... so hide it from the IT guys.

mvelasquez

thanks for the info guys.
I guess i'll have to bring the question up on an individual basis per company. I guess my main reason for asking the question was to know if it was worth it to learn smaller apps that probably wont be the main package in most studios.

Ruz

Some companies are really arsey about this. I once worked at a place where they discouraged me from using photoshop for texturing because they were zbrush freaks.

FatAssasin

Personally, I think it's in the companies best interest to let the artist use whatever they're most comfortable with. You're going to better work, and faster, if the artists isn't having to struggle with learning a new program. I'm really only talking about modeling and texturing here. Animation is a different issue. But it's easy enough, with all the options out there, to transfer a mesh from one package to another and then do some cleanup to get it ready for exporting.

Neox

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Some companies are really arsey about this. I once worked at a place where they discouraged me from using photoshop for texturing because they were zbrush freaks.

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WTF!

Ruz

well When I showed them zapplink, they sharp changed their minds.
Odd, every time I started using pshop they would look over my shoulder and tell me off he hehe.
Don't get me wrong, i always try to use the techniques they want at first, but we are all different and have different ways of reaching the same goal.
Its the same with software

Some folks have the man management skills of captain Bligh:)