Question to those in the industry?
polycounter lvl 19
I was wondering, just how much freedom do you have in your respective companies, to use the programs you feel comfortable with? Most job listings Ive seen list max/maya as the requirement for (modeling)program knowledge but if you know alternative programs and your work is excellent, just how accomodating are most companies?
Replies
Companies aren't specifying a 3D app. in a job description because they've picked it out of a hat. It's been established. Bought, paid for, people trained on, experts hired for, tools written for.
That said, modeling is obviously far easier to port across packages than rigging or animation.
But If you think about something like high resolution sculpting and spitting out a model for normal maps, it seems like it shouldn't really matter whether you're using mudbox or Z3, right? But the reality is, the company in question might have a price deal with one of those companies, and only willing to purchase one of them. Also, don't forget you're on a team, and might have to work with other artists work. How are you going to make a change to a Zbrush model If you can only work in Mud? Really, it all depends. There is absolutely no simple answer here.
My advice is to have as good a knowledge you can of most of the big apps, whilst concentrating on one. If a studio really likes your work, they'll take the hit on ramp up time for you to learn their tools of choice, but letting you show up and use your own is a less likely scenario.
"I've used Maya before to make these pieces, but I might need a week to ramp back up because I've mostly been using Max"
Then it is to say:
"I've never used Maya I hope my stuff translates well and you can put up with me whining about how Max does things for a month?"
Most peoples portfolios aren't that good that a place would risk retaining the person.
Most places will take someone who has the most talent and requires the least ramp up time.
Most places will not be willing to buy and maintain an extra seat of software for one person. If they say they have both and don't mind you using whatever you're comfortable with then great, but that can be a hard place to find I would suggest not limiting yourself to just those places.
I often review other people's work, and it would be a pain in the butt to open the file and check it if the model was made in some obscure modelling package. We prefer Max, but also use Maya here. We use either/or depending on the needs of clients.
We often pass files back and forth between our artists, and working in one format consistently is very helpful. Lately I'm the in-game model maker, and will be baking textures from sub-d high-res source. Very frequently I will need to make some changes to the high res sub-d model. Since both the high res and the in game model are both in the same max scene, this is very easy. For the work that I am currently doing, it would be very inconvenient to have to work with importing another file format.
Another thing to think of is to not be afraid to have to work in a package that you are unfamiliar with. I can't tell you how many stick-in-the-mud artists insist on using a certain package, and this will likely end up hurting them career-wise. If you are just learning, it's a good idea to focus on one or two packages to get a handle on overall workflow principles. But don't be afraid of working in a different package, assuming you've got co-workers that can help you out.
I am primarily a Max guy, but my boss put me in charge of a small Maya project a couple of years back. I was quite nervous about it, as I had very little Maya experience, and what I did know was outdated by at least 2 releases. Nevertheless, I took it on, and quickly found out that it's not really that big of a deal switching packages. After a month, I had modelled, UVd, textured, and vertex lit a decent sized environment. Of course, I wasn't incredibly productive the first day or two and was harassing my Maya-experienced coworkers regularly. But after about 2 weeks I could pretty much do everything myself within the scope of the project.
If you've got decent art skills, and are solid technically, these skills should transfer to another package. It's just a matter of learning a few workflow differences and where the commands are.
the character subteam i work in is split between max and maya-based guys but the maya guys tend to use a bit of max since it makes some steps easier for them. more a result of the team being mainly max-based tho.
i think there are also some lightwavers and modo users around in the company but generally it seems to be a problem to get the company to buy a seat of some other package. that request simply takes quite a while to make it's way through the hierarchy.
totally different from small places i've been at/worked with. these were either totally strict or did not care the least bit.