3d jobs non gaming
polycounter lvl 14
Hey I know that majority of people on here are interested about 3d modeling in the gaming industry. Does anyone have advice or know anything about 3d modeling for military simulations and arch viz. Also what other types of jobs involve 3d modeling, I may have missed some. While i ultimately want to end up in the gaming industry, I wouldn't mind having something to pay bills instead of working at minimum wage jobs anymore 
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I've also done freelance work for a few design studios creating characters and motion graphics for adverts, corporate videos and stings. That kind of work can bring a lot of variety, but then you also have to have a variety of 3D skills.
Sure there's loads more....product design?
Oooh, I seem to see a lot of jobs for 3D retail and exhibition modelling designers...
You'll want to look at companies like Boeing, or Northrop Grumman, and a lot of others that work directly with the government. There are plenty of listings out there. I've been in the military and have seen some of the simulators but never worked on it.
I know working as a government contractor opens up some really solid benefits and health care.
My very first job offer after during my job search was from a company that did that, but foolishly, I turned it down because I wanted a job in the games industry instead.
Luckily I did end up finding one, 7 months later
[ame]
As you might imagine you'll want your portfolio to have realistic military work in it.
There are definite perks and cons to working in this industry, but that's at any job. The cons are at times you are working with people that don't quite understand the nature of the beast as far as the what's required to make a game. Short deadlines and rushes are the norm for sure. But, it's never boring. I've been here 4 years and have a lot more stability and security than a lot of friends that work in the game industry.
Feel free to ask any specific questions.
Also, working in the military sim business, do you usually get hands on with the equipment? Going out to see tanks, weapons, etc?
Maybe ask them some questions about the topic?
http://www.simthetiq.com/
The only issue I see with going for jobs in both fields is that your portfolio needs to be quite different for each. While I've never been employed in the game industry, I hear you get a few seconds to wow the employer with your folio or you're in the trash. That translates to a load of great art in a fast, no frills website. Not only that but they're not going to be too interested in any pre rendered stuff.
The AV industry is somewhat different. A pretty portfolio with flashy interface can actually be a good thing, especially if you're going freelance. Also, top quality work is of course important and Arch employers aren't gonna be impressed with your jagged realtime renders regardless of how epic your bakes are, man.
Another thing is that it may not be as easy to get work in house any more without some formal training as an Architect or similar. Certainly where I work we don't employ anyone without a degree, or at least one in progress. Back when I started out, this wasn't as important since fewer people did Arch 3D as an individual thing and it was often just cobbled together by an Architect with a bit of 3D knowledge.
Also, if your heart is set on getting into games, tread carefully in other industries. I thought games was what I wanted to do, but I never made the cut, got a bunch of rejection letters and now I'm giving up game art for good to freelance Arch Viz. While I do have some long standing industry contacts who I can use to kick start my freelance career, it's still a damn sight easier than trying to raise my game art to an employable level. Also there's no crunch time, or studio closures ready to fuck you in the ass. Add to that a higher salary than I could ever hope for in games and it's easy to see why i suggest not getting too comfortable in another occupation when your heart is really set elsewhere.
Having said that, if the recession boomerangs then forget all I just said. The architecture industry got hit very very hard, as a knock on effect from the construction industry suffering. Nobody is building anything, therefore nobody wants any 3D of buildings.
You mean getting to shoot grenade launchers and shotguns? Fire on the actual sims with live fire ammunition? Ride on the helicopter trainer and boat sim? Yep. At least we do here at my job, sometimes.
I know some companies allow you to work from home (I think Lockheed does, or did, at least). We used to have a couple of guys that were out of office workers, and it might be leaning more to that in the future. Our in house team is small, but trying to convince the powers-that-be that we need more people is tough at times when they think that we just click a few buttons and BOOM there's software.
Again, strictly speaking from my time here, I have to wear a lot of hats as well. I mainly do all the environment art, weapons, vehicles, etc, with occasional animating and interface stuff, but just last week I had to jump over and do a couple of promo videos that were required to try to seal a deal. That's one thing I can thank going to school for, it left me a general knowledge of other forms of digital media besides just 3d modeling and animation, and it's helped out a lot.
You gotta be able to communicate too in this field. You can't just expect to be told "Hey, model this tank" and thats it. You have to realize that a lot of military personnel that we work with can change their minds quickly, or may have a very exact way of thinking of something that isn't apparent when you get your task list since they don't speak the same 3d art language as game-artists.
Teams can be small so being a "generalist" can be a good thing. I got to do everything from modeling/textures, rigging/animation, and render/fx/compositing (I didn't do any of those things particularly well, but it was interesting).
An interesting thing about this business is how different priorities are compared to entertainment driven stuff. They were very particular about technical accuracy and highlighting obscure details that most civilians wouldn't care about. A lot of times this is to the detriment of the production quality and artistry, but that's what it's about sometimes.
It's decent work when there are contracts out there. It was interesting to take field trips to go on boats and see stuff in real life too.