In Austria I'd attend one of the FHs (applied science university). Their curricula sound pretty solid and I've met a couple of talented people from there. Should be cheaper too than the for-profit SAE.
I personally wouldn't recommend it. They say 40 hours a week but it's really like 8 hours of lectures and everythign else is DIY.
You learn the basics , everything else learn yourself.
You can get up to the same skill which they teach in about half a year if you sit down everyday and learn Maya/Max/Zbrush non-stop and save yourself a 2 year ride of boredom and 15k euros.
I went to the exact school you're refering to.
Quite honestly, it was a waste of money. You just go there for about 5 hours and hear the lectures and well just sit there. I learned Maya and Zbrush before going to the SAE and I didn't feel, that they gave a good introduction into the pipeline.
That said, the 3D Animation&Art lecturer is really nice and all the other folks there're nice to.
I always tell people to go to the games academy, if they have the chance, because I never heard anything bad about them.
But it's always the best to make your own opinion, just call them and make an appointment to get a tour and see for yourself
DONT DO IT BRAH!
I went to Bochum like Broetchaen. The Equipment is pretty bad and the Instructors only know Mudbox Unity and Maya. If you want to learn other Software, GG. They just dont know it.
If you have the choice, pls go to the "Games Academy". The SAE isn't worth the 11000€ (Diploma).
There are other options as well, MdH, HTW Berlin come to my mind, and i am sure other "Hochschulen" will have similar courses like the HTW.
I can't say much about the SAE, besides i gave a class in Berlin, which to me was quite a bad experience (as was for my students i believe) i just can't teach total beginners and the concept of a pipeline was too early for them - as opposed to what Broetchaen wrote, the diploma course needs to teach the fundamental first after that you can talk about pipeline and workflow. When i was teaching it was definitely too early for the vast majority of the class.
Reading the comments on my course afterwards was devastating, really. Out of the whole class only 2 participated, the rest i lost too early, 2 of those gave me pretty bad ratings... oh well, i really should never teach a class of beginners again.
Sadly no school i ever worked for listens to me when i say "no starters please, i lost the ability to think like them" and i truly mean that, beginners make mistakes i can't even reproduce willingly.
There are other options as well, MdH, HTW Berlin come to my mind, and i am sure other "Hochschulen" will have similar courses like the HTW.
I can't say much about the SAE, besides i gave a class in Berlin, which to me was quite a bad experience (as was for my students i believe) i just can't teach total beginners and the concept of a pipeline was too early for them - as opposed to what Broetchaen wrote, the diploma course needs to teach the fundamental first after that you can talk about pipeline and workflow. When i was teaching it was definitely too early for the vast majority of the class.
Reading the comments on my course afterwards was devastating, really. Out of the whole class only 2 participated, the rest i lost too early, 2 of those gave me pretty bad ratings... oh well, i really should never teach a class of beginners again.
Sadly no school i ever worked for listens to me when i say "no starters please, i lost the ability to think like them" and i truly mean that, beginners make mistakes i can't even reproduce willingly.
Especially in Berlin it's like that. When a lecture is there it's like " oh we have 3 days a week where we have a 2 hour lecture...the other 4 days are off and we'd rather be at home"
I second the HTW or MdH , they produce Class A material , they're a bit more expensive though.
TBH, doesn't the HTW Berlin get a fairly bad rep for being way too indecisive, ie not focusing on a specific direction? The curriculum includes a little bit of everything, from design to programming. This could all be hearsay, mind you.
As a former GA-Berlin student, I'm not sure I'd recommend them either, especially considering the horrendous costs of a 2 year course. It really depends on the teachers you get, and the mindset you yourself bring to class.
TBH, doesn't the HTW Berlin get a fairly bad rep for being way too indecisive, ie not focusing on a specific direction? The curriculum includes a little bit of everything, from design to programming. This could all be hearsay, mind you.
As a former GA-Berlin student, I'm not sure I'd recommend them either, especially considering the horrendous costs of a 2 year course. It really depends on the teachers you get, and the mindset you yourself bring to class.
from my experience, the best intern "material" we got was from the HTW, we get a lot of applications from people fresh from all kinds of schools in germany and only have one intern position at once, which happened 3 times so far. Out of the 3 times 2 have been former HTW guys, with a way more solid base than most. But this could of course also be a personal thing.
TBH, doesn't the HTW Berlin get a fairly bad rep for being way too indecisive, ie not focusing on a specific direction? The curriculum includes a little bit of everything, from design to programming. This could all be hearsay, mind you.
Yea the curriculum looks a little indecisive at first, but it makes sense once you know why.
In the first 2-3 Semesters all of the students have to take part in the same courses (art, programming basics, game theory, etc.), this is to make sure everyone is at the same level of certain knowledge (programmer knows what artist can do / artist knows what programmer is capable of).
From the 2nd - 5th semester we have a group project every semester and this is where one is able to find the position he likes and can try out new things as well. The students are also very helpful and like to tutor/boost each other.
Personally I would say the best you could do is to actually use the time of studying to try out new things and explore the unknown. Maybe you find more fun in creating sounds/programming instead of art. That's where the curriculum is very flexible.
I personally jumped into programming, because I already knew a lot of 3D stuff beforehand and like to tinker around, so my focus is now shifting towards Tech-Artist, which is a good thing I guess
The overall art focus of the program is shifted towards character design, at least from what I see what other students in the art-courses work on.
Don't do it to yourself man, honestly with the amount of resources available to you, the money is worth being spent somewhere else. Most game schools from hearing other peoples' experiences have been horror stories.
Replies
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=108342
i know its not realy an answer to your question, but it might be usefull to you.
I personally wouldn't recommend it. They say 40 hours a week but it's really like 8 hours of lectures and everythign else is DIY.
You learn the basics , everything else learn yourself.
You can get up to the same skill which they teach in about half a year if you sit down everyday and learn Maya/Max/Zbrush non-stop and save yourself a 2 year ride of boredom and 15k euros.
Quite honestly, it was a waste of money. You just go there for about 5 hours and hear the lectures and well just sit there. I learned Maya and Zbrush before going to the SAE and I didn't feel, that they gave a good introduction into the pipeline.
That said, the 3D Animation&Art lecturer is really nice and all the other folks there're nice to.
I always tell people to go to the games academy, if they have the chance, because I never heard anything bad about them.
But it's always the best to make your own opinion, just call them and make an appointment to get a tour and see for yourself
I went to Bochum like Broetchaen. The Equipment is pretty bad and the Instructors only know Mudbox Unity and Maya. If you want to learn other Software, GG. They just dont know it.
If you have the choice, pls go to the "Games Academy". The SAE isn't worth the 11000€ (Diploma).
I can't say much about the SAE, besides i gave a class in Berlin, which to me was quite a bad experience (as was for my students i believe) i just can't teach total beginners and the concept of a pipeline was too early for them - as opposed to what Broetchaen wrote, the diploma course needs to teach the fundamental first after that you can talk about pipeline and workflow. When i was teaching it was definitely too early for the vast majority of the class.
Reading the comments on my course afterwards was devastating, really. Out of the whole class only 2 participated, the rest i lost too early, 2 of those gave me pretty bad ratings... oh well, i really should never teach a class of beginners again.
Sadly no school i ever worked for listens to me when i say "no starters please, i lost the ability to think like them" and i truly mean that, beginners make mistakes i can't even reproduce willingly.
Especially in Berlin it's like that. When a lecture is there it's like " oh we have 3 days a week where we have a 2 hour lecture...the other 4 days are off and we'd rather be at home"
I second the HTW or MdH , they produce Class A material , they're a bit more expensive though.
I'll check out your suggestions guys !
We're talking about 11000 € here. Thats a lot of Money. If you have any Questions just send me a Message.
I'm currently a student in the 5th Semester.
As a former GA-Berlin student, I'm not sure I'd recommend them either, especially considering the horrendous costs of a 2 year course. It really depends on the teachers you get, and the mindset you yourself bring to class.
from my experience, the best intern "material" we got was from the HTW, we get a lot of applications from people fresh from all kinds of schools in germany and only have one intern position at once, which happened 3 times so far. Out of the 3 times 2 have been former HTW guys, with a way more solid base than most. But this could of course also be a personal thing.
Yea the curriculum looks a little indecisive at first, but it makes sense once you know why.
In the first 2-3 Semesters all of the students have to take part in the same courses (art, programming basics, game theory, etc.), this is to make sure everyone is at the same level of certain knowledge (programmer knows what artist can do / artist knows what programmer is capable of).
From the 2nd - 5th semester we have a group project every semester and this is where one is able to find the position he likes and can try out new things as well. The students are also very helpful and like to tutor/boost each other.
Personally I would say the best you could do is to actually use the time of studying to try out new things and explore the unknown. Maybe you find more fun in creating sounds/programming instead of art. That's where the curriculum is very flexible.
I personally jumped into programming, because I already knew a lot of 3D stuff beforehand and like to tinker around, so my focus is now shifting towards Tech-Artist, which is a good thing I guess
The overall art focus of the program is shifted towards character design, at least from what I see what other students in the art-courses work on.
every student wants to be a characterartist at first, until they realize that the amount of jobs is just very limited