I need career advice considering all this crazy AI stuff...

CyberdemoN_1542 · Jun 2023

What skills should I focus on to stay relevant? After that text-to-3D generator that was posted in another thread It doesn't seem like modeling and texturing have a future. Sure, it's basic for now but it's getting where it needs to be real fast. Is it even worth investing in learning how to make props and modular assets anymore? I love making weapons and my ambition was to become the top 10% of weapon artists but it doesn't seem like it has a future anymore. I'm already a pro (6 years experience in 3D and 3 professionally) but I still have a lot to learn regarding 3D and texturing but I keep thinking I'm just wasting my time.

What about game development? I am thinking about focusing more on perfecting my UE5 skills and begrudgingly learning the AI tools. Does that have a brighter future than 3D? All this is going to take all the fun out of creating and texturing models but I need to put a roof over my head. I guess I would have an edge over people who know nothing about 3D and texturing. If I need to fix something myself I can do that.

zetheros · Jun 2023

keep doing & improving at 3d art, learn unreal engine, learn AI, it's all we can do. There's really not much to fear once you learn more about AI and it's limitations. We aren't going to be reduced to 'prompt engineers', at most AI will supplement our toolkits. An eye for aesthetics, fundamental skills for shape and colour will always be in demand.

Fear stems from not knowing. So go out there and learn.

Neox · Jun 2023

tbh i have no real answer. so i will do what i always have done. do good stuff (or at least hope that's what people think is good stuff). don't get lost at whats out there, don't get killed on all the negativity and shouting all the damn time. just do good stuff.

Alex_J · Jun 2023

There is always a lack of leadership anywhere you go and that is more valuable that by-the-hour work.

If you are willing to take responsibility for the larger mission you'll be the only one in a lot of cases. If you will make decisions when others look away they'll happily let you do it and then eventually want you to do it. You don't have to be the best, you just have to be willing.

Whatever type of work you are doing, if you are at the bottom you have no security.

CyberdemoN_1542 · Jun 2023

Alex_J said:

There is always a lack of leadership anywhere you go and that is more valuable that by-the-hour work.

If you are willing to take responsibility for the larger mission you'll be the only one in a lot of cases. If you will make decisions when others look away they'll happily let you do it and then eventually want you to do it. You don't have to be the best, you just have to be willing.

Whatever type of work you are doing, if you are at the bottom you have no security.

That's not why I started this. All I care about is making cool shit...

NikhilR · Jun 2023

CyberdemoN_1542 said:

Alex_J said:

There is always a lack of leadership anywhere you go and that is more valuable that by-the-hour work.

If you are willing to take responsibility for the larger mission you'll be the only one in a lot of cases. If you will make decisions when others look away they'll happily let you do it and then eventually want you to do it. You don't have to be the best, you just have to be willing.

Whatever type of work you are doing, if you are at the bottom you have no security.

That's not why I started this. All I care about is making cool shit...

And that ought to be the motivation in itself. To be honest, not a lot that AI creates is usuable as is. And there are lots of limitations in its use for larger companies.
For example a company in Canada that runs on government subsidies would do well to maintain its workforce. Liquidating its workforce in favor of AI won't look great regardless of how useful AI is.
The concern is more for newcomers, but there is so much accessible learning available for free, getting exposure for your skills is much easier now.
So if you focused on improving as an artist without being too specific on the specilization it may help in the longer term.
When it comes to specializing I really would look at the opportunities that are being posted and improve in that direction.
For example here in Montreal, I see many UI/UX, VFX and animator roles, I also see more of those groups being retained. Not saying you should move over to those from modeling, but it helps to be aware of how jobs fare in the larger market.
Always helps to make the portfolio more current, update previous work to present standards and workflows.
And also don't rely on your portfolio to get you the job, in my opinion networking and timing is far more critical.

And don't worry about unhinged rambling from AI tech bros, they just the reskinned NFT bros and look how that turned out.
Wanted to share this nice post from linkedin,
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7071188132041261056?updateEntityUrn=urn:li:fs_feedUpdate:(V2,urn:li:activity:7071188132041261056)

Alex_J · Jun 2023

That's not why I started this. All I care about is making cool shit...

well i can definitely empathize. I wish I could make a living just doing simple physical work because that's what I really love to do, but we are all stuck in a race to the bottom so everything is machines and 12+ hour days that ruin your health.

If you are doing something other people can easily do and lots of people want to do, it's a feeding frenzy. The only way to get a bite is either be bigger than others or somehow tag onto one of the big guys - e.g. have a great portfolio and/or get a job through connections. But you won't find any security in working - that doesn't even need AI in the picture. If you are lucky you might make enough money to pay rent and if you are really lucky you might be able to work remote so then you can live in a cheaper place so that you can actually do something with your money besides pass it up to the landowners.

Other thing you can do is do something other people don't want to do. Something more technical - probably some areas of work that you naturally want to avoid because it seems complicated and scary... other people will feel the same way. So whatever that is, if you get half-decent at it then you have a little more security... I'm sure you could find a lot of creative satisfaction using some of the harder-to-learn tools and workflows like procedural generation with houdini or something like that. But of course it takes more time and aptitude so it's not for everyone. Personally I don't like very technical work but I can't afford to hire anybody to do it so I just do it as best I can. Even in work that I don't like, there can still be found a lot of satisfaction just in general problem solving. And it's always kind of fun to watch your own skill grow in a new discipline even if it's not something you were immediately interested in.

I doubt anybody can give you an answer that will alleviate your stress. If I was younger and looking for work I definitely wouldn't pursue modeling - not because of AI though. Because too many others want to do it and pay is consequently low. But some people just love the work and will keep doing it as long as they can. They might do it for 10-20 more years. Who knows? Whoever is the top weapons artist right now might only be able to do it for another 2 years before AI takes their job, but probably if they've been working in studios and a lot of people know they are a reliable person who understands 3d, it wouldn't be too hard for them to get into some new but related field? Seems reasonable. People help people that they actually know. A strong social network is pretty much only security anybody has.

poopipe · Jun 2023

Ignore it. You'll be a lot happier

nOLpte8 · Jun 2023

I mean AI art or no AI art, art jobs heck anything creative is always going to be a difficult career path simply because far more people want the "fun" jobs than there are open fun jobs. That is there is always going to be more people who want to be UI/UX designers than there are open UI/UX designer jobs, more people who want to be animators, 3d artists, etc... than there are open animators, 3d artists jobs etc...

So I really wouldn't put much stock in "art is not worth doing because AI will take my job". If art is what you are passionate about, what you really want to do then go after regardless or not AI art is a thing.

In terms of game dev being a better future, that I don't know. When I go to most studio job sections there tends to be an even split between artist jobs and game dev jobs.

(As an aside I am more curious/concerned about non-art jobs that AI may overtake).

CyberdemoN_1542 · Jun 2023

poopipe said:

Ignore it. You'll be a lot happier

How CAN I ignore it? Ignoring it seems like a surefire way to end up jobless. As much as I hate this technology and as much as I think it's going to suck out everything fun about my job, my goal is to stay relevant so I can continue to stay in business. I realize this involves learning the AI tools but it's clear for the time being that SOME aspects of game development will continue to remain relevant and I wish to know which skills have the highest chance of survival. It's clear to me that things are moving extremely fast and that my time is precious. The last thing I want is wasting my time focusing on skills with no future and being left behind.

Vertrucio · Jun 2023

AI is not coming for experienced studio jobs in the next decade. Its output is pretty random and you pick stuff out of the output. But with games you tend to need very specific input into the engines. By the time it does come for those jobs, we're going to have plenty of other problems related to the tech.

ModBlue · Jun 2023

If your worried about pushing forward with 3D because the AI might be able to do your job better than you can....well you don't have many options. Pretty much anything done with a computer is out of the question, so you'd be largely stuck with physical labor jobs. Even then, they're just safer for now but that will change when we have more usable AI-powered robots. In other words unless you become a dog walker or something that doesn't benefit from AI, nothing you do will be truly safe.

I'd personally not even worry about this stuff and just enjoy whatever it is that I'm doing.

Alex_J · Jun 2023

ModBlue said:

In other words unless you become a dog walker or something that doesn't benefit from AI, nothing you do will be truly safe.

I think this was said somewhat in jest but just to put some ideas out there for anybody who is in need of some extra cash...

i make an extra ~ $20k each year dog boarding (that's pretty much having one dog most days of week watched all year long). It requires work from home but since that is becoming a reality for more people or maybe was already so for freelancers, it is something to consider. 9 out of 10 dogs is zero trouble whatsoever. Some are a pain in the ass of course but usually its like money for nothing. And it helps give reason to get off ass and go exercise each day.

poopipe · Jun 2023

I've done that too and can totally recommend it. Not sure I'd want to do it every day because I'm very lazy but it's good for the soul to have a mutt or two around every so often.

CyberdemoN_1542 · Jun 2023

ModBlue said:

If your worried about pushing forward with 3D because the AI might be able to do your job better than you can....well you don't have many options. Pretty much anything done with a computer is out of the question, so you'd be largely stuck with physical labor jobs. Even then, they're just safer for now but that will change when we have more usable AI-powered robots. In other words unless you become a dog walker or something that doesn't benefit from AI, nothing you do will be truly safe.

I'd personally not even worry about this stuff and just enjoy whatever it is that I'm doing.

Sure, everything is going to be replaced by AI at one point. I get that. In fact, if you can replace an artist/game dev, you can replace a lot of other things as well. What I'm interested in is which skills have the longest staying power. What I do is paid well in my country and I need to make as much money as possible (and that won't be a fortune) so that I can sustain myself when everything gets done by AI. I think that instead of unlimited prosperity for everyone it's going to destroy the middle class and we're instead going to be peasants dependent on these tech billionaires. They don't want people like you and me to have any leverage in society. If I am to be a peasant, then I'd like to be the equivalent of a well-off independent peasant and not a serf. For that I need to make as much money I can right now. Even IF unlimited prosperity is theoretically possible, why waste a good opportunity to control people? If you think these people care one iota about us think again. Just look at how they are treating our data and that should give you an idea. They can make any excuse for why utopia is not here right now and if you give counter arguments they'll just call you anti-science or some other retarded shit like that.

nOLpte8 · Jun 2023

ModBlue said:

If your worried about pushing forward with 3D because the AI might be able to do your job better than you can....well you don't have many options. Pretty much anything done with a computer is out of the question, so you'd be largely stuck with physical labor jobs. Even then, they're just safer for now but that will change when we have more usable AI-powered robots. In other words unless you become a dog walker or something that doesn't benefit from AI, nothing you do will be truly safe.

I'd personally not even worry about this stuff and just enjoy whatever it is that I'm doing.

Yup that is my bigger concern with AI. Not so much that possible game art jobs will be taken but that nearly any job involving extensive computer use could be gobbled up by AI. But as said life is too short to spend a good chunk of time worrying if AI will take my job.

poopipe · Jul 2023

Robots are not going to take any job that can't already be outsourced.

I need career advice considering all this crazy AI stuff...

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