OTOY Forums

hello everyone. I'm asking around on various forums regarding 3D with hopes that I could get some advice. I'm a junior in high school, and I soon have to start thinking about colleges and what major to go into. my interests are related to modeling and rendering, video games and pretty much anything on a computer.

I'm hoping to hear some advice and stories about what people have done to get work in this industry and what path to take to get there. I've heard of people working as an architect involving 3D, but I'd have no idea how to start that career. I also think i'd like to be a game designer. if anyone has any personal stories about getting into either of these businesses, I'd love to hear.
thanks all

Start making a port folio, a good gallery of your work on the web is a start then use that as a platform to show what your made of... its the end result that counts... Once you have that and you can prove what you are exactly good at and with. Then apply for a job with the companies that produce 3d content. Qualifications are good but proof of concept or end results are even better :0)

For your portfolio you can be a "generalist" and show a lot of things from modelling to rendering
But you gonna need to choose someday (if you plan to work in a big game studio) to be more focused on one area of the industry Its a very hard thing to do sometimes, specially when you are young and you want to do everything...

Don't forget to register on a lot of forum and don't by shy, ask questions, upload files etc...
Forums are made to discuss or help people, not just to promote your own work

Oh and make a blog along your website where you post every minor works.. Always usefull for the other CG artists to see in more details what you do. Making tutorials is also a good way to improve yourself

I worked as a bartender most of my adult life.
installed 3dsmax nov 2004 and set a goal to get into a render plugins gallery 1 year after. I missed that by a week, but the image is the most googled image from that render engine and has been that for some years now ( so i was happy )
Set new goal to get a job with cg after 1 more year, and I got headhunted to a position 3 weeks before that year was over. Then I quit my bartender job.

Filming background plates, hanging from side of helicopter following trains on big bridges, build film gear, bought film gear, rendered animation for tv, made music for film and animations. All just because I played a few hours after my barwork for a few years.

( and i didnt even apply for work, work came to me )

what a laugh

The way I was taught was that you have to show a company that you are good at something, hence the portfolio, and make them think that they will miss out on a great talent by not hiring you versus another person. Schools are great at getting you fundamentals and access to tools you might not otherwise be able to afford, but you must understand that a degree does not equal a job. Students need to take what they learn in class and apply it in their own time. I've seen a lot of students fail at this and then get unhappy with their school and or career path.

Personally I have just fallen into what 3D modeling I do as a side to my day-to-day job, but from that I have had offers for freelance stuff here and there. A project would come up and I would take it to another level by modeling it in 3D then the project heads were able to pass that along and use it, next project came and I was specifically tasked with do modeling, next project came and I was hired to do some basic archviz stuff for our contractor.

It is good you are starting so young. CG is really taking over so many aspects of our daily lives in games, advertisement, engineering, and prototyping to name a few. Good luck!!