15 replies to this topic

[cloudfx]

I am in a deep consideration pool to find which is a good/right way for me to be a greater fx artist from this point.

Tools are getting better and better in speed of light.
I guess in early days of fx animation (at least 5~6 years ago), fx animator had to know how the natural force work and knowledge  such as certain math(for comp or particle animation/attribute filter) and computer graphics(volumetric method, deeper understand of attribute of vertex,face,polygon), understand of codes to mange the particles/shaders/render at the artist's way to create natural fire/smoke/water/cloud any kinds of effect.

But now, it seems like there are a lot of user friendly tools , anybody can easily make simple fx with nice fluid sim tools such as fumefx, pyro 2 although it requires the understanding of how fluid solver behaves nodes by nodes or property by property to create more art direct-able and complex animation but I am wondering that later would be more less and less R&D or struggling for complex and art direction-able fx which sounds good for artist that everything gets easy but on the other side, I am wondering would that make fx artist lose there jobs unfortunately?

I am 25 years old now and I am in a very important time of my life to decide before everything gets really messed up. I know now features doing only production hires. I will get marry someday and I would want to get a stable job one day.

I worked over 7~8 features (Some of them had heavy fx movies or CG Animations) , game cinematics , lots of commercials from major vfx studios to a very small commercial companies but I know that would not make the job as fx artist more stable anyhow and I also know there are lots of fx artist who has much better experience than me. I don't think getting more great movies credits and more greater major vfx studio names in line of my resume are going to make the job as fx artist more stable as well. I don't know what would be next thing I want to really focus to make my job as fx artist to be more stable. I considered thinking of going to college for Computer Graphics and become a tool developer? but I think I dont want to be tool developer. I want to keep my job as fx artist.

I am not saying that I am looking for a job but
how to make me a stronger fx artist while the tools are getting really easy and fast?

Edited by cloudfx, 17 March 2012 - 07:37 PM.

[Andz]

I cannot help you, but, you sound a little like my Calculus teacher telling me to drop CG and become a professor, because one day the Japaneses would make a chip that would do my job in one second, just like they did for everything else.

[cloudfx]

Andz, on 17 March 2012 - 07:21 PM, said:

I cannot help you, but, you sound a little like my Calculus teacher telling me to drop CG and become a professor, because one day the Japaneses would make a chip that would do my job in one second, just like they did for everything else.

Maybe I worry too much. lol

[Solitude]

cloudfx, on 17 March 2012 - 07:41 PM, said:

Maybe I worry too much. lol

There's room for both the technical and non technical fx artists... even in the Houdini world.  If you don't want to do tools, don't. It won't make you happy. I know some really talented fx artists that don't know jack for technical stuff. Granted, learning some of the more technical stuff (small tools to make your workflow faster) will never hurt. If anything, learning Houdini is probably one of the better things to make life more stable as an fx artist right now. Vancouver is looking for a lot of Houdini people at the moment... seems like more people are picking up Houdini. However, I think having some experience with all the apps would make you way more marketable than somebody who only knows one app. Most studios often don't have time or money to train, since so much of our industry is based on contracts anyway. So, I think my only advice would be to just keep playing and learning, even in your spare time, if you have the time and motivation. Of course, don't make cg your only life, that's not a good thing either.  

[cloudfx]

Solitude, on 17 March 2012 - 09:05 PM, said:

There's room for both the technical and non technical fx artists... even in the Houdini world.  If you don't want to do tools, don't. It won't make you happy. I know some really talented fx artists that don't know jack for technical stuff. Granted, learning some of the more technical stuff (small tools to make your workflow faster) will never hurt. If anything, learning Houdini is probably one of the better things to make life more stable as an fx artist right now. Vancouver is looking for a lot of Houdini people at the moment... seems like more people are picking up Houdini. However, I think having some experience with all the apps would make you way more marketable than somebody who only knows one app. Most studios often don't have time or money to train, since so much of our industry is based on contracts anyway. So, I think my only advice would be to just keep playing and learning, even in your spare time, if you have the time and motivation. Of course, don't make cg your only life, that's not a good thing either.  

Thank you Solitude, That helps a lot.

[Matt_K]

Hiya cloudfx,
I agree with what Solitude says, but would like to add one thing - learn some Python!

This will empower you to do things beyond what your software has to offer and add a valuable skill to your fx toolset.
Most of the top software packages support Python so it will stand you in good stead regardless of where you might end up working.

And most of all - do what you love, 'cause then you'll do it really well!

Hope that is of some help,
Matt.

[Macha]

..and then spend the next 10 years of your life working for companies that go bankrupt...

[cloudfx]

Macha, on 18 March 2012 - 02:43 PM, said:

..and then spend the next 10 years of your life working for companies that go bankrupt...

what does this mean?

[Andz]

cloudfx, on 18 March 2012 - 05:09 PM, said:

what does this mean?

Probably what today's work market is like.

There is no such thing as a stable place to work anymore. At least here in Brazil and a few places around the globe that i know.

My fathers dream was that I'd go to university and become an engineer, because with a degree that meant to work for the rest of your life in one factory back in the 70's. But there is no such thing today.

And even, many places see people who jump from one seat to another as more valuable than someone who worked in only one place for years.

[Wooshum]

There is no such thing as a stable job in any industry any more. It is becoming more and more about how strong your portfolio is and how transferable your skills are.

The entertainment industry is not the only place you should be thinking about - VFX professionals have highly transferable skills that they don't really think of using: For instance medical imaging, engineering and urban visualisation. Imagine working on a feature film one year then helping with the development of scientific visualisations the next.

As long as you have a strong portfolio, a good grounding in the basics of VFX / animation and an understanding of how to apply basic maths and scientific theory (eg: reading an applying SIGGRAPH papers) you should be able to set your self up for a long an fruitful career. You should always think outside of the box, sometimes your dream VFX job may not come around but you could find a creatively rewarding position in another industry.

It is an exiting time to be working and/or studying Animation or VFX - as visual content becomes more entrenched in our society (thanks to new devices - iPads, iPhones, etc.) there are more demands for the creation of beautiful visuals - this is something we are all in the business of doing.

[cloudfx]

Wooshum, on 18 March 2012 - 09:28 PM, said:

There is no such thing as a stable job in any industry any more. It is becoming more and more about how strong your portfolio is and how transferable your skills are.

The entertainment industry is not the only place you should be thinking about - VFX professionals have highly transferable skills that they don't really think of using: For instance medical imaging, engineering and urban visualisation. Imagine working on a feature film one year then helping with the development of scientific visualisations the next.

As long as you have a strong portfolio, a good grounding in the basics of VFX / animation and an understanding of how to apply basic maths and scientific theory (eg: reading an applying SIGGRAPH papers) you should be able to set your self up for a long an fruitful career. You should always think outside of the box, sometimes your dream VFX job may not come around but you could find a creatively rewarding position in another industry.

It is an exiting time to be working and/or studying Animation or VFX - as visual content becomes more entrenched in our society (thanks to new devices - iPads, iPhones, etc.) there are more demands for the creation of beautiful visuals - this is something we are all in the business of doing.

Thank you very much for kind advice. That really helps my thoughts..

[LaidlawFX]

I've gotten to work a with a pretty wide array of artist, and unless you get lucky and you get on staff somewhere.... oh wait, scratch that...(vifx, core, imd, asylum) The VFX industry has a way of humbling you like no other, and odds are you won't be able to do this job for ever. It's a lot like sports, random contracts based on the needs of the team and the skill of the player, but no matter what you won't be playing baseball, basketball, or football as a position player for ever. You fight really hard to get in to the industry, but eventually you're gona have to fight to get out of the industry, or have a graceful exit strategy considering family. Not everyone can be leads and be on staff when the time comes. Some of the bigger companies you can roll into side disciplines like education, recruiting, etc. Overall this industry is a young person industry the way crunch times happen. Anyways I sound a lot like an older fart than I am, but steady work is hard to come by no matter who you are or what age you are, you'll need to work in a hot spot, like LA, London, and possibly Vancouver to not worry too much once kids have made you immobile. Just wait until you're looking for a nice house in the right school district to raise kids, and your job goes belly up.

Mostly I call it just plan luck serving the aforementioned stuff, but if you work hard every day and your friendly to everyone, once your in your in. For the future you can add to your skill sets if certain shows have focused you too much. 3 shows of works with water or then 3 with smoke can limit your ability in 6 years and the technology can push past you. So if your good with sop, pops, and hard surface dynamics, maybe work on your fluids, cloth, volumes, or chops in your free time. Or work on your python, otl building, shaders, lighting, animation, or problem solving abilities.

See ya in the trenches.