get into 3D

[pauland]

I'll say one last thing Jvila.

The studios that do 3D work usually have teams of people with specialists in doing different types of work and they evolve their own specialist software to help them along. They might use on package for modelling and another package for animation, then they have programs that can sculpt 3D meshes and specialist software for rendering and adding custom behaviour such as flocking or physics.

So when you hear that a 3D studio uses, say, Maya, then it's often only part of a complex pipeline and not a single package being used from start to finish. Besides the headline software, there's pre-vizualisation, where studios make basic models/environments/animations/lighting to work out the concepts. Sometimes studios make agreements to highlight software packages as a form of endorsement. So the studio that uses Maya, probably uses five other packages as well but won't mention them.

In these studios people often specialise - some people just build models, some add textures, some create 3D environments and do the lighting, some specialise in animating.

As the studio size shrinks, people do more and more tasks. People working freelance on their own have to do everything. Many sole Freelancers do excellent work. They tend to be doing architectural visualisation, motion graphics or special effects.

I can say it's a really competitive industry and in bad times finding work can be hard.

Don't let me put you off. 3D can be fun.

Best way forward is to decide on a small project and see it through.

Design. Storyboard. Model. Texture. Create environments and light them. Animate. Use a film editor to add sound, titles, etc.

Paul

[ Edit: Find out if there are any 3D groups in your locality or studios using 3D software. It would be great to join a group and if there's a studio, express your interest in 3D and see if they'll let you come over and see what they do. They might give you some great advice or let you do some intern work and that would be a great foot in the door. At worst they'll just say no. ]