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What is your Job?

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Tony2013 said:
gilbavel said:
You know what? We have an eclectic but VERY talented and experienced group here.

If we wanted to, we could form a consortium and put together a great web-based business doing nearly anything we wanted to.

Now, I'm just sort of playing with hypotheticals here, but we have a graphic designer, writers, coders, PR and sales people (including me; I have 25 years of in-the-field sales and management experience) and God only knows what else. I personally promote rock shows in my area, have, in the past promoted UFO lectures (and will again), and have sold everything from plant food and biostimulatnts to in-home demos of water treatment systems. I even owned my own RainSoft dealership, I got so good at it.

Looks to me like what started out as a friendly, casual conversation topic ended up looking like one of the most talented, diverse, but well-rounded group of individuals you could hope for.

Despite our differences and friendly jabs here and there, I think this group has what it takes to make a go of something really special.

But, we're probably too unmotivated and complacent to actually do anything about it. I just wanted to note that y'all are a bunch of smart, experienced people that could probably collectively do about anything we wanted to if we put our minds together to do it.

END TRANSMISSION

Well hold on now. I may be a tad bit uninspired at the moment, but unmotivated and complacent I ain't.

I'm all for starting something; particularily with a group of like-minded invidividuals. A strange meeting place this is indeed, but that's where the best ideas come from.

If you had any ideas, gilbavel, you are to share them immediately.


I would love to meet in the flesh for regular chats & discussion but i'm based in Australia so all my correspondence takes place on here & via MSN messenger....

On another note however: I will be in the US next August/September for the Burning Man Festival so....We'll see how it goes ;).

We could start an E-zine?

Goody.
 
..I'm a Poser hobbyist, I'd love to hear your criticisms of my work; It can be found HERE. I've been designing space ships using parts from the collected works of Davorama.

-Mike <8]

Hi Mike,

I don't know if this is the proper forum to discuss your work but here goes. If you want further input then forward your personal email info so we can get in detail.

Here is my professional opinion. Take it as constructive criticism, nothing more. I'll take a position as if I were to hire you.

You need to broaden the types of things you model and show versatility in the shapes that you create. Much of what I see are very similar types of objects (spaceships) of generally the same type of design. These spaceships show simple designs that can be built using simple primitives such as blocks and cylinders instead of advanced modeling tools such as booleans and compound curves and joints.

Show quality instead of quantity. I looked at the majority of your work and it all looks the same with the same level of complexity which means very little complexity. As an interviewer I'd rather see 12 really good pieces instead of 50 mediocre ones. Don't show me everything you've ever done. Show me just your best work. Show one killer image that can win you a job.

Put down the computer and sketch with a pen and paper! This is a pet peeve of mine. I don't know if you designed these or are just modeling other people's work. But these designs smack of tools dictating design rather than design dictating the type of tools needed to get the job done. This is the difference between a computer "artist" and a real artist. In my experience people who have learned the fundamentals such as sketching are far superior to those who just jump on to the computer and start designing away. If your software only lets you create simple primitives then I'd suggest you get a better 3D software. There's tons out there. I suggest Maya. All the film production and game studios use it.

Work on your textures. Show some color skills. These ships all looked half baked and rushed. Good textures make up for crappy models. Good lighting makes up for crappy textures and models. Which brings me to my next point.

Spend more time understanding lighting techniques. Good lighting can really show off your models in a scene and is the make or break element to achieve true photo realism. Study professional lighting techniques of photographers or cinematographers. Understand direct and indirect lighting. Understand the way light bounces and the way it works in shade and in shadow.

Base on your body of work you would qualify as an entry level modeler in a video game company doing mostly background work. Your quality of work cannot be considered high enough to get a job at a special effects house for film.

If you don't want to do only backgrounds or spaceships then you need to show some work on organic objects such as people or creatures. This type of work really shows the level of your modeling skills.

In many larger game companies the jobs are sometimes specialized. These are broken down to modelers (character or background), texture artists, and animators. You should think about what your good at or getter better in one or more skill sets. Often there is a lot of crossover work. Animators are rarely painters or modelers. But many modelers can also paint and composite. Unlike special effects houses game companies usually do not have a specialist in lighting so modelers/painters will do the shots themselves.

If you want to broaden you portfolio and skill set then work at a small or medium size company so you will have to pull double duty with work that goes beyond modeling. You'll become a generalist.

Hope this helps.
 
..Thank you! It's refreshing to get an opinion from someone in the know. As I said, I'm a hobbyist, using Poser and arranging parts from a construction set. Where you're an archetect who oversees the building of sky scrapers, I'm a kid playing with legos.

..I've long felt that lighting was my weak point, and with a highly advanced piece of software called Photoshop 5.0 LE, Texturing is not in the realm of possibilities. <8]

..My life's goal was originally to be in Comic Books, then after I realized you get in less trouble for writing in class than doodling, I spent my energy on that. But when your day job takes 80+ hours a week and you have three kids at home, getting the time to use that skill is a pipe dream.

..Thanks again. I had no delusions for you to dash against the cyber-rocks, so all is good.

-Mike <8]
 
MADMANMIKE said:
Where you're an archetect who oversees the building of sky scrapers,

I worked on everything from corporate interiors, to bridal salons, to airport facilities, to convention centers. Did a lot of stuff by hand and on CAD.

MADMANMIKE said:
..I've long felt that lighting was my weak point, and with a highly advanced piece of software called Photoshop 5.0 LE, Texturing is not in the realm of possibilities. <8]

If you're going to be painting textures or drawing on the computer then get a pressure sensitive drawing tablet like a Wacom. You'll enjoy drawing and painting in Photoshop a whole lot more. Anyone doing art on the computer without a drawing tablet is no artist in my book. Using a mouse is like trying to paint with a bar of soap. Chris Rock says,"I can drive a car with my feet. But, it don't make it a good idea."

MADMANMIKE said:
..My life's goal was originally to be in Comic Books, then after I realized you get in less trouble for writing in class than doodling, I spent my energy on that. But when your day job takes 80+ hours a week and you have three kids at home, getting the time to use that skill is a pipe dream.

Man, I hope you love what you're doing to put in 80 hours a week. And it better pay damn well too. Those kind of hours is what burned me out of Architecture and Games Industry.

MADMANMIKE said:
..Thanks again. I had no delusions for you to dash against the cyber-rocks, so all is good.

As long as you enjoy it, keep doing it. 3D art started out as a hobby for me using Stratavision on a Mac Ci. It took 3 days to render one frame at print resolution using ray tracing. I was lucky enough to get my stuff published and get my next gig which put a Silicon Graphics machine on my table. We all gotta start somewhere.
 
Paranormal Packrat's Cult. Not enough cults. We need more.

Cool. They got Lord of the Rings Online sponsor. I'm busy with Eq2, but might check it out. Bout time they have a free trial.
 
Thats' it! A film company! We've got screenwriters, shipbuilders, software engineers--we could start our own WETA!

No, that requires startup money.

Oh, forget it.
 
I've got an idea for a TV series pilot called "UFO Field Celebrity Death Match!"
On the first episode we could have:

Biedny vs Horn
&
Royce Myers vs Kal "Triple K" Korff

More later!
 
Works for me.... on many levels. But how about Richard Hoagland vs NASA in a kind of "Army of Darkness" style final battle?
 
I am a high school English teacher. A rewarding occupation maybe 5% of the time.

I am thinking of going to law school after I finish my MA in the next year or so.
 
I like it... "Megawars of the distant future", starring UFO greats and grates. Kind of like what "From Here to Andromeda" was supposed to be.

Wait a minute, am I in the right thread?
 
I'm a retired librarian and writer (with a long time UFO/paranormal interest) who is trying to get my latest book published while wasting far too much time on the Net.
 
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