How To Get A Job In Computer Animation
If you’ve seen the works of Pixar, DreamWorks, Blue Sky or any of the countless others you’ve no doubt wondered how they do it. You may have even wanted to do it yourself. So how does one get into the 3D industry?
What do you want to do?
When people say they want to do what they watch on television or in movies, they often don’t know exactly what it is they want. There are many different fields in the 3D industry and you have to know what you want to do before you can get in. You’ll waste a lot of time going nowhere if you don’t have focus.
Do you want to be a character animator, modeler, effects animator, art director, background artist, compositor, layout artist, lighting, etc? The list can go on and on, but if you narrow it down it will be that much easier to direct your path and make you better at you particular field. Don’t expect to master everything. Often time’s companies are looking for someone who can do a specific job really well.
Get the skills
So once you’ve decided on what you want to do but how do you get there. The first step is to learn the skills necessary. There are various ways to acquire these skills but they fall under two main categories, school and self-teaching.
School
If you decide you want to take the school route, you have to decide which school is right for you. You could go to a traditional university, where they offer a degree in computer graphics. At one of these schools they tend to have a broader focus. While you’ll be learning the field they may also require you to take core classes such as history, and science and other things not directly related to the industry. If you feel you want a well-rounded knowledge deplorable this would be a valid choice. The scrape with these is that their main focus isn’t on this industry so they may not be as up to date as a specialty school.
Specialty schools are designed for those who want to focus specifically on their chosen field and nothing else. Specialty schools tend to be more modern in the industry and keep their hardware and software up to date. They also tend to have contacts with the industry, which makes them able to bring in guest speakers or take tours of production studios. They also tend to have smaller class sizes, giving more one on one attention. In order to have smaller class sizes they have to limit the number of students that get admitted, making them much harder to get into.
If you decide to go to school for an education there are some things you want to discover for.
Are they accredited? Do they have financial aid? What are the facilities like? Do they have up to date hardware and software? Do they help you set together a demo reel? Do they assist with job placement after graduation?
These are a few of the questions you want to ask when looking at potential schools. It may seem like a lot to ask but you need to be sure a school is up to par before you put down your hard earned money.
Self Taught
If you don’t feel like paying school fees and commuting back and forth to school, you may want to think about teaching yourself. There is pretty remarkable one stipulation and if you don’t fit this criteria then you can forget about teaching yourself. Focus. If you aren’t focused and get distracted easily then you shouldn’t do it. You’ll waste a lot of time and you won’t get very far.
If you are able to study on your own, you learn well from reading books and don’t need a teacher to give you assignments and deadlines then self-teaching is for you.
Online
Learning online is like a combination between school and self-teaching. A school that offers online training will give you their curriculum but it allows you the flexibility to go at your own pace. You also net less of the general education and more core classes with an online education.
What do you need?
The plus side of teaching your self animation is that you’ll save a fortune. What you would have paid in tuition alone, you could potentially buy everything you need.
The basics for learning computer animation are hardware, software and training materials such as books or DVDs. For hardware what you’ll want is a computer with a fast processor and as much memory and storage space as possible. You may also want to get a scanner and a drawing tablet. A scanner will allow you to scan model sheets or concept drawings and put them into your animation software for reference. Drawing tablets are perfect for the 2d artist. Rather than scanning in drawings you can draw directly into the computer.
Finding the just hardware is a little more in depth then that but it mostly depends on the software you want to use. Most software will list their system requirements. So as long as you are at or above the minimum requirements you’ll be gorgeous.
So how do you settle software? This is another hard query. Anyone will hiss you that there is no just or wrong software. Software tends to be the same in that they all give the same results but they just have different features. You also don’t want to focus too worthy on the software anyway. Anyone can learn what buttons to push, but learning animation is a whole different story.
Most of the software out today have free trials, so try out a few and see which one you like best. It’s best to try them out before hand anyway to see if you really like animation. One thing you don’t want to due is plunk down a bunch of money for tools and then find out animation isn’t the field you want to go into. For a completely free piece of software try Blender.
Besides 3d software you may want to look into 2d software, a paint program like Photoshop, compositing software for effects, and editing software. Once again there really is no definite choice. For compositing you may try a free program like Jahshaka, until you’re ready to go to the more advanced like Adobe After Effects. Windows and Apple have their beget editing software that comes with their operating systems. Windows Movie Maker, and Imovie. For the more advanced users you may want something like Adobe Premiere or Final Cut Pro.
Once you have all the tools you need it’s only a matter of learning the programs. Read the manual that comes with your software and that will give you the basics you need. You may also lift 3rd party training manuals as well. Some develops have even designed training DVD’s that will assist you in learning the animation process.
Demo Reel
So you have all the tools you need, you got your education and your ready to test your skills. Well you can’t just walk into any studio and expect to be given a job. Just like any other job you have to interview and show them you are splendid for the job.
In the computer animation industry we have what is called a demo reel. A demo reel is a short video showing off your talents and skills. Think of it as a resume. To give an employer an idea whether or not you are qualified for the job, they need to know what your skills are and if you fit what they’re looking for.
Rather than reading your qualifications and you telling them what you are capable of, they get to see exactly what it is you can do.
If you went to a good school, they more than likely helped you with your demo reel. But for those of you who didn’t make one here are a few things you want to be aware of.
Length
You don’t want to put everything you’ve ever done on your demo reel. Keep it short and to the point. You also don’t want to make it too short either. A two to three cramped reel will do fine.
Good Work
This goes without saying but only put your best work on your reel. Your first animation tests that you were so proud of won’t cut it. Unless you nailed it right off the bat, which is highly unlikely, you don’t want to put the first thing you ever racy on your reel. You’ll be known for the worst piece on your reel. The worst thing on there will stand out and they will judge your entire reel based on it. So do not put anything that you don’t think is top notch on there, period.
Repeats
If they want to see something again, they can simply rewind the tape. Don’t put the same thing on your reel twice because you idea it was great. This will also show that you don’t have enough material if you have to put the same things multiple times. If you don’t have enough obliging material, don’t develop a demo reel until you do.
Creativity
People are tired of looking at spaceships and fancy robots. Too many people put this stuff on their reels and after looking at it a thousand times it gets worn. Putting something on your reel that hasn’t been seen before will go along was towards making you stand out from the rest.
Music
It’s really simple don’t put any on there. They want to see your animation skills not whether or not you can gather the soundtrack. Many will listen to you demo muted anyway so you don’t need to put any on there. If your piece absolutely needs music, do sure it fits and check the levels so you don’t kill anyone’s eardrums
Specify
You want to tell exactly what you did on the reel. For the most part if you’re just starting out you most likely did everything on the reel but after you have been working and you simply want to move to another job you may have work that you collaborated on. You don’t want to claim work that you didn’t do. Simply save modeling, or animation only over the piece if that’s what you did.
Label everything
Obviously you want them to know that you are the one who submitted the reel. Put your contact information on the tape and at the beginning and end or the reel as well.
You also want to specify what position you’re applying for so it gets to the right department
Tailor your reel to fit the position you want as well. You may want to be a character animator but if you have nice lighting or textures they may notice that instead and choose you for that job.
Minor tidbits
You want to make sure that every tape you send works. This may be insensible but you have to watch your finished reels. If it’s a bad tape with a bunch of static or it’s poorly edited you don’t want to send it to anyone. If you go through the entire reel and there are not errors, create sure you rewind it to the beginning. You don’t want your potential employer to have to rewind your reel, because they most likely won’t bother, they’ll just chuck it out.
Get a novel tape. They’re not that expensive. You don’t want your home movies in the middle of your demo reel. Also recording over other footage will lessen the quality.
Getting the job
With your demo reel all ready to go you’ll want to actually originate applying to jobs. You’ll want to go about this like any other job. Take your resume and reel and apply. Do an interview and pray for the best.
You may already have places you’re interested in working at, if not you’ll want to do a search. Find a place that will fit your interests. Don’t limit yourself to applying to the big name studios. You may find a smaller studio will fit you better. 3D animation isn’t limited to films either you may want to work in the video game industry or commercials too. Purchase a look at their other work and see if it’s something you want to do.
Like any job you want to be well dressed and on time for your interview. Be prepared. You’ll want to know exactly what you are capable of and be able to clarify it to your potential employer. Know what’s on your demo reel. They may ask you how something was done and if you can’t snort them anything about it you’ll look bad.
Remain calm. Relax and retort any questions to the best of your ability. When the interviewer is done, they’ll most likely want to know if you have any questions you would like to ask them. Fabricate sure you have something to say; it helps to learn about the company.
A sad truth in this industry, who you know can often land you a job, but it can also hurt you. The animation industry is relatively small. You’d be surprised who knows each other. This goes with any job but don’t talk bad about a previous employer. Your previous employer could be a relative of the one you’re interviewing with. On the opposite coin if you’re in good standing with a previous employer that can be a foot in the door of a future job.
A good way to make contacts is to attend events. Conventions or festivals will put you in direct contact with people in the industry. You can also leave your demo reel with companies at these events.
This industry is highly competitive and if you aren’t the best you can possibly be then you won’t make it. Make sure you go to the right school or if you learn on your own that you stay focused. Try to get the best education you can. Effect together a strong demo reel. This is often the deciding factor when getting a job. Be distinct to attend events and get involved in the industry. Siggraph is the premiere event for all things computer graphic related. You will pick up to see what the industry is all about and you will build strong relationships for the future.
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Filed under Knowledge Base Software by on Oct 25th, 2010. 
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