Job Title:
3D Generalist
One Sentence To Describe Work Role:
A 3D artist in commercials and movies creates products, characters, worlds and effects that can be impossible to shoot in camera.
Number Of Years Dedicated To This Field Of Work or Lifestyle:
6 years
Category Of Work:
Employment – Paid Work
Country / Area of Work:
Denmark
Industry:
Arts/Entertainment/Publishing
Type:
Employment
Key Skills For The Job:
To be creative minded and technically versatile along with wanting to solve problems.
An interest and passion for making entertainment art in all different ways.
Vital Key Skill:
To be open about learning new software and techniques all the time.
Your Personal Experience Of Entering This Role:
Higher Education Level
Tips For Undertaking This Work:
My main tip is to be passionate about what you want to do and spend a lot of hours on practicing it. If it is animation, lighting or to blow up things like in an action movie. Find out how the pros do it and try to replicate it.
Future Progression Or Developments:
Typically bigger companies are structured like junior artist, Mid level artist and Seniors. Starting with interns.
Since my position consists of a lot of lighting products and to develop surface materials to 3D models, a lot of times CAD models of another company’s product. I would advise myself to look more into the real world and observe how light plays with materials and what makes things look like they do.
I spent a lot of time just trying to make cool things in 3D and not thinking how it would work in real life.
What Are The ‘tools of the trade’ Used Daily:
Different types of 3D software, I personally use Autodesk Maya.
There’s also Cinema 4D, Autodesk 3DS max, Side Effects Houdini for example.
Depending on industry it can vary a lot.
We also use Adobe Photoshop for texturing and sometimes The Foundrys Nuke for compositing if it is required.
A Typical Day’s Duties:
Checking what the supervisor thinks of previous days work and start dealing with eventual comments.
Depending on projects I can animate things/products, make them look good with lighting and surface materials. Paint it nicely.
There can also be things that needs to be built then I have to model it up first.
Is Travelling A Regularly Part Of This Work:
Yes
Weekly Working Hours:
Full Time
Type Of Hours Arrangement:
Fixed Working Week
The Best Thing About The Work You Do:
The best feeling is to see the final movie/commercial on the tv and see someone else really thinks it is cool.
But before that happens it is a really nice feeling to make something gray (models are gray before they have been painted) and boring and making it look like a real thing or just to make it look cool.
Your Least Favorite Thing About The Work You Do:
Working in these kind of industries often require you to do some or a lot of overtime. Of course you want to be able to go home at the end of the day and see your family. So getting less time to be social is the down side.
Any Duties You Hadn’t Anticipated Prior To Undertaking The Work:
I probably didn’t see all the planning and time estimates coming before I started this job.
The Top Perks Of The Work:
I think that depends on the company that you work for. But I like to meet all the new people that can be clients or freelance artists that come in for projects.
Other Work In The Same Sector:
My position is 3D Generalist, that means I get to do all the different bits and pieces on a project but my main area is lighting, shading and rendering.
There’s also those who specialize in other areas so there’s Animators, lighters, shading artists, modellers, texturing artists for example.
Additional Info You Wish To Share:
Currently I work at Gimmick Visual Effects in Copenhagen. Living in Malmö, Sweden.
Some examples of clients and projects that we do are Lego commercials, American Express, Tuborg, Carlsberg
Where People Can Visit For More Details On Your Work:
