How many people is doing CA or studying CA?

[GimGim]

Hello, i'm new to this forum

Just wondering how many people in here is doing Computer Animation or studying Computer animation, and have you guys take any Classical Animation, Charater Design, or other Fine Art courses before?

[CraZ3D]

welcome !! I guess many CA student and CG "labour" here .

[Andrew Lee]

i studied computer animation in uk last year, very good course, i could give you more information about it if you want

[kenny]

Can you tell us more about the course? Are you working or studying in UK now?

[GimGim]

Andrew, have you ever study any Find Art like painting or Life Drawing courses before? or any classical animation?

[Andrew Lee]

GimGim,

i think my background is quite complicated, first, i studied illustration design, then studied visual communication design, then worked as a graphic desginer in hk, i came to uk studied car desgin, and 3d computer animation, and very lucky that a computer in london hired me, so i have been working in this company for about 4 months

[Andrew Lee]

kenny,

i graduated last year and now working in a cg company in uk london.

i studied in Bournemouth University UK in 'MA 3D computer animation', which is 1 year course, we mainly use Softimage XSI and Shake, this uni has a very close connection and relationship with the cg industry, i think it is the most advantage to study there, about 40 student in the class, around hald of us got in to industry, you could check out their web site,

http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/
http://ncca.bournemouth.ac.uk/

you should be able to see my work in here
http://ncca.bournemouth.ac.uk/newhome/a ... talee.html

if you have anymore questions, just let me, i'd like to share what i know

[kenny]

Andrew,

Thanks for your reply and sharing!
It is good to know that you can part of the UK cg industry.

Actually I am currently studying media in london now, and expected to expected to graduate this summer. I have some CG and video production background.

Can you please give me some comments on finding and working in the CG industry in london?

Cheers mate!

[Andrew Lee]

kenny,

which uni in london r u studying now?

sorry that i m not entire sure what your course 'media' is, could you explain more? r u doing more like filming and sort of post-production?

there is quite a lot tricks to get in to the cg industry in london, and is quite difficult to explain everything in this message, but i'll try.

first of all, could you tell me what kind of cg job you like to do? there is a lot of different position

- pre-production
story board, character design, concept design, matt painting....

- production
modelling, texturing, animating, rigging, TD....

- post-production
camera tracking, composting....


TICKS
- showreel
the most important thing to get in to industry is the showreel, the general tips is never make your showreel too long, no company has time and patient to watch it more than 5 minutes, i always keep my showreel in 3 - 4 mins, and always put your best work at the first, never put the shit works inside, all about quality, not quantity, even only i single project with high quality in just one minute, you can get a job much more easier than 10 minutes shit works.

be pofessional on your showreel, spend more time on the tape, dont leave the vhs blank, dont use hand writing on it, design your cover, stick some label, just make it look as good as a movie dvd you can buy it in hmv

most of the company perfer vhs to dvd or cd, be sure your vhs in a right format PAL or NTSC,

produce some 'making of' of your animation, such as the break down of all layers or passess

enclose some hand drawing with the showreel and cv, industry always look for the one who can draw

- cv
keep it simple, i prefer use point form to list my experience, remember, they are not looking for a person who can write an exllent cv, they are looking for the one who is good on what they apply.

there is a lot more trick to do, but i dont know what kind of job you are looking for, let me know, then i try to keep u some more advice if i can,

what passport you got? BNO or british? if you are not british, you will have so much trouble to get a job in uk!

P.S. of cos the most important thing is all about what stuff is inside your reel, hope i could help

[kenny]

Andrew, thanks again for your detailed explaination!

I am studying in University of the Arts London (former the London Institute). The course I am studying in is Multimedia, which is not tightly related to CG, but I am have been making some CG short films and working on some related freelance in HK.

I have some experience of doing compositing before, but I am more interested on texturing and animating, therefore I am now working my showreel, trying to demo my abilities.

I have got an EU passport to work here, just I still havent got a NI number which I have to get one ASAP.

At the moment, I just wonder if I can get some experience and establish connections to the industry. Are you now working in a big CG company in london? whay kind of area are you working in?

Thanks!

[Andrew Lee]

Kenny,

it's great that you are EU. much less trouble.

you are seem very interested in CG bor, how come you study multimedia? why not compuater animation? is your course MA?

what kind of freelance you work on in hk? what 3d programe do yo use? what compositing software you use?

for my experience, you dont need to worry about the NI, once you got a job, the company should apply and get it for you.

it's good to get some work CG experience in uk before you go back hk......... wait a minute, do you want to work in uk forever? planning to go back hk for working someday?

i'm working in a medium size CG company, not famous, most people never heard about it, which is called 'Arcana Digital'.

http://www.arcanadigital.com/

i've been working in this company for only 4 months, the main big project we have is 45 minutes animation of 'Action Man', the deadline is tomorrow, hehehe, competely finish, because of the company is not big, around 40 people, so i've been involved quite a lot of different kind of area, layout, modelling, texturing, animating, concept design (props) (character design)..... it's quite fun to work in this company.

andrew

[kenny]

Andrew,

I am currently studying BA now, the reason why I study multimedia instead of computer animation is because I can be exempted 1 year to finish this BA course (ie only 2 year for a BA), due to I have multimedia design background in HK.
Therefore, ideally, I can get to work 1 year earlier while I can do CG and prepare portfolio on my own.

However, I find this way not very workable cause it is very lonely and no one can discuss CG or work with me.

My freelance work in HK is mainly post-production and video-graphics, sometimes will do some 3d modelling for products.
The tools I usually use are Maya and After Effects.

I am currently doing a a animation for an inde band in UK. It is no pay and just for fun. (painful in rendering) I can post it here after it is finished.

Well..I think if I can get a good job here, I may not go back to hk within a couple of years. Just I am afraid it is not that easy to hunt a good job here.

Are you planning to stay in UK for career? By the way, if you dont mind, around how much can an animator earn per annum? Cause you know, it is darn expensive to live in london.

Cheers!
Kenny

[nonono121]

Hi Andrew,

Hi there! I m a student in uk. Just feeling interested on wat u guyz talking ... wanna ask u some questions.. hope u dont mind.. ^_^ Is it hard to find a job like yours in England? When did u start job hunting? n a few months before grad. or after?? How? did u apply holiday working permit when u were finding job here?

thanks!
nonono

[Andrew Lee]

kenny,

you know what i m thinking.... if you r not in rush to get a job, if you have enough money to support you, if u r not too old (how old are you by the way?) i really suggest you to study the course i done 'MA 3D Computer Animation' in Bourntmouth University. it is worth to spend 1 year only in there, u might wont learn much as u already know quite a lot, but u will meet a lot of same interest people in there, everyone in the class just talk about CG all the time, u will learn so much from each other, and the uni has very good connection with the industry, they have a talk from industry every firday, such as, MPC, Glasswork, The Mill, Dreamwork from USA, Vanguard, Arrdman, there was two guy from ILM tim ar....... sounds good isnt it, u have the chance to talk to those people who work in a big famous company,

it is very expensive to live in uk, espcially in london, i spend around 450 pounds permonth for renting an apartment, share with a friend, if u live alone, probably around 600 pounds, the tax is heavy, everything just so expensive, BUT ,whatever how high is the living fee, u will still be able to save more money in ur bank than hk.... i guess, the starting salary for 3D artist is around 18,000 to 21,000 pounds per year, it is almost 4 times higher than IMAXX, isnt it, and u get over time pay tim,

although the money is good, but i dont really like this country, i wont work here forever, always planning to go back hk one day, but better get some work experience b4 back

andrew

if ur work is in a high standard, u dont even need to worry about job hunting, cos they got a MA graduation show in central london, a lot of CG companies attend it, the company will find u instead of u find them, i actually got this job straight away from that MA show,

[Andrew Lee]

hi nonono121,

this forum seems getting more people interested bor, hehe

how r u? what u studying in uk?

u r welcome to ask me question, i'd like to share what i know,

i guess i did answer some of ur question when i answered kenny in pervious message, i got this job straight away from my MA show last year, my student visa was still vaild at that moment, so i didnt need to apply any visa,

u seem a non-eu bor, then u will have soooooooooooo much trouble for job hunting, not scaring u, sooooooo difficult to get a work permit in uk as a cg artist, a lot people can do what we can in europe, and they dont need work permit, there is some company say on their web site that they hire eu only, such as Vanguard and Arrdman, other cg company might say to u they do hire non-eu, but they just bullshit, they dont actually consider our, when they knew the applier is non-eu, they just ignore it, cos it takes so much effort and time,