Animation and Vfx Career

[win32.tr0jan]

I have read about career in Animation n VFX in a lot of career guidance magazines and websites.But recently,I heard that,the salary for these specialists are lower than programmers.

Anyone knows how much is the starting salary a fresher gets?And about other perks and all?

Please help,as I am planning to do Animation and VFx after completing my B.Tech.

 

[clmlbx]

Re: Animation n Vfx Career

For what I know. Internship starts from 5-7K. In any of field in vfx and animation. It basically depends much more on your show reel.. In internship is 5-7K minimum. then it is incremented according to studio Policy. around a year you can easily reach 10-15K and then so on. About perks it totally depends which studio you have joined. Here I said "at least" then it totally depends on individual and it's work

well I have almost completed my animation and vfx course..currently working on My show reel.

I don't know what programmers get .. pls some one throw light in it.

 

[win32.tr0jan]

hmmm...But I know people working in Infosys,like a few of my seniors got placed into it and are getting about 15-20K.Like freshers are getting that much.I guess only homeworks will get your payscale up right?

 

[Deleted member 26636]

hmmm...But I know people working in Infosys,like a few of my seniors got placed into it and are getting about 15-20K.Like freshers are getting that much.I guess only homeworks will get your payscale up right?

if you want to earn 15- 20k as a fresher, stay away from animation & VFX...as clmlbx said, 5-7k is the starting salary in this field...& it totally depends on your talent & skill only...if you are planning to join an institute, ask these questions to yourself-

1. do you like sketching?
2. do you like art in general?
3. do you see yourself as an artist, or aspire to be one?
4. Are you ready to spend sleepless nights to perfect yourself?
5. Are you inspired by movies & games & would like to create one someday?

if the answer to all above is yes, then do join this course. do not think that it is like engg. or medical or any other technical field where you have a lot of 'studying' to do. its a completely practical field & unless you are artistically inclined or willing to be, its very difficult to succeed.

Also note that getting a job is not the be all end all in this field..you can be a freelance artist, open your own small studio etc. the scope is huge but it depends on how you seize the opportunities. the saying " you are only limited by your imagination" fits perfectly here.

Please note that i am not trying to scare you away. but i've seen lots of guys coming from everywhere & not being able to do well. I believe its much more difficult to be an artist than an engineer, so think wisely.

btw, [off topic] @ clmlbx - where are you doing your course from? any links for your work?

if you want to view my showreel, here it is- SHOWREEL

you could check my portfolio here- PORTFOLIO

 

[clmlbx]

hmmm...But I know people working in Infosys,like a few of my seniors got placed into it and are getting about 15-20K.Like freshers are getting that much.I guess only homeworks will get your payscale up right?

About people you are talking about who got 15-20K, I believe they did not joined as Artist but they must have joined as in Production.. which is more like organizing,managing things. their are computers, server so you need lot others to then artist..

And pls carefully join any institute (In my opinion what I got to know, all institutes are piece of **** at least in my city )And if you wish to work and grow as in artist don't go for short term courses. First u decide which filed u wish to go. I would like to say this field has lot of scope and give you lot of options, this field is "Rewarding".. Not by my personal experience but First year in job is most difficult but after that you will enjoy it..

@himadri_sm.. I did my course from Arena(Indore)..For which I am very disappointed ..I had to do a lot of learning by myself and still doing. Are you working somewhere?

 

[Deleted member 26636]

About people you are talking about who got 15-20K, I believe they did not joined as Artist but they must have joined as in Production.. which is more like organizing,managing things. their are computers, server so you need lot others to then artist..

And pls carefully join any institute (In my opinion what I got to know, all institutes are piece of **** at least in my city )And if you wish to work and grow as in artist don't go for short term courses. First u decide which filed u wish to go. I would like to say this field has lot of scope and give you lot of options, this field is "Rewarding".. Not by my personal experience but First year in job is most difficult but after that you will enjoy it..

@himadri_sm.. I did my course from Arena(Indore)..For which I am very disappointed ..I had to do a lot of learning by myself and still doing. Are you working somewhere?

+1 to everything you said...most institutes in india are crap...i joined MAAC at andheri in mumbai (the head office centre) & it sucked really bad so i stopped attending classes & started learning from tutorials on the internet. currently i am working in a video game development company here in mumbai. the sad thing about animation is that most people think its similar to any other field like engg. B.A. , B.Sc, etc.. when in fact it is totally different...Patience plays a really important role in developing one's skills & even after months of practice & hard work, we still learn very little....the learning process in art is never ending..

 

[dashing.sujay]

I have read about career in Animation n VFX in a lot of career guidance magazines and websites.But recently,I heard that,the salary for these specialists are lower than programmers.

Anyone knows how much is the starting salary a fresher gets?And about other perks and all?

Please help,as I am planning to do Animation and VFx after completing my B.Tech.

Well it totally depends on ur personal skills in animation, plus the part in which u specialise,i.e., post, pre or whatever. Your projects and showreel also count much deciding your proness. My bro did DAFM course (Diploma in animation and film making) from ZICA(zee institute of creative arts), Mumbai. He initially "sat" for 3 months , then did a freelancing job for some company for 3 months, then 3 months in a small company, then finally he got placed @ Reliance Mediaworks @ pune, getting 22k

 

[win32.tr0jan]

One thing I would like to say is that,I really love to do animation and vfx.Infact,I am learning Max myself.But since the effective and good tutorials are only a few,I could learn only few of the basics.I really wanted to specialize Rigging and Animation.So I spent most of my freetime doing experiments on Max and refering to tutorials.Now I can rig(Dont know to add controls,does keyframes to IK and bones),animate and does texturing(I know photoshop pretty well,actually also registered a firm along with my friends:www.axeleron.net)And I do a few effects and very few modelling(dont know modelling tools that good.Just the basic things like buildings and all)
And I learned Flash and AS3 myself and am currently putting aside my time to learn some motion graphics in Adobe AE.

About drawing,yes I love to sketch,cartoon characters and yes I am willing to improve myself in all possible ways.And I am NOT thinking as if being an animator is like engg.I know how much it depends upon your imagination,and I am trying my best to improve myself.

I really want to be in Animation and Vfx.But recently I attended a test conducted by TIME for MBA courses scholarship.A guy gave a speech about MBA and its payscale.And I was thinking,even if you put sleepless nights in this,if you are less rewarded(yes I know its more about our feeling of satisfaction and enjoyment in doing what we love,I know the job wont feel that hectic.But that won't help in living right?you need salary to buy what you want and live like what you want)...So got into a dilemma.Its not 50-50,I really want to go into animation.But,if the payscale is so down even for the senior artists...
What about chances abroad?
BtW
@himadri_sm
You are one hell of a modeller!Cinematic models dude!

Yes,I asked many,and I think what you all said is true.The institutions are not that good here.But since I have limited knowledge about the software side,I guess I will go for some course(may be Frameboxx).

 

[clmlbx]

About payscale animation n vfx is very vast field.. their are many jobs their.. In animation..modelling,lighting,materials n texture, rigging, animation, render.. even in modelling it has few types.. in vfx roto, clean plate, mate & digital paint, color correction, compositor.. What I said about pay they are least you can get and max their is no limit. I heard from people getting upto 1.5L pm. even modellers in couple of years get 25-30K pm.. (and about this pay scale I have heard from my Teachers..not personal experience pls be carefull by that)

It is this in this filed experience is counted a lott .. if u see minimum requirements for a good post starts from 2 years and go up to 6-8 years of experience..their u get good pay and most important is it you get a job in good studio so you get all perks instead of joining in small 1 and working as a genrealist.

About tutorials.. their r plenty available u don't even need to join any institute.. their r lots of tutorials available on Internet.

and even if u wish to join any institute then look for infrastructure and faculties of that particular institute and don't go for that big name.. do look for ZICA(zee institute of creative arts) which gives 1 year internship in their own studio..

here What I heard from all the workshops speakers , studios they visited here said, u learn only 20-30% in institute. so when u do job, internship time (which is around 3 months)is taken as learning on job and they look for our progress rate. that is the reason why internship has so low salary.. after that they consider u as rookie ..so just starting salary then after a year or something u get what u deserve.

 

[win32.tr0jan]

hmmm...anyway,I guess I will go with animation and vfx and will try all fields to find one thats suitable for me...Thanks a lot for your help.Will message you if I need any help ...
Can you give me any good tutorials?As of now,I search things specifically,like If I dont know how to rig face expressions,I google 'rig face in max' like that.Is there some site where i can get some tutorials in overview?

 

[Deleted member 26636]

Please download the attached text file. if you have any further questions, feel free to ask.

 

[win32.tr0jan]

Yes,I do understand the sequence of the syllabus in most of the institutes.Because I already started asking out people who have studied in Toonz,iCat and all.They all said the same,First basic sketchin,photoshop,maya or max and Nuke or some other composting software.And We can choose our specialization field as we like and We should be doing more homework than depending upon the institutes.

As I mentioned in the earlier post,I am pretty good with Photoshop,knows a thing or two in Illustrator.About 3D,as I said,I dont have that much sketching skills or patience(I have it now )to model.So I downloaded models and I love to rig and animate.I learned rigging myself.A few things about particles and texturing and lighting.I would like to be either in rigging or animation...or Fx.Since animation,I guess,nowadays Frame by frame must be outdated right?And I have started After Effects now.Anyways,Yup!I liked the RedBoxx 1 and RedBoxx 2.I think about the Institutes,I think its seasonal.Cause a few years back,Toonz was the best you can get here.And this year I heard its FrameBoxx.

yes I agree 100% that most of the institutes here are not good enough!Indeed they are student level!!I went to a firm,for my +2 vacation and they were horrible!...I dont sketch that much,but I am good at cartooning and a basic figures,ie just outlines and no shading.

I really have the passion to go for animation,and I am ready to do my homework as you know I already started ...I will try my best.

I was just confused,like money or passion...

And I think doing what you love should make you happy,than just earning paper to buy stuff.

Btw,I am from Kerala and heard cgtantra is very good for 3d things...but I am not in it lol
Thanks a lot for your advice ...I will surely put more time into my homework.And Will check out the sites ...

 

[Deleted member 26636]

Yes,I do understand the sequence of the syllabus in most of the institutes.Because I already started asking out people who have studied in Toonz,iCat and all.They all said the same,First basic sketchin,photoshop,maya or max and Nuke or some other composting software.And We can choose our specialization field as we like and We should be doing more homework than depending upon the institutes.

As I mentioned in the earlier post,I am pretty good with Photoshop,knows a thing or two in Illustrator.About 3D,as I said,I dont have that much sketching skills or patience(I have it now )to model.So I downloaded models and I love to rig and animate.I learned rigging myself.A few things about particles and texturing and lighting.I would like to be either in rigging or animation...or Fx.Since animation,I guess,nowadays Frame by frame must be outdated right?And I have started After Effects now.Anyways,Yup!I liked the RedBoxx 1 and RedBoxx 2.I think about the Institutes,I think its seasonal.Cause a few years back,Toonz was the best you can get here.And this year I heard its FrameBoxx.

yes I agree 100% that most of the institutes here are not good enough!Indeed they are student level!!I went to a firm,for my +2 vacation and they were horrible!...I dont sketch that much,but I am good at cartooning and a basic figures,ie just outlines and no shading.

I really have the passion to go for animation,and I am ready to do my homework as you know I already started ...I will try my best.

I was just confused,like money or passion...

And I think doing what you love should make you happy,than just earning paper to buy stuff.

Btw,I am from Kerala and heard cgtantra is very good for 3d things...but I am not in it lol
Thanks a lot for your advice ...I will surely put more time into my homework.And Will check out the sites ...

hmm.....i think if you have the passion as you state here, you're on the right path...best of luck...do let me know where you join. if you have any problems, feel free to ask.

 

[Anorion]

Look if you go to animation, you'll have a rigging/lighting/modelling job that pays pretty low, as compared to
the production side of things has very few experienced people atm, and thats where they need the most people, so yeha if you can get into managing teams of animators, its a good career option
also, the vfx side of the industry pays a lot more, but these software are not taught in animation schools, im talking about Smoke, Magic or Spirit machines used by professional studios. It pays a lot more than animation to be say a colour corrector.
a sensible approach would be to start going to anim school while doing a professional course or earning your degree, not as a side project, but to save time. Then intern in a few studios and see where that takes you.

PS frame by frame is not outdated, innovative animators are exploring new ways to use even the oldest techniques

 

[win32.tr0jan]

Look if you go to animation, you'll have a rigging/lighting/modelling job that pays pretty low, as compared to
the production side of things has very few experienced people atm, and thats where they need the most people, so yeha if you can get into managing teams of animators, its a good career option
also, the vfx side of the industry pays a lot more, but these software are not taught in animation schools, im talking about Smoke, Magic or Spirit machines used by professional studios. It pays a lot more than animation to be say a colour corrector.
a sensible approach would be to start going to anim school while doing a professional course or earning your degree, not as a side project, but to save time. Then intern in a few studios and see where that takes you.

PS frame by frame is not outdated, innovative animators are exploring new ways to use even the oldest techniques

ya,I have heard about compositors and VFX softwares.But I guess the effect need to be made in maya or max or inhouse production software first to incorporate into movie right?

hmm.....i think if you have the passion as you state here, you're on the right path...best of luck...do let me know where you join. if you have any problems, feel free to ask.

Ya...as of now,am doing my Computer Sc BTech,3rd year.I am now learning Particle flow of max,after which I will start maya,from the beginning ...So that by the time I pass out,I will be able to do atleast a rough idea about things and techniques.

 

[dead.night7]

Re: Animation and Vfx

See this yaar... Maybe its your wish to blame me for this but I seriously think doing such Designing courses can just sharpen make your hobbies in art... And someone said earlier; why do programmers do get more salary then the artists or designers??

Ans.:- On which software do you design? Autodesk maya, max, sketchbook ,photoshop, premere, Corel... And who created it??? Programmers.. Simply. So it was them who had their brains working more smartly then as designers itself.. They are the one who make the platform for the artists, Designers. So rather blaming why do they get more pay then one doing VFX/ Anim. ask yourself such basic questions man.*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/images/sm...kdigit.com/forum/images/smilies/icon_evil.gif