The question about the field we're in....

[siddharthbala]

I've faced a lot of questions when asked about my course - something very new to my relatives, who have been chanting the "doctor,engineer or lawyer" mantra for generations. I've been able to give good answers to most of them,except that one which asks me which field it relates to most - art, or technology.

Of course,some among us say it is a pure art form,having to do a lot with various artistic principles; some others insist that it is,for the most part,technology,what with all the hardware,software and lord knows what other ware we use when in the production houses - I saw a video for motion controlling and there was some machine that looked like like an extra from the "transformers" movie. And then,there are the majority of us (I think),who think it's a marriage of the two.

That having being said, the question - in the 3D field,what do you think the ratio is between the application of art vs. the application of technology? I wouldn't say the standard 50/50 - I would definitely lean towards art. So,what do you think?

[vapinochirag]

I guess everyone or most of us in this field having the same problem,to explain friends and relatives what do we do? What is animation? Whenever i mention animation people assume it will be flash animation :( or something like that! :rolleyes:

And the thing is i actually work on motion graphics,but to let people understand better i would just say 3d animation,atleast people have heard of it or know abt it. I dont want to go in detail abt explaining wht is motion graphics??? :mad:

[vapinochirag]

Anyways i think abt ur question,it depends on wht u r doing may be?

I think it is good balance between technical stuff and arts. Some things like rendering and lighting upto certain extent,and rigging also tends to go towards technical.

Although i would say lighting,composition is more towards arts then technical. But as i said it depends wht exactly u r doing?

Anyways this can be one long discussion,let's start! :D

[vapinochirag]

"In the beginning, the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and is widely regarded as a bad move." - Douglas Adams,The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

Love this one :D

wht abt P.O.V. gun and infinite vortex?? ma favorite :) :D ;)

[phoenix0101]

The same goes for me too. Once someone asked me about what i do. I replied that i am a 3D artist - there the person goes blank, then i say further that i do 3d animation & stuff like that - oh you mean you are a computer programmer.Totally:confused: Then i am left with no choice but to be silent.

With an attitude like: if its computer then it has to be programming. I do agree that some people will never understand our field.

And being technical or artistic it really depends on what you are doing. I agree with 50/50.

[Digitaldruid]

people generally don't ask me too many questions they know its not safe for their physical well being :D

[siddharthbala]

True,true... a lot of opinions here are correct in their own ways :)

@vapinochirag : What you say is true,but maybe I think the problem lies with us not actually using a visual cue of what we do,because words are so damned hard to use when you want to describe something visual - Big truth in the statement "A picture is worth a thousand words". Oh,and I see a fellow H2G2 fan...Man,would I love to see them do a sequel of that movie they did of the book,but it's sad that it turned out to be such a flop with masses.

@phoenix0101: I see what you mean completely - some people just generalize too much. I mean,we're having a hard enough time trying to explain to them about us being in the animation/3D art field/Compositing field,can you imagine how they'll all go cross eyed when we tell them that we're lighting/texturing/modeling artists? :)

@DigitalDruid: Wow. So....you'd kill your relatives? ;)

[Digitaldruid]

bumping off relatives is very messy and time consuming. and i am happier off
spending those precious few hours in front of my gorgeous xbox 360. :D
jokes aside i have learned to ignore it when my relatives raise their eyebrows.
i know when i signed up to a life of cg it was not for the money but for the
love of it. i live through my choice with the hope i might work for bioware or
blizzard in the near future

[sanpaiya]

lol . interesting thread.. a person recently asked me what i do .. i told him i was a lighting artist in a 3d animation studio . . he was silent for some time ,, and then he asked what i had to do.. 'coz the computer did all the work, right ?'
:) i asked him if a camera clicks photos or the photographer. . he said the photographer , . " but what do lighting artist do ?" . . hahaha... i went blank .
and my friend had a tough time explainin to his mom what i do !! well.. he does not know it much either.. but his mom was surprised to know that artists are needed to switch lights on !

[siddharthbala]

Well,that is a good point,but I think you could've simply replied that you handle one of the elements of a scene - I mean,for all their worldly knowledge,I'm pretty sure about a handful of us actually know the role of a "best boy" is in movie production.

But here's something even more hilarious - the next time someone expresses surprise when you finally break it to them that you "switch lights on" in a scene, tell them that in theatres in the 19th century,there used to be special people employed solely for the purpose of shutting doors - yes,that's right..they used to walk up and down the theatre and shut doors. The supposed reason was to prevent drafts in the theatre. Looking at that, a person who has to "put lights on in a scene" doesn't look so bad,now,does it? :D