This may be a stupid questions but as I’m learning the ins and outs of VFX I can’t help but hit road blocks pretty frequently. Usually my way around this is to web search my issue and maybe reference a tutorial of something similar and breakdown what they are doing and try to understand the issue myself before reincorporating what I have back into my work.
My question is mainly for those who have worked as VFX artists in the industry but anyone with a point of view is also welcome but i was wondering ‘What do you do when you are stuck?’
I ask this mainly wondering how a problem is approached when working professionally. Do hired VFX Artists still search the web for their problems or even refer to a tutorial to help get round a particular problem or is there an expectation from the company that an employee shouldnt need to refer back to the internet or tutorials to get over their problems?
I’m aware that each studio will have it’s own engine so answers online might not be available but just thought I’d throw this questions out there.
Absolutely everybody googles stuff from time to time.Especially programmers. Being able to do research and problem solve is part of the skill-set. There’s no such thing as “Your a hired VFX artist now, so you should just know everything.” Engines may be different, but concepts remain the same. If you run into some issue with an in-house engine, you just go bug one of the Engineers to help you out.
That’s cool to hear. I guess I’m worried with the amount I feel myself referring back to documentation or a tutorial to get over an issue. I’ve only been doing this for 5-6 months though so probably a bit of time to go before I’m a bit more independent.
literally always googling how to do stuff - documentation, tutorials, asking on forums and directly to friends, good old fashioned trial and error. obviously the more times you repeat things the more you remember them but there’s still some super simple things i always end up going back to a tutorial for because i know that it works.
Googling, asking for help, having hundreds of bookmarks of any tiny thing that may be helpful in the future, etc. You will rarely use everything you’ve ever learned on a daily basis, so you may forget things and need to go back and re-learn them.
There is nothing wrong with googling things, just the same way there is nothing wrong with writing down stuff on a sticky note.
you got this bro, just keep on researching to improve your skillset creating awesome amazing work, and also always nice motivating urself and u got this wish u the best and make an awesome PORTFOLIO
When I was started studying “Game Art & Animation” I thought: “a good artists knows everything and doesn’t have to look at references” - which resulted in very poor work of mine. Took some time to realize, that using references and work from others as inspiration is the most important part of our work as artists in general.
Sometimes when I feel very uncreative I look at my reference-collection, pinterest, the VFX references group in Facebook or in the threads here in the forum and get inspired very quick.
I feel this. After a while it gets easier. I’m not a professional effects artist yet, but IR emembe rlike you having to reference a tutorial for even the most basic stuff. I still reference stuff, bu tnow its more for theory, and more broad topics, rather than a specific “how do i distort my uvs’ again?”.
just keep on truckin amigo, it gets way better. And the more effort you put into this stuff, the more you get out of it
100% this. Consistency is key. You will make more progress and retain more info working on something several hours multiple times a week, than just one day for the same number of hours.
wish u the best and make an awesome PORTFOLIO 