What is the best way to become a 3d animator?

[ariyamanesh]

Hello boys and girls,

You know, I'm addicted to 3d. I love it. I want to become a 3d animator and find a job in the 3d business or maybe working for DT.

But there is one problem...
I live in The Netherlands. Here they have 2 highschools where they teach 3d computer animation. There are some 300 applicants each year and guess what... only 6 students a year can join the course!!!!!!

So, here I am with my dream and my big problem!!!!

What do you think I should do? Studying in the States is not an option (dont have $34.000 - $84.000) and DT maya products aren't enought to become a well skilled animator! DT products are very expert though.

Can someone help me with that?

Thanks.

Aria

[crutch]

From what I've read Animation Mentor is supposed to be very good. You can also check out Keith Lango's site. There's also acmeanimation.org. Hope one of those help you on your journey:)

[ariyamanesh]

From what I've read Animation Mentor is supposed to be very good. You can also check out Keith Lango's site. There's also acmeanimation.org. Hope one of those help you on your journey:)

The Animation Mentors tuition is around $ 34.000 and in Europe we dont have that kind of money. Unless your father is a surgeon or a lawyer. In this case my father is neither of them :laugh .

Student loans are only possible if the highschool or university is within the Dutch borders. Although the ministry of education announced some changes.

If you dont mind I'm going to explore acmeanimation.org.

Thanks.

[breakanate]

I am currently trainning myself in the field of motion graphics and 3D. So my advice to you is don't let nothing hold you back. Just because you don't have a school get trained in this field does not mean you can't be a 3d artist.

[crutch]

I just checked Animation Mentor site and the tuition is actually a little over $14,000. I agree, still a great deal of money. Keith Lango will provide you with an eight week course for around $1,750. Still quite a bit of money I agree. I wish you the best with Acme. I also agree that school isn't required unless you need that degree. Let us/me know how it goes I'm curious. Once again, good luck:)

[telefunken]

there is more countries that you can study in. im currently studying 3d at a school in sweden. here we have about 15 3d schools and they are all for free. only thing you must do is to live here and that costs some money.

[ariyamanesh]

Hey guys,

@ breakanate:
I'm trainig myself with some DT tutorials and products. Also, I check other tutorial websites and ordered some Maya books. There is nothing more I can do. But I wont give up.

@ Crutch:
Keith Lango? Sounds good for $ 1,750? I need that degree otherwise the companies in that field won't hire me! (I think...)

@ telefunken
About Sweden I know that, as you said you need a lot of money to survive Sweden. I've been there before, nice country, nice girls but oh my god....so expensive

I guess I have to find a way to realize my dream. I let you all know. For now, I'm going to do some tutorials.

Take care, all of you.

bye

[steel87]

hi ariyamanesh..thanks for the compliment...we do have nice girls don´t we haha..
you say: " I'm trainig myself with some DT tutorials and products" what you should do is study all of them trust me it´s worth it.
I was myself going to study 3d here but then I came across DT and it´s not much you don´t learn from DT that you do from a school and if it is and it always is..you can figure it out yourself and from all the great people here on the forum....
I didn´t know anything about 3d when I firts started and now I have some amazing skills....I think if your just starting you should think about getting a great computer that can match your skill....like I just have

and I know my spelling sucks but you get the point and good luck

[laxman]

BTW, I don't think a degree means anything, all jobs want to look at is your demo reel. That is why all schools should get you to produce several projects, then at the end, they should get you to combine them into a two minute presentation. Whether you make the demo reel on your own or at a school really doesn't matter, what matters is the quality. If you think the quality will be better if you go to a school, then go for it, if you think the quality will be better if you do tutorials yourself like DT, then do that.

On the other hand, something companies do look for is a background in traditional art. In my opinion, if I wanted to go profesisonal, I would seriously look into getting a degree in a traditional art, and then doing the 3D stuff myself using tutorials.

[gilgamesh]

Hi !
I had the same problem ur facing an year ago. We didnt have good faculties n training stuff. Wat i did was i got an internet connection which opened the doors to lot of cool training stuff. People post a lot of good training stuff on the web than people knew in my training institute. Just make ur fundamentals clear which might take a little time. But u will be off for good. Start making some simple things first then move over to complex.
And wat matters is ur skill not the certificate of the training school. Here is a good website to start off --- www.3dmd.net. Check this out and reply me if u like it. :)

[ariyamanesh]

Hi Gilgamesh,

Wow men, 3dmd.net is very good, thanks. I decided to start with all tutorials on the web. Making some simple things is wise indeed.

[ariyamanesh]

@ steel87 and Laxman,

Thanks for the support guys.