Blog Entry 1 - Future Plans

I have had a problem since i began the course as to what direction i wanted to follow. I knew that i wanted to be part of the games industry but i never knew what my strengths where.

My Primary Job preference would most likely be an animator. Its one of the parts of the course that i excell at and the part that i enjoy the most. I researched the specification for animating jobs within the games industry and found several..


Senior 3D Animator
Permanent
Midlands, UK

You will be responsible for the creation of a diverse set of animations; including delivering on the animation and rigging needs of photo realistic characters, creatures and props. We require an experienced, enthusiastic individual with a strong eye for detail and a fundamental understanding of the game development process. As a senior member of the team, you will be expected to take ownership in this area and work closely with artists to help streamline the character creation pipeline, as well as identifying risks and opportunities for improvement.
You should have:

• Have worked on a minimum of 2 games in animator and senior animator positions
• Expertise in creation of animation for AAA titles, including: facial animation, rigging, skinning & working with mocap data and keyframe animation (minimum 2 title required)
• Creative animation skills including knowledge of the technical aspects
• A strong understanding of human anatomy
• Practical knowledge of 3DsMax and Motion Builder
• Practical knowledge of an animation middle-ware package
• The right to work on a permanent basis in the UK

Here is an example of one of the jobs. Usually, a running theme for most of the jobs is experience within the industry and an understanding of human anatomy. Quite a few of these jobs also required life drawing skills from a moderate to high level.

I have a moderate understanding of animation so to improve myself and make myself more attractive to potential employers i think that practice is key. Throughout the course of this year i intend to focus alot more on developing my technical knowledge and understanding of the animation process. I also want to build up my life drawing skills so that i can involve a couple of these into my portfolio as it is a good skill to have in the industry as it will also help me to understand anatomy

As an animator i will also have to work closer with character artists and i want to learn how to be a skilled rigger. I researched rigging on the internet and found hundreds of jobs avaliable for riggers. I feel that if i can increase my rigging ability than i have a much easier way of grabbinga foothold in the industry so this year i am going to do some more advanced tutorials on rigging techniques to hone my skills.