Its a tricky business getting employment in this industry, where are you located?. My advice is to sign up to the DLF or similar and try and do some freelance jobs so that you have some paid work in your portfolio.

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I'm located in austin tx. I applied to all 36 of it's game companies.
Anyway im depressed as **** over it.

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Oh hectic... I had a friend who moved out that side of the world and also couldn't find work! Gotta suck!!!
Have you got an online portfolio to get some exposure, etc?!

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a 3d artist's journal
[Link to blog.cunnington.co.za]

isaacg.net

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re-invent your showreel and try again man. And try and apply at places that are doing similar work. once you get a gig somewhere it will be far easier to move to the job you really want later on.

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Trust me, I know the frustrations. I'm lucky enough to live in a city (some would argue that description) that only has about 4 or 5 studios that I know of that use max. Yay! Most of them are games studios and I dodn't really have any decent game industry skills at the moment, (apart from playing) so I've found getting work very difficult. Don't get too depressed, it's a tough industry to crack. Maybe go in to 3 or 4 (or more if you want) of the studios and introduce yourself. Try and get the email address of someone who has a bit of influence and just email him or her work as you do it. You'll get there eventually. Just keep perstering them until they crack.

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[Link to www.3dprevis.com]

Also, see if they would be willing to let you intern... you could learn a few things and eventually they see potential in you!!!
Worked for me I interned for 6months!!

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a 3d artist's journal
[Link to blog.cunnington.co.za]

Do interns get payed?

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[Link to www.3dprevis.com]

Heh, I wouldn't think so... I didn't! I interned in the mornings, and did other stuff in the aft to earn some cash! The things you have to do to get to where you wanna be!!!
~C

EDIT: Some seriously inspirational work here for ya!!
[Link to boards.polycount.net]

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a 3d artist's journal
[Link to blog.cunnington.co.za]

Wow that is some awesome work! Unreal Tournament was and is still my favorite game.

As for work, can you get a job as a web designer and do 3D imaging with in the web design detail? Im a web designer and am turning my imaging to 3D.

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~3ds Max 9~

I don't know. I guess it's possible.

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Oh yeah i've seen those. They're very nice.

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Anything is possible

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a 3d artist's journal
[Link to blog.cunnington.co.za]

It's going to come down to one of two things:
Either i suck and i'm unhireable. Or the Austin gaming job market isn't healthy enough.

To be honest, i don't know. I see people in austin that are poor 3d modelers making 50$ per hour while i have a long list of corrections to make on my portfolio... so YEAH it's one or the other...

I might have to get better AND move before i can get my carrier started.... With out my friends supporting me i think i'd have already blown my fuking head off...

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It's frustrating isn't it. I see a fair bit of crap 3d on tv and think "I could do that." How are these people with poor skills making money? Please tell me. I'd like to sign up. Sometimes it comes down to being in the right place at the right time or knowing the right person or just plain luck. So far I haven't had too much of that.

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[Link to www.3dprevis.com]

tis true the right place at the right time and an incredible amount of luck sometimes is worth more than actual skill. whats worse is people who can talk themselves up and land good jobs. i know there are a few people around who can talk the talk but cant walk the walk. sad but true.

dont give up, try to find a way to make some connections in the industry and keep revising your reel.

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and it's a story that might bore you, but you don't have to listen, because I always knew it was going to be like that.

That's the truth.

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Theres was a guy at animal logic who faked his reel. as in he had other peoples work on it. They gave him every chance in the world and probably wouldnt have fired him until the end of the contract but he couldnt take the pressure of being there under false pretences so he ran away and left all his cds on his desk.

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Hahahah that's terrible.

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Unemployment is getting so bad the only healthy job market is the ocean (white).

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So Texas is one of the worst huh? maybe you should move to Nabraska. Or maybe North Carolina I see Epic games are hiring? man that would be a cool job.

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I would love to work for Epic. I know what engine i'd be using.

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Giving up... i've decided im going to go into accounting. I love using excel and think i have better chance of having a stable life taking that rout. This isn't a goodbye but I might not practice 3d as much.

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That's sad to hear. Keeping pluging away at Max and keep improving, you never know what will happen.

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[Link to www.3dprevis.com]

I was unemployed for over 6 months after I graduated... it's so hard to get in the industry, mostly bc everyone wants you to have experience, and non of them are willing to give it to you... I studied animation, im doing 3d Arch Viz... only now am I starting to move into the right direction... its been 3 years man.. some make it faster than others. Hope you find your path into gaming faster than I did for my animation.

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MuS@shiROth

With liquidity drying up in the US market lots of companies have stopped growth, specifically in entertainment. Among other reasons, I feel that if I want a job in games, I have to leave the United States. That can't happen any time soon...

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I don't know about that. theres more games companies there than most places. Things are pretty bad at the moment with all the global financial stuff but you just have to be lucky and more importantly connected, networked. If you can be recommended by someone already working at the company your chances go up significantly. only a small proportion of people get hired from advertised positions. And as Musashiroth says you can do all sorts of related stuff that counts as "experience" before you actually nail a job in games. and you might find that some other area is even more compelling once your in it. Architecture or print media or tv graphics or editing for a cable channel. theres loads of jobs that could be fun that would be related to the games industry but if you do something unrelated 5 years will go by and you won't have any work to put on your reel.

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So today I tried to finish this 3d model I've been working on, and couldn't. Any ambition or drive I once had is gone. I officially don't care anymore about 3d. I'll be visiting this forum for a bit and try to help out. But the fact is whole field of 3d art depresses me.
I'll be working in newspaper distribution until I can go back to school and learn a new trade...

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just a suggestion but maybe modeling isn't your thing then? maybe you should try animation or maybe rigging. You mentioned Excel and numbers so maybe you have more of a technical mind, if so rigging might be right up your alley. a good rigger is worth their weight in gold and there are some seriously cool things being done. theres also a lot of scripting done in rigging so it would perfect if thats your thing.

of course you may not be interested, have your tried rendering? compositing? texturing? particles?

its up to you, maybe your completely over it all.

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and it's a story that might bore you, but you don't have to listen, because I always knew it was going to be like that.

I think I might be.
Studying hard in each subject mentioned in your post, my instructors said I was gifted.
But now I can't bring my self to do anything in max. I end up staring at the screen until I close down max.... then i play starcraft.

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man it sucks to see a talented guy like you turn away from 3d....i checked out your site, i liked that unreal level a lot, especially that outdoor cafe with the angel carving over it...seems like it could've been a pretty interesting level....
nice low-poly game assets, too....
trust me, if you were here (chennai, india), you'd be employed within seconds... 3d animation is becoming a big thing here, and it pains me to see the kind of shit that is churned out....there are HUGE hoardings in god-forsaken places that offer 3d training and whatnot....it's ridiculous....and it's not just me griping about it or being elitist - i know it offers employment for a lot of people, and that's a good thing - but creatively, it is a collective zero here. its becoming as mechanical and mediocre as the IT industry here....i spent four years doing a computer science degree, and i can give it to you in writing, after those four years, that 99% of the others in my class can't write a C/C++/Java program to add two numbers..... i'm not exaggerating one bit......of course i don't mean that it's like that everywhere here, but you get my drift....it's just a truckload of people being herded into one profession, thinking there's financial stability there, and the promise of a golden future.... nobody realises the skill levels required for it, and programming is not everyone's cup of tea, and 3d creative animation, imo, is far tougher....
so my point, through all this hatred, is that like the others said, it's also about being at the right place.....
anyway, i think i'll stop this rant.... good luck, isaac, for whatever it is that you're planning on doing.....but since 3d seems to be your passion, i hope you find your way back to it

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Cogito, Ergo Sum

Thanks.
edit:
Maybe I will get back into it but I'd rather learn a new musical instrument, to be honest.

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A new one? What do you currently play?

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Please support us and post a [Link to www.digitalartsfront.com] on your website.

--Matt

Since highschool, I could improvise and read music on the Guitar and Trombone. There's only a few songs on the piano i know but I'm very fast with my fingers. I can only improvise on the Woodwind Recorder but play along with any style (even hip hop).
I can improvise on the bass guitar but only if it's slap bass.
I also play a mean triangle.

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if you're looking at it seriously, i would recommend the piano.....although it's not the most expressive, it's by far the most widely used instrument (by widely used, i mean in the most genres) and has literally tons of applications....classical music, jazz, rock (as the organ), metal (as a synthesizer, which by itself is a whole other field), plus if you get into synthesizing music on the computer, a MIDI keyboard will prove invaluable, as you can play virtually any instrument you want if have the appropriate VSTi plugin, and can play the keyboard well....

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Cogito, Ergo Sum

I've been trying to pick up the violin. There's so much good music out there. But it's been the hardest instrument to pickup and learn.

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Good on you for trying, its quite a classical and quite hard instrument to learn (so I've heard).

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Please support us and post a [Link to www.digitalartsfront.com] on your website.

--Matt

It seems that I'm going to bite the bullet and pay for lessons. There are lots of rules on "bowing." Plus some violin instructors are hot.

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I'd be sad to lose you Isaac, I hope you keep up the 3d, you've definately got the talent.

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[Link to www.3dprevis.com]

I'll be chatting and posting here still. There's intelligent friendly people on this forum, and that's rare.

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Try to get 3d work here in Croatia, man this country is so retarderd they even don't know what 3d is, no jobs, and specaly no 3d jobs, i worked as a warehouse worker, driving forklifts and stuff, and due to some Gorge W. Bush crap and this so called "World Crissis" i got fired, one among many that lost their jobs, so that's why i do 3d for fun and hobby and don't hope to much that i'll ever get a 3d job, and even if some miracle happens and i do get it, that means it will be in a foreign country, and that means moving out, leaving my whole life, one huge pile of paperwork to do and so on...and i'm not shure that i can do that, or will it be worth it, that would be one huge risk.

Wish you good luck in what ever you plan on doing.

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The secret of creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.
-Albert Einstein

Well at least someone here is in the same boat I'm in.

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Dude I have been out of work for like 6 months it happens to everyone man. Most people in the creative fields find it very hard to get a foot in the door.

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Please support us and post a [Link to www.digitalartsfront.com] on your website.

Yeh, I do furniture removals to pay the bills. I haven't earnt a great deal from 3d, but I'll keep chipping away at it.

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[Link to www.3dprevis.com]

Yep that is the way you have to approach these things.

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Please support us and post a [Link to www.digitalartsfront.com] on your website.

The thing about 3d is that nailing a full time job is very rare even in places where there is lots of work. most people I know who are totally amazing 3d pros work as freelancers moving from company to company doing short gigs, and other times taking work via the internet from all over the place. Dealing with clients that don't pay etc.. its hardcore but they seem to manage. before anyone will hire you you need to get some freelance work on your reel. and you can literally do that from anywhere if you have an internet connection and a fairly decent way of promoting yourself. Here there is this mailing list called the DLF (Digital laborers federation). which almost daily posts freelance jobs and sometimes full time jobs for everything related to digital arts. once you get a few under your belt you have something to show to studios and your away. without that your shooting in the dark because unless your reel is jaw droppingly awesome they are going to want to see that you have worked on something commercial. Theres got to be something like that in the U.S. but maybe in Croatia you would need to be working for overseas clients.

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And even if I try that there's no guarantee... And I don't find 3d modeling fun any more. I might as well find a different field...

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I live in a small town, from what's been said here, I stand a snowballs chance in hell getting a job in 3D. haha

isaacg, maybe you just need to put 3D aside for awhile and come back to it. I think we all have creative block at some point.

Sometimes I pick up my guitar and go,.. G C D.... A D E,,, blah blah blah.. verse chorus verse? solo? bridge? and then think, who cares? I haven't played in about three months and feel no desire.
One day I'll pick it up, drink a beer, and remember why I enjoy it. (guitar that is)

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Chris

That's a good way to look at things. Maybe someday I will reinstall 3dsmax and start toying with it.

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Maybe just have a beer or 7.

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[Link to www.3dprevis.com]

I just ran out... If someone could figure out how to email some beer....

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That'd be a money maker. Maybe it's something we should look into.

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[Link to www.3dprevis.com]

D.A.F. BEER
We could have a logo challenge and Matt could brew the beer in his living room.

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Even Ben Folds knows there's better beer in Adelaide.

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Please support us and post a [Link to www.digitalartsfront.com] on your website.

--Matt

And Ben Folds knows beer.

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[Link to www.3dprevis.com]

Man I relate to that so much... sigh.

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Please support us and post a [Link to www.digitalartsfront.com] on your website.

mmmmm beer

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The secret of creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.
-Albert Einstein