Times have change, the most stress I'll say is during 3rd year first term in DG, alot of subs clash, and all damn important, after that it's quite chilling I can say. I just finished 3rd year 2nd term, going into my final term this Jan.

The same can be said for foundation students in TOA now, instead of drawing 8 portraits for figure studies, now only need 2 or 1, or 1 and a half, I also not sure.

From what I see and hear from my seniors, the final grad term seems to be quite chilling, will have some time to yourself, depending on how you and your team members manage their time.

When seniors tell you they no sleep, don't believe them la, I can still get 3~5 hours of sleep if really hectic, but normally I can prolly get 6~8 hours of sleep. xD + Still get to play games on the weekends and sometimes on weekdays. xD

TOA really lowering the quantity of workload, I think it's because they want quality now. And also for DG students, my batch is the final batch who will be going through group project for their final short animation film, after that its all individual liao. =/

This post has been edited by Xiven: Dec 18 2009, 12:31 PM

Haha, correct la. If procrastinate then when 1 more day left they work 24 hours no sleep to hand up on deadline. xD

After that they tell ppl no time la, no sleep la. Lol.

DGmon?

I'm in dg75 batch.
Right, I think I stated wrongly adi. xD My friend in dg78 said they are forming groups now. Haha.

Too many rumours flyin around. xD

You are in batch what? Andrew is your tutor issit? o.o

Lol, yeah I am.

The Masterclass was a waste of time and money. RM350 >.>

What kind of programming are you talking about ? The really advanced stuff like C++ / Visual Basics?

Or scripts used in Maya to make your life easier?

Or are we talking HTML / javascripts here?

Well, whichever it is, the answer is no, yes[to a certain extent], and yes[they teach you how to build your own website(very Basic)].

Yes, the fees. As you know, schools any better are located in US, UK, Canada and so on, so not only will the school fees be overkill, but the conversion from rm to $, living cost and so on. But of course, what you pay is what you get la I guess, but I'm not too sure as I haven't been overseas to see how their education system works.

But it really depends on the individual, how far are you willing to push yourself? Because in the end, it is all about how much you can absorb and are willing to learn. Colleges / Unis aren't like highschool, they'll spoonfeed you to a certain extent, so most of the time you'll have to pick them up yourself via sources like google, books and so on.

Oh, and about programming, the advanced stuff, perhaps you should be looking either a programming dip/degr or multimedia design. In digital animation, there is just enough time doing the thing you love to do, and so little picking up others.

The entertainment industry is becoming more and more competitive by the day, I don't think there's a difference if you take other occupations, they are equally as competitive. In the end of the day, it really depends on one's calibre doesn't it? To get that high position, good paying job. Think about it, how often do you go to the movies? Play games? All these there are companies out there who worked on them.

Usually there is someone else to do the programming and so forth. In digital animation we focus on design[concept art], animation, modeling and special effects.

I guess it is an advantage, but like I said, we only have 24 hours a day. It's either you get specialized, or become a jack of all trades. Most of the time people want to see the end product, and juggling two jobs, you'll only end up with a half ass piece unless you have no strict deadline, which is rarely the case.

It really doesn't matter if you have a degree, or diploma, or nothing. If your portfolio is good, they'll hire you.

Not sure about overseas, but in Msia standard pay is around RM1.8k~2.5k/month for fresh grad. I'm not sure how much your salary will raise after when you have few years exp, I guess it really varies from company to company.

Yes, multimedia seems to be what you are aiming for. They teach both design and programming, I'm not sure what, as I'm from digital animation course.

Do you understand what digital animation is? Do not confuse it with design like multimedia or advertising.

It really depends on you, if you want to be specialized, or hybrid. /shrugs

Well, sort of, but advertisements nowadays are going into 3D too.

My thoughts? Well, other than you needing to spend alot of time on your work and keep improving yourself, there isn't really much. Unless you have something more specific in mind.

I use Zbrush, but mostly self learn. For the juniors now, there are lessons for Zbrush. =(

And yes, what Mikeshake said, search for tuts now, watch em, and etc, that's basically how I picked up Zbrush. There are no shortcuts.

No problem, you can pm me if you have any specific questions in mind.

Learning the technical stuff of softwares is one thing, the most important thing about being an artist is having that eye for details.

Watch movies like Toy Story 3 for example, look hard at the lighting & mood, the animation, the modeling and so on. Train your observation, do life drawing and etc.

That's the only tips I can think of right now. XD

I used to take classes for softwares in form 1 to form 2, classes like flash, photoshop and dreamweaver.

I also used to make alot of graphics with photoshop around then, here's a link I loved visiting back then when making siggies and such. =D

http://www.good-tutorials.com/tutorials/photoshop

On the details, it really depends what you wanna show, there is no right or wrong in art afterall. =)

In TOA they will basically train your artistic ability from start till end.

Nop, it wasn't free. It was like a tuition course.
Softwares just makes life easier and gets the job done faster, for example using photoshop to paint will already cut down the time you need to clean your brushes & palette, preparing a canvas, and so on. I guess you could also include the cost of purchasing acrylic or oil.

But regardless of convenience, the traditional way has its solid foundation, so if you know your classic paint and brushes, going into digital will be one or two steps easier.

Don't worry about technical stuffs, those can easily be tackled. Of course, if you're a technical guy, it is a pretty demanding job in the industry. Search up technical director for instance. xD

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_director#Film

When making a 3D short film, they are your BESTEST BEST friend. Really. o.o

Don't worry too much, I'm about to graduate from TOA, so from my experience in college, the lecturers are really helpful, its all about knowing what to ask. They are always updating/upgrading the computers for DG students and also MM students. Atm the comps we have are win7, i7 processors, 12gb ram and so on. I usually stay back in college with my team to work on our finals[they open 2 labs if you have to work during the midnight, but most of the labs are closed at 12].

I know a few people in college who are aged around their 30s too & still studying. And they are still watching animes and playing games, so hey, I don't think age really matters.

This post has been edited by Xiven: Sep 8 2010, 05:51 PM

For the MM students, yes. I saw all the new fresh boxes of iMacs outside the lab. xD

Edit : For DG will still be Dell computers. =x

This post has been edited by Xiven: Sep 8 2010, 06:26 PM

Well, right now TOA is renewing the syllabus, so rumours has it that DG students will be more specialized[game dev, animation, modeling, SFX], prolly the final project won't be a group proj like mine anymore. But if they are sticking to the old syllabus then :

Yes, you are free to choose your team members.

By present, you mean how long we get to finish the final animation? Well, it depends on the group, my final proj is actually in 9 months production already, we started in Jan. Though our convo is in Nov, so I guess Nov is our deadline. By rights it is my team who is prolonging the project, not cause of procrastination but because of the benchmark we set for ourselves. My classes ended during May.
So how long you have, is really up to you, there is a senior who stayed back for a year ++ to finish his, there are also some who took only 6 months, but in the end it really depends on the individual.

Oh, the animation topic for 3rd year could be anything, as long as your story is interesting and is accepted by the lecturer in charge[there is a class for this].

This post has been edited by Xiven: Sep 8 2010, 07:04 PM

DG = Digital Animation, don't be fooled by the abbreviation.

It takes up alot of your time to set up a graduation campaign, whereas by rights the college is supposed to do it for you. But instead, students have to take out their own money / make money in various ways like selling food, drinks, getting sponsors, all which may be useful for other majors like AD, but not DG.
Yet again, I believe they are taking out grad campaign class for DG students. Alot of DG students complained, including my batch.