3D animation is widely used in various fields, not only during the creation of fantasy films or video games. This article describes some areas where there is work for the 3D animator. Perhaps, this material will give you some ideas about the life changes and help you find a dream job.
3D software and equipment are used in various industries and fields of activity. In every area, 3D animation is used in a completely different way. Consequently, objectives and approaches to its implementation vary.
Science and entertainment are the primary consumers of 3D animation and visualization. Science embraces highly specialized projects aimed at visualizing some scientific processes. For example, 3D animation is used in physics, medicine, and forensics. In the film and game industries, 3D animation is used to create characters, model the scenes, create futuristic or historical worlds and special effects. This is a different industry, which employs thousands of 3D specialists.
3D animation in the film industry
The film industry is the largest industry, which uses 3D animation. Movies can be made entirely in 3D (as Shrek or Toy Story) and 3D visual effects (like Jurassic Park or Tron: Legacy).
Typically, film production takes from 6 months to 4 years, and the project employs from 3 to 300 specialists.
Production of fully animated feature films takes longer, 2 to 4 years. Studios with a staff of several hundred specialists work on the projects on their own.
One person or a small studio usually creates short films lasting up to 40 minutes. The significant studios typically check the new technologies on short films.
Movies with visual effects are different from fully animated ones. They are shot inside the pavilion, and captured images come to the hands of the masters of visual effects, who add the necessary effects and elements.
The studios, which work on the visual effects, can be small or large depending on the type and scope of performed work.
3D animation on TV
Like in the film industry, there are several television products, which are fully animated. However, creating such programs for television is a costly and lengthy process. For example, the American children’s show Mickey Mouse Clubhouse was produced entirely in 3D programs.
The TV is increasingly using 3D animation and visualization to complement the broadcasts with effects or create trailers.
On the Discovery Channel, History Channel, Health, and Science, 3D animation is used for educational purposes. Short television programs help the audience to discover something new.
Television does not have such large budgets and long timeframes as the film industry. The television programs are shot and edited in hours, days, or weeks, not in years, but the 3D animation should also look good.
Video and 3D
Profit from video game production is significant, and it is the hundreds of thousands and sometimes millions of dollars. In profitability, video games can compete only with the film industry. The 3D animation is used to create game worlds, in which the player gets. Video games are close to the film industry, and only 3D designers work much faster. Mobile games are developed rapidly, but video production can take 2 to 3 years. Creating all the characters of the game world is a time-consuming process but very exciting. Typically, the production of 3D characters and game environments is a work for people who are headlong in love with their work and are capable of doing what they like for hours and days. This is a great profession, and it is very well paid, but the competition is perhaps the highest.
3D Animation in advertising
The advertising industry perceives new opportunities quickly that allow it to attract the audience’s attention and additional influence. The human eye very positively perceives a 3D animation, and its efficiency is five times higher than the advertising made in 2D animation. Sometimes the use of 3D animation is the only possibility for visualization. 3D animation gives marketers more opportunities to show the advantages of the product.
The advertising industry uses short animation: 10 seconds up to 5 minutes. This time is enough to show all the benefits of the product/service and to give all details. However, commercials often carry a large amount of information because airtime is costly. Like a movie or a television program, a promotional video can be fully animated or contain the added visual effects in the footage. Advertising requires a very high-quality animation, but at the same time, the customer gives a little time to create a video that makes the task even more enjoyable.
3D animation in VR
Virtual Reality is a new direction in the content world, gaining new users’ hearts every day. Currently, this area is one of the fastest-growing in IT. Of course, now the devices and VR technology are still far from ideal. Now and then, the processor or graphics card slows down, as well as the sensors do not always respond to the user’s movements. That is why we still cannot give up the joysticks. But the VR sphere is increasing, and our gadgets are becoming more and more powerful each year. Any modern smartphone supports VR technology using 3D boxes with ease and without delay. Virtual tours and 5D-cinema with short videos have become part of our lives.
Health and 3D animation
The results of the work of a 3D designer made for scientific purposes are rarely seen by the mass audience. Medicine, criminology, and architecture are the specializations that 3D animators have.
3D animation is widely used in medicine: from imaging of medical events to a biological response. For example, it is challenging to reproduce how the disease blocks blood flow to the heart and causes a heart attack. 3D animation allows to recreate the picture visually of what is happening, and it is a considerable advantage for medicine. In addition, 3D visualization is increasingly used in educational processes and marketing.
It is also used during the researches, helping to make predictions and diagnoses.
3D visualization and animation in medicine is a rapidly growing market. It can bring significant profit to 3D animators who work freelance or in small studios.
But the problem is that 3D professionals want to work in the gaming or movie industry much more than to work with pharmaceutical companies or for university studies.
3D in criminology
3D animation and modeling help in the reconstruction of events in criminology. Animation & models are created to prove or disprove the complete picture of a crime or an accident. 3D models and animation are not direct evidence, but they allow the investigator, judge, or prosecutor to reproduce the event and demonstrate the course of events.
Sometimes forensics needs to recreate some of the missing items or fragments related to the crime, and in this way, they are helped by new technologies: 3D modeling and 3D printers. The scope is quite specific and requires additional knowledge.
Architecture and 3D animation
3D modeling allows interior designers and architects to visualize objects and interiors and test colors, textures, placement of architectural elements, and decor items. The scope is relatively narrow, but you can collaborate with designers, architectural firms or architectural offices, marketing departments of enormous construction companies if you wish.
This article lists only a few areas where the work of a 3D animator may be helpful and paid. There are far more areas of 3D design where you can try your hand to become successful and build a new career.
Most popular 3D Animation software – Autodesk Maya, Autodesk 3dsMax, Adobe Premiere, and Adobe AfterEffects.
Vrender Company 2016.
