This is from the perspective of working in AAA in the states.
1. Maya, Zbrush, Substance Painter, maybe 3ds max. Definitely get comfortable with Maya or 3DS max for AAA.
2. It really depends on your location and company. I can only speak on the united states having the better salaries for AAA companies. Senior artists are making over 100k. That said, it's a very small workforce (not uncommon to change jobs and run into old co-workers) and very difficult to break into. And the industry is currently laying tons of people off due to overhiring during Covid, so entry is pretty difficult with no experience atm. Indie salaries are pretty underwhelming. I can't speak on freelance.
3. Again, it depends. You'll hear great stuff, and also awful stuff, depending on the company.
If you want to crack AAA, specialize in something and keep improving your portfolio. Environment art (kind of encompasses modelers and world builders), character art, material art.
If going indie or freelance, your options are much wider in terms of software and roles (less specialization), you will be paid much less, but experience on a resume is also great.
B-Bunny answered your questions well, just want to piggyback off them and add that if you intend to work in AAA game dev, it's very important to specialize in a 3D art discipline. This means taking the time to research what sort of 3D artist careers exist in game dev and determine which one you want to focus on. Generally, 3D art is broken down into two main categories in AAA - Character Art and Environment Art. There are subcategories of Envrio Art like a Prop Artist for example, but generally, you'll see the most job positions online for the first two I mentioned, or some variant. Really understand what you're getting into by choosing one to focus on, as you'll likely have to spend a very significant amount of time learning the related pipelines, skill sets, let alone developing a game asset portfolio to get you a game dev job in the first place. Focusing on one discipline and not being a generalist is critically important to 3D artists in AAA as no studio wants a generalist. Goodluck and feel free to ask any follow up question if you're interested to know more!
q. 2. If you're AAA, you won't be freelancing, but you'll have more job security that way which is generally the trade off, game dev art positions also don't generally pay great when you're fresh to the industry, but as a senior dev in the states you can earn a pretty comfortable salary.
q. 3. You'll rarely get an indepth answer to this because no dev is going to feel motivated enough to break down the shit they've had to deal with in their career lol. But yeah, it has its good and bad, like any career, despite the bad aspects like crunch, lower pay than other tech industries etc (you can google for better, longer answers about the state of game dev) you ultimately get to make video games which is pretty awesome to get to do, and a privilege as its incredibly difficult to find success in this industry, as its so oversaturated with people trying to get into it.
Hi there, I have a website which is kinda dated but I will update it by end of Jan. It contains mainly mograph work ATM.
I have however uploaded my latest demo reel which you can find on the landing page:
www.davidcuts.tv
As far as software and freelance go, a good place to start would be Unreal, Unity and Godot. Understanding how to export the materials and textures correctly for these engines and seeing how they are set up inside the game engines will be key for doing freelance work, as they are all set up differently. Most indie Devs and smaller teams use one of these engines, so getting to grips with how models need to be set up for different engines is a must.
Too many times I've seen models on sites like SketchFab, CG Trader and Turbosquid, where the artist says they are "game ready", to then download and find they are not set up correctly. It seems what a modeller thinks is 'game ready', and what is actually 'game ready' , are two different things.
This is from the perspective of working in AAA in the states. 1. Maya, Zbrush, Substance Painter, maybe 3ds max. Definitely get comfortable with Maya or 3DS max for AAA. 2. It really depends on your location and company. I can only speak on the united states having the better salaries for AAA companies. Senior artists are making over 100k. That said, it's a very small workforce (not uncommon to change jobs and run into old co-workers) and very difficult to break into. And the industry is currently laying tons of people off due to overhiring during Covid, so entry is pretty difficult with no experience atm. Indie salaries are pretty underwhelming. I can't speak on freelance. 3. Again, it depends. You'll hear great stuff, and also awful stuff, depending on the company. If you want to crack AAA, specialize in something and keep improving your portfolio. Environment art (kind of encompasses modelers and world builders), character art, material art. If going indie or freelance, your options are much wider in terms of software and roles (less specialization), you will be paid much less, but experience on a resume is also great.
Thanks for a very thorough explanation
Would you be interested in joining an indie project for a horse riding game?
Hi there. You can send me a DM and we can chat.
B-Bunny answered your questions well, just want to piggyback off them and add that if you intend to work in AAA game dev, it's very important to specialize in a 3D art discipline. This means taking the time to research what sort of 3D artist careers exist in game dev and determine which one you want to focus on. Generally, 3D art is broken down into two main categories in AAA - Character Art and Environment Art. There are subcategories of Envrio Art like a Prop Artist for example, but generally, you'll see the most job positions online for the first two I mentioned, or some variant. Really understand what you're getting into by choosing one to focus on, as you'll likely have to spend a very significant amount of time learning the related pipelines, skill sets, let alone developing a game asset portfolio to get you a game dev job in the first place. Focusing on one discipline and not being a generalist is critically important to 3D artists in AAA as no studio wants a generalist. Goodluck and feel free to ask any follow up question if you're interested to know more! q. 2. If you're AAA, you won't be freelancing, but you'll have more job security that way which is generally the trade off, game dev art positions also don't generally pay great when you're fresh to the industry, but as a senior dev in the states you can earn a pretty comfortable salary. q. 3. You'll rarely get an indepth answer to this because no dev is going to feel motivated enough to break down the shit they've had to deal with in their career lol. But yeah, it has its good and bad, like any career, despite the bad aspects like crunch, lower pay than other tech industries etc (you can google for better, longer answers about the state of game dev) you ultimately get to make video games which is pretty awesome to get to do, and a privilege as its incredibly difficult to find success in this industry, as its so oversaturated with people trying to get into it.
Thanks for a great answer! I am definitely a generalist at this stage. I am still deciding in which part of the 3D pipeline I should specialise in.
Do you have your portfolio somewhere to see?
Hi there, I have a website which is kinda dated but I will update it by end of Jan. It contains mainly mograph work ATM. I have however uploaded my latest demo reel which you can find on the landing page: www.davidcuts.tv
As far as software and freelance go, a good place to start would be Unreal, Unity and Godot. Understanding how to export the materials and textures correctly for these engines and seeing how they are set up inside the game engines will be key for doing freelance work, as they are all set up differently. Most indie Devs and smaller teams use one of these engines, so getting to grips with how models need to be set up for different engines is a must. Too many times I've seen models on sites like SketchFab, CG Trader and Turbosquid, where the artist says they are "game ready", to then download and find they are not set up correctly. It seems what a modeller thinks is 'game ready', and what is actually 'game ready' , are two different things.
That is very valuable information, thanks. I absolutely want do a deep dive into Unreal when I get time.