#Confused about College
8 messages in this thread
Below is a letter that I have sent out to many companies and colleges
requesting information about what I should major in to work for them. I am not
completely sure your school offers this, I think I may have to create my own
major. But as I mention in my letter this is very fustrating to me because I
keep getting pointed in the wrong direction. I was wondering if you could
offer some suggestions or thoughts as how to solve my problem? I realize this
technology is new, and many colleges don't teach it yet, but I am hoping to
find one that does. But I am also worried that this may not be what I want,
but I can't find anywhere to visit to see if it is or not. Even going in
undeclared I still need an area of study. Please help. Thanks.
——————————————————————————-
———————————
I am going to be a senior in high school this coming September. Along with
becoming a senior comes the decision of choosing a college and a field of study
to major in. This presents a problem for me. I have very diverse interests in
everything from basket weaving and glass blowing to photography and computers.
I have decided that whatever I do it will have to be using computers, or I will
not be happy. And no matter how much a job pays I want to be happy doing it.
I have sort of narrowed down what I would like to do to the point where I can
describe it, but I have yet to find an official title for it and therefore have
a tough time looking at colleges.
My main interest right now is in computer graphics. I would like to work on
movies and commercials doing special effects. Mostly I would like to do the
digital image processing that most movies couldn't do without right now. I
would like to learn how to do the scenes in Terminator 2, The Abyss, and
Jurassic Park to name a few. Also the commercials, the Polar Bears on ice
skates and Paula Abdul dancing with Groucho Marx, and others far after their
deaths. The kind of stuff you do in Autodesk 3D Studio, and on Silicon
Graphics computers. I know it is very new technology and that most companies
invent it as they need it, but what about those of us who would like to go into
that field? What background do I need. Are there colleges that teach this?
If I came and applied for a job at your company what background would you want
me to have?
I thought that Graphic Arts was what I wanted. So I attended the Summer
Graphic Arts experience put on by Rochester Institute of Technology. While the
program was interesting to me, it concentrated mostly on printing and press
work. I did get to see a lot of nice computer systems, and learn a lot about
prepress work, but I didn't see what I am interested in except for a little
still image manipulation on Scitex systems.
Computer graphics isn't strictly what I am interested in though, I would
probably be just as interested in the other special effects used in movies.
Walt Disney World just amazes me. They way they can run everything, so
consistently, with such high quality just blows my mind. I especially like the
fountain show and the Illuminations laser light show. I would also enjoy
putting those shows together with the computers choreographing the fountains,
lasers, lights, fireworks, and music.
I would be interested in any information you can provide me with about your
company. I would like to know what kind of people you hire and what they
majored in, in college? You don't have to suggest specific colleges, although
it would be helpful, just specific majors that I can search for in colleges. I
am seriously considering RIT as one of the main colleges I want to apply to but
I need a major first. There are colleges out in California that may teach what
I want,
[continued in the reply]
[continued]
but coming from Central New York, California is a very long ways away. The
Center for Creative Imaging in Camden, Maine teaches what I want, but they are
not a college, they teach by the course. I would also be interested in a copy
of your companies Demo tape if you have one. That would give me opportunities
to watch the 3D animation closely and notice details and get ideas about
design. I would appreciate any help you can offer.
-Michael
Michael,
Wow. I wish I'd been as prepared and focused when I was finishing HS. You're
bound to get some good response from the letter you sent. Of course the
colleges may sell you short on what they can offer, and the companies may not
choose to take the time to answer. I would certainly visit all of the colleges
that you're thinking about attending. As to which dept., it seems like you're
still unsure. Here's my simple-minded opinion… Choose an undergraduate
program with ties to a well developed graduate school. You may not find an
institution that lets freshmen and sophomores on their $500,000 SGI's. Not
when their funding is coming from outside the university. So what do you
study? It sounds like you have creative needs so pick something like Film,
Photography, Art, Architecture. Most likely, you won't be just a computer
graphic artist. You'll have a niche or specialty. My architectural education
from Texas A&M (whoop!) has made Architectural 3D Visualization much easier.
Since my real love was always computers (like yours) I ate/drank/slept
computers. The alternative would be majoring in Computer Sciences, and taking
elective courses with artistic benefits. Let's face it, you may not learn much
about beautiful images from a bunch of "chip-heads", but most of the good
animators (excluding myself), know how to push their systems. I'm new to 3D
Studio, and as far as being a technical genius, forget it. I'm sure you'll do
fine.
Good Luck,
Darrin Sabin
Phoenix, AZ
Darrin,
I've seen your name here before and it seems very familiar. I lived in phoenix
for 18yrs. Do we know each other?
Kurt McKeever
You might want to contact 3D Artist magazine (505-982-3532) and ask for their
Issue #15 (the latest). It includes a special section on "Route to 3D
Careers", along w/ a list of schools that have programs in 3D graphics.
Dave
Michael,
There is a good publication put out by the ACM (The Association for Computing
Machinery) special interest group for Graphics (SIGGRAPH) called the _Computer
Graphics Career Handbook_. It's about $20, and can be ordered from:
ACM Order Department
P.O. Box 64145
Baltimore, MD 21264
(301) 528-4261
The order number is 429-910. (Ask them if there's a version printed after
that.)
Your library may be able to request it, the ISBN# is 0-89791-379-5.
It has profiles of some people in the field, discussions of various types of
work, and answers to questions like "Why are there no 'computer graphics' ads
in the newspaper?"
If you want to start playing with photorealistic imaging and animation (like
T2) take a trip over to the Grpahics Developers Forum (GO GRAPHDEV) and look at
some of the work there. (Much of it is printed in the back of CompuServe
Magazine.) Search the libraries for 'POV', or Persistance of Vision, a freely
available "raytracing" package. Playing with this package, and others like it,
will give you a taste of what you can do. If you like them, you might want to
try a commercial package.
I'm not an expert (I don't work in the field) but from the people I've met and
know about, their work involves many of the things you talked about, instead of
just one. They may fly corporate logos, digitally superimpose them over a
photographic background, chroma-key actors over the top, and synchronize
motion-control cameras to film it all.
Finally, some formal universities are starting to develop Computer Graphics
programs (U. of Maryland – College Park is one) and I know there is a special
Computer Graphics design school in the NC Triangle (Durahm? Ralleigh?) that
looked pretty good, though it wasn't yet accredited.
And hang around these kinds of forums; they're full of professionals doing
interesting things with Computer Graphics.
-Ralph- <broom@acm.org>
Mike:
Check out Pratt Institute in NYC. I don't know what courses of study they
offer but I have seen several animations which have been produced by students
there. Its terrific to see say that you have such a clear sense of what makes
you happy at such a young age. What you are looking for is out there. Best of
luck to you.
Bob
check out Penn state's new program called integrative arts and minneapolis
School of Art and Design ( it may be Art instutite of MN). Also a really great
place Is Emily Carr school of Art and Design in Van Couver BC. Plus Brent
Blackett of Autodesk just left adesk to start a big program in CG at the Art
Institute of Dallas Let us know what you find.
It would be really cool if you collected all the names and addresses of schools
and uploaded it here for all to share.
you are on target. I get the same questions from my students- its' good to
learn to look for a school. Savannah art school, is also good these days in CG.
many of the greats are self taught.
Come to sigkids next year.
PV