With my younger brother and nephew both currently in their first years of school for Animation Media Arts at two different Art Institutes, it made me reflect on my learning experience.  I realized that since I started learning 3D in 1998, I haven’t stopped.  I always thought that one day I would be able to catch up and know every aspect of at least one 3D application completely and then just review new features when they come out.  Turns out that was pretty naive and wishful thinking.  Especially when you use Max and Maya both on a daily basis.  For me with 3D, there is an internal struggle to fight to always try something new, but to still do what feels comfortable and familiar for the sake of predictability.

 It’s definitely a yin and yang.  On the one hand, if you don’t push yourself to try new things at work, things will get pretty boring and you’ll lose the excitement.   On the other, it can be exhausting to keep at it when you finally get a break from the busy moments.  It’s often necessary relax and take some time to mentally regroup, but you have to be diligent enough to not let that comfort linger.  Having a vested interest in something you love in theory would be enough to drive you to continue to learn and grow as an artist and would get you right back into things.  Realistically though, that’s not always enough.  I think it also takes some insight into how competitive the world really is.  Especially in our field, where location is irrelevant.  Complacency is not something you can really afford to let get the best of you in modern markets because there is always someone waiting in line to show you they can do it faster, better, and probably cheaper.  That’s just the reality of it which I actually find to be motivational.  I like that it keeps my mind working nonstop so that my learning machine doesn’t have to be restarted. It seems like in general minds work differently when they are learning - like there is another mode we switch to.  I think it is important to stay in this mode to be successful and current.  It always seems harder to “get back into it” after a break and the longer the break, the worse the return.

 My advice to anyone interested in learning 3D/VFX/CG would be to keep at a constant pace with learning new software and techniques.  There are so many resources and so much material for learning CG that there is no reason to wait if you are interested. Beginners and pros alike can find almost anything they want to learn online, with books, or on DVDs. You just have to look it up and try. More often than not, these will be your resources as a professional and there will not always (or even very often), be someone there who can show you exactly what you need to know to get a task completed.  Being resourceful and persistent is key, but probably more important than that is patience.  I don’t know how many times my wife has told me, “don’t worry, you’ll figure it out… you always do…” in times of frustration with learning or troubleshooting.  When you are learning something the first time, it is really hard to determine if you’re dealing with a software bug, or if you are the problem.  Just keep trying to figure it out because that annoyance doesn’t ever go away.  As fast as software updates and new tools are needed to achieve goals, there is always something to figure out, troubleshoot, or learn from scratch.  Keep at it and I'll keep this topic rolling in the future.