How to Succeed Wondering if Mesmer 3D Training is Right for You? Mesmer's Alias, Avid|Softimage and Discreet courses are designed to be appropriate for professional designers, animators, modelers, and special effects artists working in a variety of industries including film, games, aerospace, defense and digital media content creation. While there are no special skills or applications required to taking the classes in general, registrants should be aware that these classes are very challenging, and move rapidly through a great deal of material. Both artistic and technical backgrounds are helpful, enhancing the experience of these classes. How to Succeed Experience with Other Graphics Programs Useful Skill Sets Are you an artistic person? Are you a technical person? Experience with Other Graphics Programs Mesmer classes will most benefit users who are already comfortable with other computer graphics programs, like PhotoShop, Freehand, Illustrator, Flash, and Director, Premiere or other content creation tools. Experience in other 3D applications like Lightwave, Infini-d, 3D 3ds max, Hash Animation Master, or Strata Studio Pro is also beneficial, in that some of the concepts and methods of working are transferable between these programs and other high-end tools. Problem solving skills you have developed while learning to use other simpler programs will certainly be helpful to you. Your ability to learn other computer applications is an indicator of success in learning at Mesmer. Useful Skill Sets Although some people are blessed with both artistic and technically excellent skill sets, most people come to Mesmer with an emphasis on one or the other. Often, taking classes at Mesmer serves to cross-pollinate technical skills with creative skills. Techs find themselves understanding light, form, color and composition, while creative types find themselves writing scripts to save time and enhance their workflow. Artistic People Individuals with experience in the arts, particularly illustration, figure drawing, painting and sculpture tend to thrive in Mesmer courses. Existing 2D animation skills transfer very well, and are often indicators of success in 3D animation. While drawing skills are not crucial to success, they are useful for storyboarding and communication with other people. In production, the creative artist's focus it to look beyond the use of the software tools, and be concerned with aesthetic decisions that enhance the look and appeal of the finished product. Without artistic people, a technically excellent team can't achieve to full potential. Technical People Similarly, individuals with technical skills,a background in scripting, programming, web development, database design or other related disciplines often fall in love with the geekier aspects of the software we teach. An understanding of math and scripting opens up a wide arena of new uses for Maya, Softimage 3D and Softimage XSI, enabling savvy users to create new tools and interfaces at will. Additional work creating behavioral rules and limitations on actions can dramatically enhance productivity. In production, the technical director's job is to make the creative animator a more productive user. Both Techs and artists are crucial parts of the team. Admissions Policies for Intensive Programs Mesmer is extremely keen on allowing only people into the Intensive Programs who have the right mix of background, passions, and skills to become successful in this demanding field. Passion The single most important factor in succeeding in the 3D animation, special effects, advertising, and games marketplace is a burning passion for your work. If you are looking for an easy job with little competition, this field is not for you. You will be competing for jobs with the best and brightest individuals in the world. HOWEVER, If you have been passionate about your interests all you life and want to pursue them simply because you must, you are a great candidate for success. For example, a passionate gamer is somebody who has a 3DO multiplayer, had an Atari 800, has seen an Intellivision, and of course owns a Playstation, Dreamcast or N64. If you aren't into games, you probably shouldn't try to work on them. Working in animation is all about late nights, lots of coffee, and a great deal of repetitive, precise, demanding work. If that still sounds good to you, you are probably passionate enough to succeed. Background Those who will do best in the Intensive Programs have existing creative and technical skills, developed in another field like cinematography, photography, drafting, CAD, graphic design,web programming, software development, multimedia creation, video editing, game design, or other creative field. In other words, whatever you bring to the party will merge with new skills acquired at Mesmer, swirling around to find expression in 3D. Production The ability to take a project from conception, through planning and complete execution is critical to success in this program. That's the concept of production. When someone says "I've worked in production" that means that they had to pump out high quality work in a short period of time under intense pressure. If you can "get it done" then you can become a "production artist", which is the highest compliment that can be paid. More about Mesmer's Intensive Programs Course List & Dates