How does one get a character rigging job?

[Mechadelphia]

How does one get a character rigging job?

 

I've been giving this some thought for awhile and wondered what may actually be involved in finding a character rigging job.

 

I am not nessesarily talking about getting a job with one of the more well known studios; I just want to know in general terms what kinds of things are involved in the process.

 

What are some of the aspects involved in making oneself an attractive prospect to potential employers? What kind of things do you need on a resume? I imagine that we all need to start small and then work our way up along the way.

 

I find plenty of information on various websites on information about finding character animator jobs but I don't find much on character rigging jobs.

 

What I have noticed with job postings from various companies that produce animation is that most of them specify needing to have knowledge of Maya Well, I don't know much about Maya at the moment but I guess if I really get serious about this then I'm going to have to study it.

 

Also, I imagine some kind of rigging demo reel would be nessesary. Is such a thing used in that line of work? What kinds of things would go into it? Since it not hard to grab someone else's work from the internet and claim credit for it how would one prove that they created the rig or rigged the character(s) in the reel? How does one demonstrate that they have the abilty to rig well?

 

If you have any experience in this area I'd appreciate your advice on the matter.

 

Thank you.

[robcat2075]

Yes, I have seen rigger demo reels where they show the motions and controls they have built into to a model. As the basics of rigging bipeds become more automated I suspect the rigger skills in demand are the ability to deal with things that don't have generalized solutions like faces and unusual props and creatures.

 

I believe riggers fall under the job description of TD (technical director)

 

Forum member from times past, Barry Zundell, who went from a game company in Utah (Sapphire?) to Pixar and then to somewhere else would be an example.

 

You might take a look at his blog for his insider info.

 

 

It's unlikely a professional rigger has only rigging skills. I imagine they need to be competent modelers and functional animators to have built up a body of their own work to show.

 

It's possible someone could fake a reel by pulling stuff off the internet but that would fall apart after the first audition assignment in an interview.

 

Maya is a ghastly horror, but it's the ghastly horror most studios below the Pixar level are built upon so one would have to become proficient at it to pursue jobs that use it.

[Mechadelphia]

Thanks Robert.

 

I went to learn a little more about Maya at its website.

 

I'm not sure what to say about it yet aside from I find it a bit expensive. If I were making a living from using it then I would find the price reasonable. What makes it so "ghastly" to you?

 

I think that I will start a reel with my own rigs that I have made in Animation Master to start off with and then later I will add more to it along the way once I get better with using additional software.

 

I've been doing more research into this kind of work and I get the impression that it is not a very stable line of work because of the amount of temp jobs that I see and layoffs that I have read about in the past.

 

I will still keep reseaching the topic and continue to develop my skills in the meantime.

 

I will also have a closer look at Barry Zundel's web site as you suggested.

 

Thanks again.

[robcat2075]

I went to learn a little more about Maya at its website.

 

I'm not sure what to say about it yet aside from I find it a bit expensive. If I were making a living from using it then I would find the price reasonable. What makes it so "ghastly" to you?

 

I bought Maya (student price) some years ago and made a point to work through the book of tutorials that comes with it. I wanted to give it a fair shot.

 

When I was done I couldn't help but feel that 9 out of 10 things you do in Maya take 2 or 3 or 4 times as many steps as the same task in A:M would take and the 1 out of 9 things that is easier in Maya isn't a deal-breaker... there's still a way to do it in A:M.

 

 

 

I've been doing more research into this kind of work and I get the impression that it is not a very stable line of work because of the amount of temp jobs that I see and layoffs that I have read about in the past.

That is probably very true especially at the entry-level jobs. True of animation, also.

 

I think I see more actual listings for TD jobs than animators at the A-list studio level, maybe because there is an extreme over-supply of animators, while good TDs are harder to come by.

[John Bigboote]

 

I think I see more actual listings for TD jobs than animators at the A-list studio level, maybe because there is an extreme over-supply of animators, while good TDs are harder to come by.

 

It's like T-ball... the TD is the Dad who runs after the ball yelling 'did you see that?' and returns it to it's place on the Tee...so the kid can swack it out again. The Dad is the TD, the kid is the animator.

[nemyax]

the 1 out of 9 things that is easier in Maya

Which ones were those?

[robcat2075]

 

the 1 out of 9 things that is easier in Maya

Which ones were those?

 

 

One I recall is being able to clip a shape with a spline. Sort of like a subtractive boolean.