About My Journey
I began my journey as a 3D artist during the COVID era, a time when digital creation became both a refuge and a professional doorway. My first exposure to 3D was through Rhino, a NURBS-based modeling tool fundamentally different from the polygonal pipelines used in film and game production. Starting with precise, mathematically driven surfaces gave me a unique foundation, but as my interests expanded, I gradually moved into broader areas of 3D art. That transition led me to Cinema 4D, where I explored motion graphics and briefly worked within the advertising industry. Through this experience I gained an understanding of fast-paced production environments, procedural workflows, and visual communication for commercial clients. However, as I continued growing, I realised that my long-term passion extended beyond motion graphics. I wanted to work more deeply in the game and film industries, where storytelling, world-building, and complex technical pipelines intersect. This shift prompted me to investigate the wider landscape of CG roles, workflows, and opportunities across both industries.
Industry Roles
The 3D industry spans animation, VFX, games, advertising, and virtual production, but most studios follow a similar end-to-end pipeline that moves from early planning to final output. A typical 3D production pipeline can be understood through the following major stages:
1. Pre-Production — Planning & Visual Direction
- Concept art and style development
- Storyboards and animatics
- Previs and 3D layout (early blocking, cameras, staging)
2. Asset Creation — Building the World
- 3D modeling (characters, props, environments)
- UV mapping and texturing / surfacing (PBR materials, maps)
- Grooming (hair, fur, feathers)
- Look development / shading (materials and rendering behavior)
3. Character & Technical Setup — Making Assets Functional
- Rigging and character TD work (skeletons, controllers, deformation)
- Creature FX / CFX (cloth, fur, muscle simulations)
- Technical tools and pipeline preparation for animation
4. Animation & Simulation — Bringing Things to Life
- Character and creature animation
- FX simulation (fire, smoke, water, magic, destruction)
- Crowd simulation and behavior systems
5. Lighting, Rendering & Finalization — Creating the Final Look
- Lighting (mood, clarity, realism)
- Rendering and optimization (AOVs, passes, farm management)
- Compositing (final image integration, color, depth, polish)
6. Game-Specific Integration — Real-Time Implementation
- Shader creation and real-time look-dev
- Technical art and engine tools
- Importing assets into Unreal/Unity
- Performance optimization, LODs, and real-time VFX
Across film and game workflows, these stages form a highly interconnected system where assets move from team to team, growing more refined at each step. Studying these pipelines has helped me understand how many different specialties contribute to a finished production. While I find the entire process fascinating, the areas that resonate most strongly with me are 3D modeling, asset creation, and texturing, where both artistic design and technical craft come together at the foundation of CG production.