Tender3D - Find the right 3D professional for you project

Here’s a great video for both Purchasers and Suppliers of 3D content.
For a purchaser, this is a useful guide to the inner workings of a 3D project from start to finish. It’s a good insight into why you can’t change content ad-hoc as a project progresses.
From a suppliers point of view this is [...]

I came across this animation today. Starts off as another cutesy French styled animation (even though Blaas is from Spain) but finishes with a disturbing twist for our dainty protaganist. Well worth a look.

Alma from Rodrigo Blaas on Vimeo.

Medical device animations are often commissioned during the very early commercialisation stages of a project, perhaps in the latter stages of regulatory approval. It goes without saying that most of these technologies and processes are highly technical. Most modern construction or industrial products are also technical- however it has to be recognised that there is more to it when it comes to depicting life science technologies using 3D animation. It can often be quite simple to create a usable model of the device, which can be surprisingly simple geometrically and often already modelled in 3D. Also- very often the producer will be able to source good quality models of biological objects from stock libraries – although they some customisation will probably be required. The real difficulty and skill is in understanding and accurately depicting exactly how this device will interact with the human body, and how the different biological/ technical processes interact with each other. Content such as this has to be absolutely correct, and getting this right will take a lot of time and know-how.

The implications of this are enormous for the 3D industry at large. It means two things, deadlines and margins will become tighter but the volume of work out there is likely to explode in a world dominated by 24 hour news from an almost infinite amount of sources.

I knew renders were going to take a while as we were pushing V-ray to the limit with some of the things we were asking it to do. After struggling for the best part of the week we realised that our own renderfarm wasn’t up to the job of getting the project done in time. Now we could have toned down the settings or tried to hold out hope that we could just about make it but we decided to take a hit in terms of the profitability of the job and outsource the rendering to Dann Stubbs over at RenderKing.com, a small but very dedicated Cinema 4D renderfarm in the states. I am just waiting on the last few renders as I write this.

The general consensus was to outsource to trusted suppliers as opposed to hiring a 3d professional full time. It’s a tricky question and one that has no right or wrong answer. Obviously today’s economic climate means there is an aversion to risk, and planning long term has become much more difficult to do with the unpredictability of current markets.

However the reality is that whatever legal protections are in place, some buyers will not take the chance on a supplier who is unknown or does not have a track record. To get the high end work, companies operating in these countries will need to build up credit in the market. When there is a lot at stake, professional buyers will not take the chance. Suppliers on the international marketplace will have to earn reputations as suppliers of excellent quality and integrity, who always deliver when they say they will.

Outsourcing is becoming an established norm worlwide and all the indicators are it’s here to stay. Mainly due to cheaper technology, educated mobile workforces and high bandwidth urban connections the trend for outsourcing work has exploded in the last ten years and the growth shows no sign of abating any time soon. The trends in [...]

One of the hardest things I have always found when dealing with some clients is trying to keep your creative integrity and still having a happy costumer at the end of the project. I have no problem going the extra mile to make sure something turns out great but the trick is knowing when not to take that mile long journey. Both for the clients good and for your won.

The extent to which cultures are different can often only become painfully apparent the day that you have a tight deadline and are left pulling your hair out as they fail to send the deliverables on time. The guys you’re dealing with may be capable of beautiful work. However they could live in a tropical paradise and just generally take a more casual approach to life.