working in 3d - maybe not for me?
 

hi everyone,
so i'm in this situation now... i have been using maya for soemthing like 6 months, not enough to know a whole lot, but enough to be able to accomplish most things i put my mind to (as long as i am willing to learn along the way).

but i now find myself in a working situation where i have to provide a 2 minute animation in 2 weeks. it's gotta be done by friday. this is 2 minutes of modeling, texturing, particles, and animation in 2 weeks featuring a city and these satellite earth stations followed by another scene of satellites in space beaming things to earth and then all this other stuff. i am completely overwhelmed, i am working nearly 12 hour days and i am having daily panic/anxiety attacks (which is probably more of a personal thing than a working thing), but my question is this: are these kinds of deadlines and expectations standard in the industry? if so, i am really reconsidering my ambitions to work in the field, i just can't deal with this much stress in my life. this is no way to live. i hope that the "real life" situations where you work for studios instead of freelancing and being the only one doing 3d isn't' quite this stressful, but i'm really just baffled by how much work this is requiring, and how overwhelmed i am.

thanks for any advice.

anytime you have to do all the work yourself, it can be overwhelming. But you've got to give yourself the time to get things done. If the client has to have something in 2 weeks, let him know about the Two out of Three rule:

Quality, Cheap, or Fast - Pick two.

It's not quite as rough in a team environment.

Some deadlines are pretty tight in this field that's a given... From the sounds of it you might have bit off a little to much for your level of experience, espeacially if you only been using maya for 6 months thats quite a load of work.

The thing about the 3D field and Maya is it takes time to build up your speed and work flow to opptomize how fast you can produce a project.

To be honest 2 weeks for that project seems a bit small, considering you have to do every aspect of it.

Hope you make it..

Kurt

two week deadline can sometimes be tight especially if something goes wrong or you get a hold up because a piece of animation is just not working. I really like Mikes' two out of three rule. It really makes sense. I hope all goes well and pays well.

i think a big portion of the problem is that i'm not working with anyone else - which means when i hit a roadblock the best i can do is hit f1 or search forums; which, obviously, takes time. i think a combination of tight deadline, utter lack of experience, and no one to assure me that things are going to work out and help me with problems is really what is making it so horrible.

hoping i'll finish it all up soon...

on the bright side, i've learned more in the past week than i have in the past like 3 months. i guess that's cool. and i'll be able to pay rent this month, which is always nice (and expected).