DMO: So pay may be up, it may be down depending on where you are working, but what about what package is used? Do animators need to be diversified on many CG packages, or can they make a living on one package alone?

Joe: Animators should ALWAYS know as much as they can. It also depends largely on what kind of animation they want to do, and where they want to work. For instance, if you want to work at ILM, you need to know Softimage to animate, Maya to integrate, and Renderman to render. If you want to work at Digital Domain you need to know Maya or Houdini to FX animate, and Renderman to render (they don't do much character work). If you want to work in games, you need to know Max. If you want to work in broadcast graphics, or TV series work, learn LightWave.

This is kind of oversimplifying, since most studios will evaluate your work regardless of what tool you used to create it, but mostly they'll be looking for plug-and-play into their pipeline, both in terms of your tool experience, and the types of companies you've had experience working for. So two guys have about the same skill in two different packages, they're going to hire the one that's most compatible with their pipeline.

Also, not to be under estimated, if you're applying to a big studio, they'll want to see that you have spent some time in a similar environment as well and are familiar with the culture and process that surrounds a production.

Gregg: You can really move pretty freely between packages these days, as long as you are an expert at the underlying fundamentals. You can become comfortable with package X if you don't have a ton of bad habits.

DMO: What kind of bad habits do you have to avoid?

Gregg: Using a package's automated features as a crutch, that can tie you to a specific toolset and make learning another one difficult.

Dave: Well, having made a great living knowing 3ds Max, I'm of the belief that you can do it with just one package. If you are in the Freelance realm, it would pay to know a couple of packages for some job security just to grab overflow from everywhere you could. But, there's nothing like immersing yourself fully in a package.

Daryl: If you have to be one package, it's Maya...anything else you need to learn it, and Maya. LightWave seems to be dwindling, either the shops are getting smaller and leaner or just disappearing. Still plenty of LightWave being used, but the spots are filled already.

Mark: I believe that to be successful they need to know more than just 3D - of course Maya would be the ideal choice, but that is based on what I am hearing from recruiters, animation schools, students, teachers, and the big studios. However I also believe that a well-rounded New Media Student would be well versed in the Adobe and Macromedia suites of tools, as well as having an ongoing continuing education program with a local community college or art school.

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