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My son has taught himself Blender [^] really well and will be graduating high school next year. I have searched to see what kinds of jobs are available and the best I can tell is Blender is used by freelancers who do jobs for companies that need a little work or as a full time 3D Modeler.
1. What job titles, except for 3D Modeler, would one search for if they wanted to use Blender as their primary tool (or any 3d modeling engine)?
2. What specific college degrees might one look into who has this interest?
If any of you have experience in this area, I'd love to hear some advice and feedback.
There are two kinds of people in the world: those who can extrapolate from incomplete data.
There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
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Animator perhaps. I don't know much about that, but I've ran Blender jobs for some friend-of-a-friend types who were into that sort of thing, rendering frames for animated videos.
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RyanDev wrote: My son has taught himself Blender [^]
Maybe in a smoothie bar ?
OK, I leave, I leave ...
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There are two kinds of people in the world: those who can extrapolate from incomplete data.
There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
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More seriously, I'd have a look at companies doing virtual reality, like this[^]. (This is also a shameless ad for an old friend's company, but the job opportunity is real, if your son like Paris - I do not think he needs to speak french). OK, nevermind, the job is taken. But anyway, VR is the next black, and there are currently many job opportunities for 3D designer in this field.
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It really depends; there tends to be a set of specialisations in the 3D world and Blender can be used in quite a few of them. So, it could be that he's a compositor, a modeller or an FX guy.
This space for rent
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OK. Thank you.
There are two kinds of people in the world: those who can extrapolate from incomplete data.
There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
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Blender is just a tool.
Most "hard" 3D animation and modeling is done with Maya, SoftImage, 3Ds Max and Z-Brush for modeling (and tons of others)
What is most important for your son to do is to create a portfolio, a blend (pun intended) of 2D drawings and sketches and 3D modelings and renderings of those sketches.
He can even learn real sculpture with clay (natural or artificial) to learn his modeling skills.
Job titles:
3D Modeler, 3D Character Modeler, 2D/3D Artists...
As to what he needs to learn:
University/College: Fine Arts, Film Studies (with or without animation and/or game design specialization university start offering those programs now)
I'd rather be phishing!
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Great. Thanks for the advice.
There are two kinds of people in the world: those who can extrapolate from incomplete data.
There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
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RyanDev wrote: What job titles, except for 3D Modeler, would one search for if they wanted to use Blender as their primary tool (or any 3d modeling engine)?
Homeless.
Jeremy Falcon
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Let's hope not.
There are two kinds of people in the world: those who can extrapolate from incomplete data.
There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
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I printed a screenshot of your reply so I could share it with my wife.
There is such art in the succinctness! Thanks for the laugh I needed today.
<in the="" voice="" of="" soup="" nazi="">
"One up-vote for you!"
Cheers,
Mike Fidler
"I intend to live forever - so far, so good." Steven Wright
"I almost had a psychic girlfriend but she left me before we met." Also Steven Wright
"I'm addicted to placebos. I could quit, but it wouldn't matter." Steven Wright yet again.
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You're welcome. 
Jeremy Falcon
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Saw your question, thought I might add my two cents. Do a google for 3D game design/software and look for game design software that has marketplaces. For example, Unity which is a big player that targets a wide range of platforms has a marketplace where designers can sell their wares. Might be worth a look and see if he can earn some money on the side while waiting to secure full time employment. All the best in his journey.
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As a person who uses Blender at work on regualar basis I will throw my 2 cents into the mix.
Before you start searching for jobs, have a chat with your son.
Work out what exactly he does in Blender and what part of that process he enjoys the most. There are number of type of 3D artists: Generalist (most freelancers), Animator, Concept atrist, VFX, Character creator, asset creator and so on. All equally important in a big company to deliver a final product.
But, please, start with good college. This will give him theoretical knowledge he lack right now, lets him experience other tools industry uses and by the end he will end up working in a small team to learn dynamic and process flow. This will gives him few years to polish and improve his portfolio.
As with programming you won't win the job in C++ with CV oriented in VB, in 3D world if you apply for concept artist position, do not bother with your assets or characters: focus on concepts.
My specialisation is Architectural Visualization as I have years of experience in AutoCad, 3DMax, Blender and now Revit. I can't stand character creation/animation, but can spend hours finetuning perfect shot for new building.
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Great feedback and advice. Thank you.
There are two kinds of people in the world: those who can extrapolate from incomplete data.
There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
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I don't care about degrees [in IT] anymore, just the person and her/his skills matter... We run a 3D content creation pipeline (see below), perfectly designed for collaborative work/off-shore cooperations. Our modeling guys are using Blender... If he wants to give it a try just call me...
Off topic, my son doesn't like 3D but loves TypeScript, node etc. So he's in my company and we're working with the same tool chains, sometimes even on the same project. That's pretty COOL. Doesn't have a degree either...
Ekki
Cloud-based 3D Modeling using IG.Creator - YouTube[^]
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Cool. Thank you for the feedback. 
There are two kinds of people in the world: those who can extrapolate from incomplete data.
There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
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Hi Ekki. Can you please email me to ikehat@gmail.com? You invited someone who asked about his kid working in Blender and I have an extremely-talented 21 y/o daughter in the same situation. I'll appreciate if you'll take a look at her work and judge for yourself. Thanks!
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Has he built a portfolio of "free" work.
To be honest, when I got started, I did a LOT of free programming to prove that a TEENAGER could actually do something useful. Once I had a portfolio, I could walk in, drop an 8 inch stack of greenbar prointouts, organized, and give an example of work that might be relative. Landed a job on my second interview.
Depends on what your son likes to do. Grab an example he would like to work on... And NAIL IT.
Contact and offer to do the work in exchange for the reference.
But I do agree a College degree (or a few courses, at least) might be really helpful for more depth.
(although I am discouraged by what I see on campuses these days)
I assume that your son, like myself, just loves what he does.
Other posts about finding out exactly what he likes, and what he is good at.
Finally, the alternative is to find someone who he can apprentice with, and open source game needing his skills. Or a mentor he would like to follow. I spent a lot of time talking to people to find out if I would do better in Computer Operations vs. Programming vs. Administrative. The last 2 were up my alley.
Cheers!
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It falls into the (job) category of "Graphics Artists"; which is hugely saturated with anybody that has access to a computer and some "graphic" tools. (That and "content writers" / rewriters).
Blender never shows up on the radar; went mainstream / open source too late (IMO).
Most "graphics assets" are created using PhotoShop.
Most games / VR are created using Unity3D; or the "UnReal" game engine.
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Content creator. Is is an independent gig. It is not a job you get hired for, it is just a job you do. Like a author.
Setup an account at to resell his content on Daz3d and Unity3d and start creating 3d content that he sells and gets a piece of. If he creates resellable 3d content for four years instead of going to college he will be better at 3d content creation than college could make him and have a massive portfolio and will make money instead of spend money (college isn't cheap). I would argue he is not skipping an education but choosing and alternate self-educating route. Add in custom content creation for a custom price and he will have a viable company.
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Hard core football fan (pointlessly aggressive) is out of sight (11)
Slogans aren't solutions.
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Ultraviolet
Hard core football fan - Ultra
Aggressive - violent
pointlessly - take the 'n' out of violent = violet
And it's just outside the visible spectrum.
Great clue by the way, really liked that one.
Andy B
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