An invigorating job offer

I think I may have peed my pants a little

When my mate John Hannagan told me that Immersive Technologies were looking for modellers. So when I sent them my resume and portfolio, and they rang back for a video conference interview, I puked rainbows into the sky, where they exploded into a million pieces and formed the stars. It's one thing to get compliments from fellow modellers, but when a professional modelling firm looks at my portfolio and is still interested in hiring me, it makes my head expand to nigh-critical mass dimensions. That day, my ego blocked out the sun.

You see, I work in a warehouse on a minesite, right near the site managers, foremen and all the top brass. In my spare time, I model for games. Immersive technologies create minesite simulations, essentially virtual mines. So all of a sudden the two sides of the coin collide. I'm pretty sure most miners are more concerned with sport and fishing and that kind of traditionally entertaining stuff. It takes a good 20 minutes or so to explain to any of the dudes at work what I do. I invariably end up saying "I make shit like call of duty" and they all go "HURRRR MODERN WARFARE IS AWESUM I PLAY IT ON MY ECKSES BOX OR SONY". But the idiocy of the predisposed to menial labour aside, I don't think mining+modelling is a very common combination of skills.

I owe it to my freelance site, modelsforthemasses.com, which is acting as my portfolio for the time being. That has forced me to really push the boundaries of my modelling. It's easier to cut corners and make compromises when you're modelling for yourself because you know exactly how the model will be displayed and used. When working on other peoples work you have to make sure it is pretty from all angles, functional in a wide field, and worth the money they are paying for it (admittedly I charge extremely cheaply on my models because of the audience I cater for, and the fact that I am using it to learn and build my portfolio). It really is a kick in the bum to work for someone and have to make sure they are going to want to come back, or tell their mates.

but did I get the job?

No. 3ds max was a requirement, and I'll be fucked if I'd be able to make the switch and still have a good enough skill level to keep the job. The compliment still stands though, and I now have a hat the size of the moon in case I ever get an offer like that again. When your head expands to a radius of 1700km, you tend to get pretty bad sunburn.