Audience

I checked out a couple 3D sites and found three that I thought were interesting.

http://www.crazypixelproductions.com
http://www.hothouseiwg.com/recruitment.html
http://www.fusedesigngroup.com

Fuse Design and Crazy Pixel Productions had great websites while HotHouse's was not great, the work spoke for itself. For the time being I would ideally like to freelance to learn different industries and what I enjoy the most, because it is one thing to read about certain industries but it's another to actually experience what really happens.

I noticed the requirements for each of the sites were pretty similar and I learned some terminology that will help me sound like I know more in a job interview. Crazy Pixel Productions had familiar terms as far as job titles go such as; 3d generalist, 3d environment modeler, 3d character modeler, texture/concept artist, 3d layout artist, 3d character rigger, 3d effects/lighting artist and a few more. What I saw on hothouse were strange job titles. I might be ignorant or it could be their specific names for jobs in the company. Workshop Manager, Creative Technician, and Junior Technician. They make sense but I didn't understand why they would use different titles. Maybe they are broader terms and things like 3d generalist etc. go under technician?

All of the websites I looked at did some sort of corporate work, Crazy Pixel Productions being the one offering the widest range of solutions. The companies are a little vague on who is doing the work but I guess they have specialists for each area their clients' work falls under. I would like to do something like this but as Meg posted their may be too many specialists so I would rarely get work. This all leads me to believe that to succeed as a freelancer I will have to be a generalist and not just one that is familiar with all the aspects of 3d but one that is proficient in them. Guess I better start learning Maya and pickup some knowledge of 3DS while I'm at it.

The good thing about all the companies I am applying for is they are mainly run by artists so at least working with them it would be a more relaxed environment and not in the sense that I wouldn't be rushing all the time, but that everyone hopefully wouldn't be uptight. Depending on the job, I'm guessing I would have to work with corporate type people because if I was to do generalist type work and work on a project by myself I would have to meet with the client personally. I again am just assuming things but I think that communicating through middlemen is inefficient and efficiency is important in a fast-paced industry.