how important is maths for a career in cg?

hi!
i am currently studying in school and this year in a matter of months i have to decide what subjects i’ll have to study based on what career i want to pursue.
i really have no one i could contact to guide me on this because this line of work is still pretty new in my country and my family has no contacts or relatives who are working in this field.

So, if i opt for mathematics this year (consider it high school level acc. to american education system), will it help me?

also… by “career” i mean working in a vfx studio for films/commercials etc.

can you guys give me some ups and downs? i’d really appreciate it.

I’m not an expert of any sort to say this, just my personal experience.
A bit of mathematic can help in many aspects of daily life and on the understanding of things, the more you know it; for a CG artist it’s not indispensable, but there are so much stages in the making of until the final result, for which a little of math (the mathematical point of view) surely needs.

To me, the key for learning mathematic is to like it, to appreciate the freedom that it gives you in modeling, shading, composing, etch.

paolo

It has potential to help you tremendously when combined with some scripting/programming. It really is an universal subject that no doubt will multiply and leverage your capabilities as well as raise your value.

It will help you both understand what’s going on under the hood as well as save time. Simple things ranging from describing motion with expressions (animation vs redoing keyframes x100 for clients needs); rigging advanced/efficient functionality, at heart of which are just a few simple 3d math operations(saving tremendous time); nodal operations that are gaining momentum(such as ice,bifrost,houdini,fabric,tp even blender); 3d data creation and manipulation; work related to games/gamedev; fun with shaders; task automation and pipeline optimization through scripting(and math related to it); vfx and technical operations (such as found in houdini).

In a nutshell combined with programming/scripting it will make you far more efficient and far more capable of problem solving - this is highly valued. However please be also warned that as an artist applying for a job, your portfolio will do all the talking. In other words, the knowledge you obtain will give you means to work smarter but you still have to prove yourself either on artistic or highly technical level.

as a modelling or texture artist, you will at most need basic math: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and maybe an understanding of simple algebra. Unless of course you are designing highly technical objects (which is more like engineering than visual design).

As a rigger, animator, or shader artist you may need understanding of basic trigonometry and possibly knowledge of vector math and for very technical tasks an understanding of matrix math (linear algebra)

If you are getting into tool design or other programming for 3D applications, then all of the above will likely be things that you’ll have to learn some or all of depending on how low level the tools you are developing are.

TLDR; You don’t need much/any math to get started, but it definitely doesn’t hurt to have and to do really complex stuff you may need it

Thanks for all the replies!
So the way i see it is, that i won’t regret the decision.
And also that i don’t need to become a topper in it because that will take away my free time.

So my best course of action would be to choose it as an additional subject right? Here, additional subjects don’t get included in the final result no matter if you pass or fail at it.

That said, i really hope i would be getting some advantage later out of this. Because maths ain’t my strong subject and i was planning to do two projects these next two years but if i take math i would have to cut down my free time i have for blender.

Math, like <fill in your native language here>, is pretty much essential if you want to pursue a career in any computer-related field. You may not need it in today’s market, but a few years from now, it may be expected.

Besides that, math is a language. It’s always good to be at least bilingual.

Rontarrant: nonsense.

It is not ‘pretty much essential’, nor will it be in a few years.

Helpfull? I’d say scripting would be much more useful for any cg artist, but sure, it could come in handy.

Its not a simple yes/no answer.

Maths can be incredibly useful, but it depends on the kind of projects you end up working on.

Some cg tasks are fairly technical (if you want to write shaders for example, you have to know some maths).

From what I’ve seen there are many successful artists who aren’t really strong in math, they just know enough to get by and they’re pretty happy with that.

Another thing, if you find maths interesting and naturally pick it up, you can probably learn most/all of the math you need to do CG work - as you need it, just take some time once in a while to study.

I would hazard that if you find maths interesting, you will learn it while doing CG, weather you have some formal education or not.

There is some quit complex math for computer graphics, but this is only likely to be a problem if you’re looking to be a sofware developer (or a very technical artist).

If it were me, I’d take math. The more stuff you know the more useful you are in general no matter what you’re doing, and math is universally useful. If you struggle with it, Khan Academy can help out. It goes from basic counting up to Calculus, is always expanding, and is free.

Depends on what aspect of CG. But I’d think it’s important.

For 3D modeling, it’s good to know at least geometry and trigonometry. The relationships between angles, proofs, and such are quite useful if you know how to use them, takes a lot of guesswork out of some processes.

Algebra if scripting and writing some basic functions, useful for things like drivers. Very handy when it comes to rigging and having things interact with certain predictable behaviors.

Vector math seems more related to shaders/rendering, and then if coding for full-on physics and other simulation type stuff then calculus. Those areas tends to be more specialized, but there is a need for people that know it.

You can be good in CG without a strong background in math.

But, it’s harder that way. Computer graphics software can be thought of as one big, fancy graphing calculator. Everything you see in CG is generated based on math. So, the more math you know, the more you can understand about what you are actually doing.

Also, being very good with algebra, trigonometry, and geometry (more than just the basics) will help you a lot when it comes to nodes. I think that’s the best reason to study math if you are interested in CG.

For example, parametric modeling like Grasshopper / sverchok (sp?) is 1000x harder if you don’t understand math well. You will be able to do a lot more with particle nodes and similar if you are good with math, because you will know what functions produce the result you want, instead of trying to guess or look up tutorials or ask people online. Knowing in advance is much faster and therefore is very important for a professional.

For example, people who are good with math on here always make the coolest OSL shaders. They know what sorts of operations produce the shapes they want. Everyone else has a harder time.

Similarly, scripting / programming is handy. You may not need to write scripts, but if you do, you can save a ton of time. It may be the difference between making a deadline and missing one in the future. You will also similarly find nodes and those sorts of things much easier, because the modes of thinking that nodes use, are the same as you use when programming.

So I would suggest doing more than the basics in math, and at least the basics in programming. You definitely won’t regret it if you stay in CG.

Basic maths can help you in your life, not just in CG.
Logic!

Jeezus man! Don’t wait until you’re almost 60 to learn the stuff you shoulda learned your first time around in school! I’m working on my second career and sure wish I’d paid more attention in school 45 years ago. Calculus and evolutionary genetics aren’t as easy when you’re eyes are going and your hearing isn’t as good and you keep getting distracted by the gorgeous young ladies in the class.
Listen to your elders and grab everything you can NOW! The easy stuff you can pick up down the line. Get the hard things straight now!

I do agree with those that say an artist can get by without a whole lot of knowledge in math. Unless you are planning to script and make use of expressions (like in the usage of drivers in animation), the whole thing is visual enough for you to make a number of things with a general knowledge, as in you know a little more than the basics but you’re not an expert).

It’s the same with shaders, some systems are visual enough that you can just tweak until it looks good or convincing to you, but it becomes a whole different story when you start to code your own shaders using languages like OSL for rendering and GLSL for games.

Right, and one never uses math in a Python script.

:stuck_out_tongue:

A couple of areas where math(s) can be very useful is in rigging (understanding everything about rotation types) and also shaders/rendering. The more specialized you want to be, the more you will need to study the math pertaining to that area. I am no expert on this, just speaking generally. If you want to write a render engine, for example - going to need to know a lot of specialized math.

When you say “working in a VFX studio”, do you have in mind a particular specialty? From a career perspective it makes sense to become an expert at one specific thing so that whenever the tough questions come up you are the go-to guy, and they pay you the big bucks. For example, you could specialize in physics simulations. Just look at big budget films that rely heavily on VFX, like Tron - somebody was in charge of designing the unique voxel-like fluid simulation in the Light Bike scene when the bikes crash (here is a crap quality YT link, but at least you’ll know what I’m referencing).

For techniques that are already common practice you may not need to figure out anything mathematically tricky, just open up a plug-in and tweak settings. But any time a studio wants to push the envelope and create an effect that hasn’t been done before they will need to rely on specialists who can figure out how to make it a reality.

If You are planning to be a TD, math is a must, as You will need to be able to script at a fair level, in my case, I can script in several languages and I can do a mean C.

Theres a similar discussion in the software dev field,
http://www.skorks.com/2010/03/you-dont-need-math-skills-to-be-a-good-developer-but-you-do-need-them-to-be-a-great-one/
… I think the same applies to CG if you want to get into very technical fields. (shaders, rigging, TD… as has been mentioned already).

Agree with @xrg, take the math course. But think you shouldn’t get into the trap of thinking can’t get into the CG industry without it (if you fail your math class or it doesn’t come so easily to you)

You’re math ability can shape your job role though - people often gravitate towards tasks they’re good at, if you’re in a team and you’re the only one who can properly understand how to do complex drivers, you might get assigned to rigging, even if you enjoy artistic tasks more … (just simple example, but talked to someone recently where it happened).

I’ve never met anyone who wished they had learned less math.

As others have said VFX is a very diverse field that requires lots of different skill sets. If you have any more specific ideas of what you might want to pursue why not take a look at the various job posting sites to see what skills employers are interested. The skills of a Production Coordinator are much different than those of a Concept artist or Rigger, all of which are vastly different than those of someone doing R&D.

I second this. :slight_smile: