The most successful businesses on the planet find a niche and work it. And that's exactly what RenderJump has done. RenderJump focuses on the professional rendering process; a process that allows artists to be artists, while streamlining the production process so their clients can make their deadlines.
The myopic focus of RenderJump was the brainchild of Gary Gibich, Founding Partner of the rendering farm. Gary's world-class rendering cloud provides professional rendering results that are cost-effective and deadline-driven. Their brilliant and simplistic idea for creating a rendering-as-a-service business leverages top-of-the-line software like Maya and 3ds Max—and while the company is still relatively new, they are quickly finding success in their niche.
The entrepreneurial mind behind RenderJump, Gary, offers some advice for future animation graduates looking to find (or create) work in the industry:
What is your firm's focus within animation and what led your firm to have such a focus?
Our focus is to provide an unmatched online 3D rendering service that fills our clients' need for speed, reliability and cost effective solutions to their rendering needs. We know that maintaining hardware and purchasing software licensing is expensive. Outsourcing rendering is a natural step for Animation Production Houses because it frees up hardware resources so animators and creators can be about the business of creating without the hassle of waiting forever to get the finished product. Even small jobs run on RenderJump can save a considerable amount of time, and therefore money. We have a simple belief at RenderJump; Artists should be creating art, not burdening themselves with running a render farm. Hence our company slogan: We supply the hardware, You supply the imagination.
Fill in the blank: The future of animation is_________.
Bright!
What are the best and worst aspects about working in the animation field?
So many visual ideas can be expressed with animation that are difficult, or even impossible to express in conventional film. The downside can be the amount of time it takes to render. That's where RenderJump comes in to save the day.
Among your firm's achievements, which one(s) are you the most proud of?
We are most proud that we have taken the time to make sure our product is worthy of being used by the Animation industry. RenderJump is visual, easy to use, professional and affordable.
What skills/qualities does your firm seek out when hiring new employees?
We look for people skilled in the technical aspects of the computing world, and skilled in the programs we currently support, which are 3ds Max, Maya and Cinema 4D and plugins like Vray.
What particular schools, if any, does your firm recruit new hires from? If none, where do you recruit new hires?
Being an online Render Farm / Render Cloud we don't have the same needs as an Animation production house. We hire from referrals mostly.
What advice would you give to aspiring animators?
Have passion and use your tools everyday. Take the time to learn something new everyday.
What were your most challenging projects, and why?
Getting launched was our most daunting task to date. RenderJump has been over a year in the making. A considerable amount of web development has gone into building our service. We also wanted the visuals of our site to appeal to people who will be using our service, which are Creatives.
What kind of education did it take to get you where you are today?
My background is film and television. I graduated from the University of Texas with a degree in film production. In fact, I was in the UT film school at the same time as Robert Rodriguez so I got to see his genius before the rest of the world. My limited animation experience has been with Lightwave and 3ds Max.
What animation software packages does your firm prefer to use? Which one would you recommend to beginners?
RenderJump currently supports 3ds Max, Maya and Cinema 4D so I would recommend them. I took many hours of online training at www.lynda.com to familiarize myself with each of them. They are incredibly robust and professional. The easiest to learn for a beginner is probably Cinema 4D, particularly if they have a background using Adobe After Effects and Photoshop.
Could you share with us your best story about working in the animation industry.
Well, we're new, but so far a customer in Spain that I was able to support said he had tried other online render services and really enjoyed his experience with us. In fact, he said, "You saved my butt!" It's really gratifying when someone recognizes the quality you've worked hard to provide.
Do you think that there is an increasing or decreasing demand for animators overall? Why?
I would think the demand is increasing for animators, and the reason is because of the success of so many fully animated movies, and so many movies that rely on animated effects sequences.