Introduction.

When starting out a new 3d art project there are things that you can do to make the creation process as efficient as possible. Most successful 3d artists have good project management skills. Most of the time it not something you get, but something you have to learn. This article is created to help you understand the basic tips and tricks of how to plan out an art project from start to completed render.

This article will assume that you already have picked a subject, whether it is a personal project, work project or for a competition. The process will remain the same.

I. The List.

The first thing you need to do is to write a list of all the things you will need to complete at some point in order to get the project finished. Here it is good to be as precise as possible. List everything you can think about. Even the smallest things you might think are to insignificant to be listed. But at the end of the day a lot of small things build up to one big thing. And if you have not listed them from the start you will end up wondering how a big chunk of time disappeared right in front of you.
So be precise!!  

II. Time management is the key.

Pareto's Principle or the 80/20 Rule, that 20 percent of something is responsible for 80 percent of the results, this really applies to 3d projects. So make sure you take time to do the planning. Now get yourself a good calendar! Something like Mozilla sunbird is a good free calendar that will help you to get organised. You can find sunbird where you get Firefox. You can follow the Firefox link below. I would recommend you to download it and install it, or any other calendar of your choice. An old-fashioned calendar will of course do the job too.
When you have a calendar whether it is digital or not this is what you do.

First estimate how long the project needs to take. If you only have a certain amount of time let’s say a month then that will be the time you have to adapt the schedule to. After that is done set up the dead-line, and then set up a dummy dead line 4 days (we assume that the project length will be a month in this case) before the real deadline. This dead line, will be the deadline and you will aim to finish before. It’s important to give yourself a buffer zone. Since unexpected events always can occur.
Now go over the list and mark everything A, B or C. A things that are priority number one and that needs to be done today, B things that needs to be done within the a week and C, things that needs to be done within a month.
When that is done the process of writing in every task into the schedule depending on the urgency and production order starts. Begin with setting time of for research, then consept design. Modeling , lighting, rendering. Compositing and so on.
Remember the 80/20 rule.

 

 

 

III. Overseeing the project.

When the planning is done and the project has started. It is important that you follow the schedule to your best capabilities. If you notice that you are running behind on something, which often happens, you need to adjust and update the schedule. Daily updates are strongly recommended, it will guarantee that you will stay on top of things at all times. The last thing you want to happen is that you find yourself out of time to finish the project, just because you waited too long in-between updates.
When you adjust you schedule it is important that you try to solve a time problem as fast as possible within the schedule, try not to carry tasks over from one week to another. When you fall off the bigger path try to correct it asap. This also prevents you from pushing things from this week to the next out of procrastination. If you know that you have to work the whole weekend not to have to transfer tasks from one week to another it will motivate you to stay on track from the start.

IV. When you have finished the project.

This aspect is often overseen but is actually one of the most important ones. When you have finished and completed a project on time. Reward yourself!! You have done a great job and you deserve to be treated! Shake your own hand, be proud of yourself. You should be! If you can count yourself to the group of people that finishes what they start you will earn respect both from yourself and others. There are many books on the subject of time and project management. It’s well worth a trip to the library to deepen you knowledge on the subject. This article is a start. But you are the one that have to finish!