When can one call oneself an Expert in Computer Graphics?

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If one can produce professional level work with all the following software which are Modo, Blender, 3dsMax, SketchUp, Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, Krita and Procreate; is then one a computer graphics expert?

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Not really - expert would also imply an understanding of the underlying architecture, including topics like “how does this image get passed from the CPU to the GPU?”, as well as a full scientific understanding of the history, theories, and principles of computer graphics. You have a lot papers you’ll need to read, starting in the 80s, and quite a few SIGGRAPH presentations to catch up on. You’d also need to be able to dissect and put back together any of those softwares you mentioned

You could - possibly - call yourself a “digital content creation expert”, although even that doesn’t feel specific enough. “Experienced digital content creation software user” is what I would personally label you :slight_smile:

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“…and besides all this, she must possess a certain something in her air and manner of walking, the tone of her voice, her address and expressions, or the word will be but half-deserved.”

This reminds me of the “accomplished woman” conversation from Pride and Prejudice :laughing:

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Excellent reference :sweat_smile:
If I may clarify, calling yourself a computer graphics expert just because you know how to use computer graphics software is like calling yourself a car expert because you’ve owned and driven a few different cars. It’s one small part of the subject, but it’s not enough to know a small part of a subject to be an expert.

Here’s a good litmus test- can you write an implementation of Perlin noise in a language of your choice? This is pretty much the bare minimum as far as bars go for expertise in “computer graphics”. I can’t, but I don’t consider myself an expert :sweat_smile:

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Expectations. Some people like art or their meshes to be some way. Sure, you could master all the programs, but expert, that’s subjective. You have to “proclaim” yourself :sweat_smile:

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Honestly I don’t think you could. Mastering one program takes years of work, I don’t think there’s enough time in a lifetime to master every DCC program. Not to mention, updates ruin mastery - you could “master” Blender, but you’re going to have learn new things in a month when the next version drops anyway. I’m wary of words like “master” and “expert” - believing your knowledge on a given subject is perfect is always self deception

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you gotta be able to walk on water

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That does not matter on the internet these days (where a good percentage of active users in various communities have acted as an armchair expert for x in at least one thread, myself included).

Take into account the fallout of the news story where a little kid fell into a gorilla enclosure at his local zoo, the internet was suddenly flooded with millions of newly minted gorilla experts trying to school the zoo on what they should’ve done. It is the same thing with a lot of other high-profile stories, just regarding a different subject.

How about chess master, or anything else regarding a subject with a known finite scope and a known limit of theoretical techniques (as opposed to something open ended and always changing like 3D)?

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The way I see it, if you can think of something, anything, and create it relatively quickly in 3D, with very little in the way of struggling and guesswork, then you could probably be considered an expert.

I should add the qualifier “within a given field,” since 3D covers a very large variety of topics. For example, an expert character designer may not be considered an expert at creating landscapes, even though there’s a considerable amount of overlap between the two.

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Does this count?

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yeah, that’s like using mindjourney… but, I guess it does count
lol

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Yeah, it’s very vague, isn’t it?

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There’s room for interpretation, hence the question :smile:

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Ah. Got it now
For me, it’s all proclaimed. Or, someone else says it for you!
I think that’s how it works. :slightly_smiling_face: :slightly_smiling_face:

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Next Thursday,

Around Noon.

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A person with a PhD or tenure in Computer Graphics would be called an expert in CG in my mind.

If one would be able to produce professional level work with all the software OP mentioned I would call that person a super-human genius :thinking: .

On a more serious note, it used to be the case that someone that dedicated to a filed around 10k hours / 10 years is considered an expert. I’m not sure if that ‘rule’ was debunked or not, but it’s IMO good approximation of being an expert.

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Thanks for the reminder about the 10000 hours rule

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It has been debunked, quite a few times (the guy who came up with it has done no research to back it up and also doesn’t have a degree), but you make a very good point about a PhD. If someone called themselves a “computer graphics expert” without a degree to someone experienced, they’d be laughed at heartily. There’s great danger in representing yourself as an expert to someone who actually is an expert- if, say, you put “computer graphics expert” on your resume and you can’t live up to that title in an interview, you’re not getting the job

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Right, he is a journalist. Generalized ‘rules’ like that (that’s why I am putting it in quotation) never made sense to me though as different amount of learning is required for different skills. I.e., using a hammer or screwdriver require less learning to master the skill than programming.

Another point to consider. When I was interviewing to Google long time ago I remember evaluating my skills on a scale 0…10. Each point on a scale had a description. 10 was sth like “Wrote a book in the domain”, 9 “could wrote a book”, …, 0 “no experience”. So another look at what an expert is - is someone who wrote (or can write) book about given subject.

But overall, IMO ‘expert’ as a label is very fuzzy, and I personally would avoid using it in my CV.

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I believe its a temporary title.

I had the title of an expert in a specific field (not CG) that I worked intimately for 12 years. I stepped away for 6 months and I was no longer an expert. lol. Things just move so fast now a days.

Everything is moving so fast I am not sure how one keep up. Especially in CG where the technology is moving so fast.

Even with PHD’s. They have to be intimately engaged to retain their title as experts in most fields. I have several PHD friends. A few are working their field every day so I do think they are experts at least until they stop working their field.

Just my opinion.

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