FormFonts work offer
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Hi all,
I'm throwing this out there to see who bites. Anyone interested can PM me.
There is the distinct possibility that we might might have a ton of work on offer...which pays reasonably well and needs to be done over the course of the next few months.The job entails producing image maps for many iconic buildings. These atlases (as they are being termed) are in the form of a single, square image that covers the entire shell of the building; and it has to use that area as economically as possible. The mesh itself is just a very simple massing model, so all the detail is being handled by the image.
I apologise for any vagueness, but we are under a heavy NDA; and in any case, negotiations are still incomplete. It's looking like the pay rate will be in the region of about $20/hr as each job may take about 10hrs to complete and is somewhere in the region of $200. It's possible that a second, mask image will need to be produced to allow for window illumination after dark, but this shouldn't take very long. There are hundreds of building to do.Rather unusually, the images are not to be produced in Photoshop, but as scaleable vectors. This will mean either proficiency in Illustrator or Inkscape (which is free...check it out). Personally I prefer Corel, but that turned out to be no good as it exported gradient fills as non-scaleable bitmaps to SVG (the required format; and Inkscape's native format)...and gradient fills are required to suggest the soft shadows around protrusions/extrusions.
To give you an idea of what is required, I attach an SVG I made a while ago of the Alte Pinakothek in Munich. This was produced in Inkscape while effectively learning it on the job after I had to abandon Corel. All images would need to conform to this kind of NPR style. Obviously, any kind of weathering or general grunge is not going to be required in a vector drawing. I've had to zip the SVG as it's not an allowed attachment. It should display in IE, if downloaded, and can be zoomed using Ctrl + -. I hope the png version displays.
So...if you know your way around a vector drawing program, are comfortable with concepts behind UV mapping, think you can handle something like the attached file; and want to earn some extra cash, then let me know.
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Cool project, like the idea of vector image maps, I certainly do not have the skills needed but would love to see the resulting models one day. Good luck in finding the right people.
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How many do you need per week?
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We 'll probably need as many as possible...the more the better. I believe the time frame for the whole job is from any time now till year's end. There's work for multiple people...or one workaholic with gambling debts.
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Alan, I could probably suggest a workflow that might help you out a LOT to crank through this work! And certainly get a lot MORE SU (or in fact Layout users) to enlist!
I think like many I find Illustrator rather clunky so I avoid it like the plague, so would always myself resort to LayOut for all this type of work as it's so much faster and often cleaner. I'll hint at my workflow and you'll be obviously much better at understanding how such a workflow could be enhanced for your purpose here. Be mindful that I’ll throw InDesign in as a step to avoid any work in Illustrator.
- All vector work done in Layout,
- Objects to be styled ie: shadowed, bevelled, embossed etc, are placed to a “by style” layer,
- TIP: ensure there is a layer “border” at the outside of the page and this is ALWAYS ON!
- Export as PDF with layers enabled, all layers on,
- In Indesign > insert PDF > then manage object (PDF) layer options (Border layer always ON),
- Copy object (PDF) > "Past In Place" on a new layer > Manage layers > apply object style,
- Again paste in place on a new layer > Manage layers > Apply object style,
- Remember any modifications to the style can be adjusted!
- Repeat as necessary.
- Finally export PDF or EPS > open in Illustrator > Adjust Artboard if required > Export SVG
If the style treatments are made common or even you have more styles and layers than necessary (with applied styles) just turn those off in Indesign prior to export. Where the beauty lies here, you can use just one Indesign file to process ALL LayOut PDF’s fast by just updating the PDF and hit export!!! Meaning you could have 20 layers / 20 styles / the PDF layered 20 times but not all need to be exported! Just ensure the BORDER layer from the LayOut PDF is always on so the objects in the PDF don’t move!
Again mate, if you are proficient in Illustrator, you may be able to skip the Indesign step, I just can’t work out how as I find Illustrator just flattens my layers when I import the PDF from Layout, and then even working on styles within illustrator seems clunky.
So in the end, I’m suggesting there may be an army of peeps here that could help push out the geometry work, then just a few minutes at your end could process each. Hope this gives you at least some idea! Flick a PM if you need better explanation.
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Thanks for the interest, suggestions and PMs everyone, but we decided not to go forward with this.
The client revised the deadline even tighter...to the beginning of November (after we'd been dangling for nearly 2 years.) Every freelancer knows the feeling.
Wiggle room for extra work we could have managed, but finding space for something like 1500 man-hours in little more than a month, even with extra help...no way. -
So now their chances of meeting deadline themselves ZIP!!!
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@richard said:
So now their chances of meeting deadline themselves ZIP!!!
clients must realize that being demanding and being utterly ridiculous are two different things, the one might get you results if you're in a squeeze, the other will get you in trouble (ie. ZIP)
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Yeah, no idea how they're going to meet the deadline...and I couldn't really care. It was a major company, so maybe they had a whole load of other sub-contractors they could pass the extra work onto. But that's a lot of work to spread around over very little time.
I was an illustrator before I got into this game (book covers or entire kids' books.) Publishers were just the same. They seem to think you're hanging on the end of the phone with nothing better to do, just waiting to commit yourself fully to their demands.
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@alan fraser said:
They seem to think you're hanging on the end of the phone with nothing better to do, just waiting to commit yourself fully to their demands.
Construction industry is much the same. If I had a dollar for every time someone called me on a friday afternoon, in a panic, hoping I could get something turned over by Monday morning.
A few years ago, I would do what I could to help, but now I just laugh and tell them good luck.
What's the quote? A failure to plan on your side does not constitute an emergency on mine? Everything would be a lot easier if we didn't have clients that were humans, haha
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