Porn is fun. Other than the lustful side of it, we can sometimes also appreciate the artistry. A certain shot or angle just works, and everything inside your head flares up because the pornographer responsible for it managed to push all the right buttons. We discover a fetish we didn’t think we had, or a genre we were previously oblivious to, and we wonder how we could’ve gone for so long without it.
We’ve all had moments like that. For me, one of those moments was first finding Affect3D through Girlfriends 4 Ever. At that point, two paths crossed in my mind: One led me to finding something I enjoyed, and the other made me realize not all pornographers lived in fancy mansions in Los Angeles. There was a whole group of people dedicated to making amazing 3D content without the limitations of live action holding them back. I wanted to become a part of that group.
Maybe you do as well, but you have concerns. How do you balance being a 3DX artist with real life? What about the social taboos involved? And doesn’t making tits and dicks all day kinda turn you into a sleazebag? Hardly. 3DX is no different from other lines of work in that it requires discipline, dedication, and passion.
The Hobbyist
Let’s focus on passion for a second. By showing devotion to your work, you can push it over the edge, and have it be more than just the sum of its parts. Limited means are not as restrictive for you as they would be for someone else. There are a lot of very passionate artists out there, people who make astonishing 3DX despite earning not a penny with it professionally.
Everybody’s a hobbyist, however briefly, because it forces you to ask yourself a question: “If I never earned a thing with this, would I still do it? Would I still make hot girls and line them up in tantalizing sex scenes?” And perhaps even more important: What if 3DX were only ever an investment? Is there a part of you that will continue to return to this art no matter what?
Make no mistake, 3DX is not cheap. And this despite the 3D industry having done a lot to meet the artist halfway. These days, anyone with an Nvidia GPU can download Daz Studio and render their hearts out with the newly implemented Iray render engine. The release of Iray as part of Daz Studio 4.8 last year went a long way to making this affordable for me, because otherwise I’d have had to invest in another professional rendering solution with licenses often coming in at hundreds of dollars. But even then, you’re still looking at considerable bills for assets like hair, characters, clothes, genitalia and environments. You need to build up a whole library of stuff. That takes an investment.
The Professional
But is it possible to earn a living with this? Yes and no. Income varies depending from artist to artist. It’s not always easy to tell beforehand how well you’ll do, which is why I reiterate the point of passion. The only way to truly find out is to get your first render set published and seeing how it does.
The subject of running a professional 3DX operation warrants an article all of its own, so I’ll touch briefly on the following before I go in-depth in the future:
Don’t be afraid to invest in hardware. Be objective about the state of your current PC and its limitations, and invest in upgrades if you need to. It took me about two hours to render out an image on my old GTX 650 Ti. Then I went and blew some of my initial earnings from Affect3D bannerwork on dual GTX 970s, and now I render an image out in about 30 to 45 minutes.
It can take long enough to set up an exciting pose, and there’s never really any way of knowing beforehand how long any one particular shot will end up taking. That’s why it’s wise to buy yourself that time on the rendering end. The faster you can churn out an image, the more you can up your production capacity.
The life of a 3DX artist
Everyone who knows me know what I do. Images of my work have been passed around on smartphones at parties in my presence, and people are usually just incredibly entertained. But I come from a more liberal environment. It may not be as easy for you.
I mention this mostly because I recognize that this can be a real roadblock. Remember that if this is something you truly want to do, you’ll have to find a way to navigate that maze. I see 3DX as the cleanest, most ethically responsible way to produce pornography. But to some people, porn is porn, and a perv is a perv.
My advice would be to never let social stigma keep you from doing what you enjoy in life, but I say that with a caveat: I see my friends regularly, but after two weeks of non-stop rendering that can still feel like hardly often enough. Maintain your social life. Don’t become a recluse because of what you do.
If you think you want to get started, you’ll have to learn a lot of new skills. I will touch on those next month, because like most people on this site I taught myself everything I needed to know to start making image sets, and I’m still very, very far from being done learning. The challenges of choosing a line of work where you teach yourself are worth elaborating on, so I’ll see you guys for that next month. Meanwhile, I hope this broad, first look at things has been helpful to you!
王军
May 21, 2016i love
jack pinder
May 19, 2016Want to say thank you for your articles. This one and some of your previous ones on this site. I enjoy your openness in sharing your knowledge. I am a huge fan of the Sin Sisters and hope to see more of them down the road. What you add to my porn enjoyment (strictly CG) is a story with big hearts in characters I seem to care about. Pics are great but its the story that blows me away. Their passion I can feel. You have caught that and express it well. That pic by Supro is promising. Loved his Minotaur story. Will have to look into DB Spencer.
DB Spencer
May 19, 2016Hey look, I know that passionate Hobbyist! Wait…
Hehe
One of the most important things to remember when getting started is that although most 3DX artists are self-taught by trial and error, never be afraid to ask questions of your fellow 3DX artists. We all remember how frustrating it was searching and googling and digging in forums for what seemed forever, trying to find a simple answer to figuring out a setting or tool, etc. Most of us are more than happy to help new artists and share our experience. Send notes and questions to your favorite 3DX artists’ DeviantArt or Tumblr mailboxes, especially if they seem to have figured out something you are having difficulty with. As long as you don’t smother them with a billion questions, most will be happy to help. 😀