6/30    Follow-up question to the Academy of Arts thread last week. Someone
        posted this answer:
                           \_ If you want to make $$$ then learn Inferno/Flame.
                              My gf worked for a large FX house and the
                              Flame artists all cleared $200K+. Maya is
                              good to know, but less specialized.
        Any info on why Flame is in demand, and what are some FX houses
        that use Flame? -thx
        \_ There are fewer artists who know it, therefore they make more $$$.
           Part of it is that it is expensive to buy. Any kid can sit down
           and fool with Maya. Flame is UNIX-based, which throws a lot of
           people off, too. My gf's company was Digital Domain, the company
           that did Titanic, A Beautiful Mind, Apollo 13, Backdraft, and
           others. --dim
           \_ I also want to mention #1 talent needed is artistic. People take
              classes to learn all the software and want to be digital artists.
              That's only enough to get you grunt work. You have to have the
              artistic talent. They would hire people who submitted drawings
              who had hardly TOUCHED a computer and turn away people who knew
              all of the software but still no talent. Imagine someone going
              to ITT and then wanting to be a software engineer. They know
              how to use the compiler, right?
              all of the software but had no talent. Imagine someone going
              to ITT and then wanting to be a software engineer. He knows
              how to use a compiler, right?