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3d artist vs interactive designer

The differences between 3d artists and interactive designers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 1-2 years to become a 3d artist, becoming an interactive designer takes usually requires 6-12 months. Additionally, an interactive designer has an average salary of $97,929, which is higher than the $74,721 average annual salary of a 3d artist.

The top three skills for a 3d artist include animation, unity and zbrush. The most important skills for an interactive designer are sketch, user experience, and UI.

3d artist vs interactive designer overview

3D ArtistInteractive Designer
Yearly salary$74,721$97,929
Hourly rate$35.92$47.08
Growth rate5%3%
Number of jobs3,97848,136
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 75%Bachelor's Degree, 73%
Average age4038
Years of experience212

What does a 3d artist do?

A 3D Artist uses complex software to develop graphics and animations for use in various media, such as video games, television shows, and multimedia presentations. They often work in teams, dividing project workloads in accordance to strengths.

What does an interactive designer do?

An Interactive Designer takes the business product and transforms it into a product that the user interacts with perfectly. They support engineering efforts to develop designs and get the details right.

3d artist vs interactive designer salary

3d artists and interactive designers have different pay scales, as shown below.

3D ArtistInteractive Designer
Average salary$74,721$97,929
Salary rangeBetween $47,000 And $116,000Between $67,000 And $141,000
Highest paying CitySan Francisco, CASan Bruno, CA
Highest paying stateNevadaCalifornia
Best paying companyMetaMeta
Best paying industryUtilitiesTechnology

Differences between 3d artist and interactive designer education

There are a few differences between a 3d artist and an interactive designer in terms of educational background:

3D ArtistInteractive Designer
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 75%Bachelor's Degree, 73%
Most common majorAnimationGraphic Design
Most common collegeUniversity of PennsylvaniaUniversity of Pennsylvania

3d artist vs interactive designer demographics

Here are the differences between 3d artists' and interactive designers' demographics:

3D ArtistInteractive Designer
Average age4038
Gender ratioMale, 83.9% Female, 16.1%Male, 66.8% Female, 33.2%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 4.3% Unknown, 6.0% Hispanic or Latino, 14.1% Asian, 7.6% White, 67.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8%Black or African American, 3.4% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 10.6% Asian, 10.4% White, 70.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%
LGBT Percentage11%13%

Differences between 3d artist and interactive designer duties and responsibilities

3d artist example responsibilities.

  • Create many MEL scripts to help automate routine daily tasks and improve overall productivity.
  • Write tools in Maxscript, MEL, javascript, python, and vbscript to automate repetitive processes.
  • Create high poly characters, props, and environments using organic and hard surface techniques in Zbrush and Maya.
  • Generate programs for CNC punch press.
  • Help team create nodes for nuke.
  • Contract as a 3D visualization designer & animator.
  • Show more

Interactive designer example responsibilities.

  • Manage website properties including design, content and marketing using HTML5, CSS and JavaScript.
  • Create, implement, and manage web content projects (HTML emails, web sites, digitizing audio/video).
  • Use ASP.NET and XML to automate common workflow tasks due to extremely high volume of designs to be create.
  • Develop a custom object-orient prototyping model in the design of a highly dynamic user interface.
  • Work primarily with JQuery to design/develop full screen overlays and dynamic forms.
  • Develop clean, table-less web sites using valid XHTML and CSS according to standards.
  • Show more

3d artist vs interactive designer skills

Common 3d artist skills
  • Animation, 13%
  • Unity, 11%
  • ZBrush, 6%
  • Game Engine, 5%
  • Adobe Photoshop, 4%
  • Concept Art, 3%
Common interactive designer skills
  • Sketch, 13%
  • User Experience, 7%
  • UI, 6%
  • Interaction Design, 6%
  • Invision, 4%
  • Visual Design, 4%

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