Guys, I want to get started in Digital 3D Art, Where do I start?
25 replies, posted
Alright so I was looking at the 3D thread, and am completely amazed. I mean, the stuff you guys make is awesome, I didn't think it was possible with just one person, who does it for a hobby and such.
So how do I get started? What is a good program (that's free), if there is no free ones, then what's the cheapest best one? And how do I get started, is there some tutorials you guys look at or was it all trial and error?
Thanks a lot :3
One day, I wanna make cool stuff like this.
[IMG]http://i45.tinypic.com/erajcj.jpg[/IMG]
Oh and I'm pretty good with computers, have very minor skills in photoshop, so that's just my background, pretty much a rookie for 3D stuff. I have a bunch of other hobbies like sports and music but this would be something cool to spend my free time doing instead of mindlessly browsing facepunch :P
Blender. Although I have personally in 3 installs of the program never gotten to undertand how to use it, but thats because I have prior experiance with 3ds Max, but that is very expensive.
Go with blender and watch some tutorials or somthing.
I'd suggest 3DS Max, but as Cercerd mentioned, it's a tad expensive. You can get it for a massive discount for students, and the demo is unrestricted for 30 days, long enough to try before deciding on it.
[QUOTE=daijitsu;22363639]I'd suggest 3DS Max, but as Cercerd mentioned, it's a tad expensive. You can get it for a massive discount for students, and the demo is unrestricted for 30 days, long enough to try before deciding on it.[/QUOTE]
Really? What sort of course would you have to be on?
[QUOTE=daijitsu;22363639]I'd suggest 3DS Max, but as Cercerd mentioned, it's a tad expensive. You can get it for a massive discount for students, and the demo is unrestricted for 30 days, long enough to try before deciding on it.[/QUOTE]
It's free for students for a year, iirc. I'd recommend 3DS Max too, simply because it's more mainstream and used in businesses. (It's also pretty easy to pick up.) Use tutorials online and if you need help I'm sure the guys in the W.I.P thread would be happy to help.
[editline]02:28PM[/editline]
[QUOTE=Askaris;22367682]Really? What sort of course would you have to be on?[/QUOTE]
Any, I believe. As long as you have proof your a student such as a collage/uni email address.
Here's the trial versions you should download and try. See which UI and workflow suits you best.
[b]3D STUDIO MAX[/b]
[url=http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc/index?siteID=123112&id=13571450]Download demo[/url]
[b]BLENDER[/b]
[url=http://www.blender.org/download/get-blender/]Download for free[/url]
[b]CINEMA 4D[/b]
[url=http://www.maxon.net/downloads/downloads/demo-version.html]Download demo[/url]
[b]MAYA[/b]
[url=http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc/index?siteID=123112&id=13578047]Download demo[/url]
[b]MUDBOX[/b] - sculpting
[url=http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc/index?siteID=123112&id=13571415]Download demo[/url]
[b]SOFTIMAGE[/b]
[url=http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc/index?siteID=123112&id=13572885]Download demo[/url]
[b]ZBRUSH[/b] - sculpting
[url=http://www.pixologic.com/zbrush/trial/]Download demo[/url]
[QUOTE=PieClock;22367781]Any, I believe. As long as you have proof your a student such as a collage/uni email address.[/QUOTE]
I'm fairly sure it's this as well. [url]http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=10916786[/url]
There site isn't the easiest to navigate but there's educational discounts.
Holy shit I've got a uni email address (still in HS). I could probably get the discount without actually going there.
I report to autodesk reps themselves, so I haven't really dealt with the student discounts aside from telling people about them. Seems to work, so whatever.
I'm going to get started on Blender after my exams are over. Gonna pick up a big tutorial book too. Is that a good idea or a waste of cash?
I've got a tutorial, need to download blender though.
Thanks guys, I'll be downloading those trials soon and checking them out. Is there any good tutorial channels on youtube in particular?
I'd advise against youtube. I'd recommend CG Tuts+. They've got some great things from beginner to advanced for all programs.
[QUOTE=ChestyMcGee;22374536]I'm going to get started on Blender after my exams are over. Gonna pick up a big tutorial book too. Is that a good idea or a waste of cash?[/QUOTE]
There are some tutorials here: [url]http://blenderunderground.com/learning-blender-3d/[/url]
They should get you into it but it seems past the basics the site is dead.
[QUOTE=DOG-GY;22406012]I'd advise against youtube. I'd recommend CG Tuts+. They've got some great things from beginner to advanced for all programs.[/QUOTE]
I agree about Youtube.
You can stumble upon nice tutorials once in a while there, but mostly these tutorials are rushed, are in low quality, and sometimes give advices that are not really helpful.
Don't, don't, DON'T start with 3ds Max. It's got one of the most horrible, crash-prone, unintuitive interfaces ever and may scare you away from 3d modeling forever.
[QUOTE=TH89;22408164]Don't, don't, DON'T start with 3ds Max. It's got one of the most horrible, crash-prone, unintuitive interfaces ever and may scare you away from 3d modeling forever.[/QUOTE]
Yeah I tried it before, followed some youtube tutorials (back when you couldn't make out text on screencaps [miss the old days]), got confused when it came to doing something on my own, and walked away.
[QUOTE=TH89;22408164]Don't, don't, DON'T start with 3ds Max. It's got one of the most horrible, crash-prone, unintuitive interfaces ever and may scare you away from 3d modeling forever.[/QUOTE]
It's not [i]that[/i] bad. I mean yeah it aint so good but it's not shit creek in program form.
I dunno, I just recently started with 3DS Max, watching tutorials on CG Tuts, and it doesn't seem that bad. The whole, "adding modifiers" thing was a bit out there, but besides that it's pretty fine.
[QUOTE=TH89;22408164]Don't, don't, DON'T start with 3ds Max. It's got one of the most horrible, crash-prone, unintuitive interfaces ever and may scare you away from 3d modeling forever.[/QUOTE]
Usually never crashes for me, and I actually like the interface :buddy:
Compared to blender which is a clusterfuck interface if you'd ask me.
I tried Blender, but it was way too confusing for me. Guess you just have to make stuff to get into it.
[QUOTE=TH89;22408164]Don't, don't, DON'T start with 3ds Max. It's got one of the most horrible, crash-prone, unintuitive interfaces ever and may scare you away from 3d modeling forever.[/QUOTE]
That's total bullshit.
UI is just fine, though the new 2011 is crashy as fuck. I had to switch to maya, which has only crashed once, and that was because of my own fault.
I like Maya but it's boolean operation makes me rage.
[QUOTE=MelonGuy;22428607]I like Maya but it's boolean operation makes me rage.[/QUOTE]
Boolean is not something you should use really, it makes absolutely terrible geometry.
[QUOTE=johanz;22421052]though the new 2011 is crashy as fuck[/QUOTE]
Really? I haven't seen that happen at all.
I do hate the new material editor though. HATE IT
[editline]10:29PM[/editline]
quote tags what are you doing why did i have to fix you
Boolean is fine when used correctly. If I model anything for games, however, I never use it.
[QUOTE=johanz;22421052]That's total bullshit.
UI is just fine, though the new 2011 is crashy as fuck. I had to switch to maya, which has only crashed once, and that was because of my own fault.[/QUOTE]
I've modeled for 10 years and know numerous people in the industry who think the same thing as me.
It really is that bad. It was good in its time, but over the past decade Autodesk has tried to keep it current by incorporating more and more buggy plugins instead of reworking the core ideas ("modifiers" are a counterintuitive and useless functionality that have no reason to exist). 3DS Max's terribleness is the reason Autodesk keeps having to buy out other better apps, like Maya, in order to stay profitable.
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