AuthorTopic: Tutorials?  (Read 22075 times)

Offline notoalpena

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Tutorials?

on: October 30, 2008, 06:02:59 am
I'm interested in this, I find it really cool.  :D
Anyone know of any tutorials? I'm completely new to modeling, and know nothing about it.

Offline infinity+1

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Re: Tutorials?

Reply #1 on: October 30, 2008, 02:41:43 pm
i'll second this. been trying out wings, and blender is confusing.

Offline TrevoriuS

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Re: Tutorials?

Reply #2 on: October 30, 2008, 05:27:52 pm
I don't know of blender, except for the fact that it frustrated the hell out of me within 5 minutes because it's interface and accessibility differs completely from what I'm used to. It's alot of basic tools you need to learn, and after that it's just pracitcing. If you get either maya or 3D studio max I can hint you on the basics.

Some sidenotes on these packages:
If you get used to maya you can easily model with it, it just lacks filters. However, no matter how used you are max you won't be able to decently animate with it :P

Yes they are not for free, no nobody will know if you have 'em legal or not as long as you don't intent to use this outside your personal space.
Remove above if inappropiate or against rules please

Offline Squiggly_P

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Re: Tutorials?

Reply #3 on: October 31, 2008, 02:24:04 am
I use Blender and I've no problems with it.  Just takes a week or three to get used to the interface, which is confusing to a lot of people because it's very non-modular compared to other systems.  A lot of other apps are actually 'borrowing' a lot of ideas from Blender's interface lately (the subdivided GUI, the non-modular design, etc).  At least, that's what one guy at the Blender conference this year said.  Maybe he was onto something, but regardless, Blender works great for me.

As far as tutorials, what you want to do is look for sites and artists that specifically target low-spec systems and just look at their meshes and UV's.  I goto the polycount forums a lot just to check out the low-poly thread there (which is chock full of models that are all targeted ad DS, PSP and cell phone spec models mostly).  Lots of models with fewer than 500 tris and 128x128 or smaller textures.  Just study those guys and do a lot of practicing.  Doing low low spec stuff will really help you understand how to make the most out of the silhouette and how to really define your shapes with as little geometry as possible.

Basically, the best way to learn it is to just do it, post it up and let people rip it apart.  Lather, rinse and repeat.

Offline TrevoriuS

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Re: Tutorials?

Reply #4 on: October 31, 2008, 10:39:44 am
Being able to do good models (low poly or not) requires observations, common sense, and practice. if you go for low poly, make sure the shilouette is recognizable at all time.

Offline Luzeke

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Re: Tutorials?

Reply #5 on: November 11, 2008, 08:04:55 am
If you just want to practice modeling, I'd recommend Silo.

If you don't have access to Maya or(/and) 3DS Max I personally would say it's better to stick with smaller programs which do one thing specifically. I.e. One program for modeling, another one for animation etc. Specialized programs have the benefit of giving the user better control over the programs intent. Yes Maya and 3DS Max can do virtually anything, but the price of that is that the programs UI get blotched and hard-navigated for novices. RealFlow is another specialized program which does something that can be done in Max/Maya but a zillion times better. (Although RealFlow will cost you your right arm and your firstborn to purchase. It's expensive!)

For tutorials I'd say go to www.3dbuzz.com or google.

Offline Kazuya Mochu

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Re: Tutorials?

Reply #6 on: November 11, 2008, 10:18:45 am
RealFlow doesnt do all that maya/max do. its a fluid generator and renderer software. it may be more expensive then max or maya, but is not as broad. its designed for a specific porpouse.
Image size doesn't matter! It's what you do with your pixels that counts!

Offline Luzeke

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Re: Tutorials?

Reply #7 on: November 11, 2008, 11:33:42 am
RealFlow doesnt do all that maya/max do. its a fluid generator and renderer software. it may be more expensive then max or maya, but is not as broad. its designed for a specific porpouse.

That's exactly what I meant.

Quote from: Me
RealFlow is another specialized program which does something that can be done in Max/Maya but a zillion times better.

Now, in max you can do similar simulations that you can with realflow. But take the most complex simulation you can muster in max and do the same in realflow and it doesn't take the same processing power to do.
The definition of "broad"  varies depending on viewpoint. When comparing it to the whole of max then yes rf isn't as broad. But if you look at max's physics/fluid simulation part and compare that to rf, then rf is broader by far.
« Last Edit: November 11, 2008, 12:27:06 pm by Luzeke »

Offline Kazuya Mochu

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Re: Tutorials?

Reply #8 on: November 11, 2008, 08:30:49 pm
I read "does anything that can be done in max/maya"

my bad!
Image size doesn't matter! It's what you do with your pixels that counts!

Offline Luzeke

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Re: Tutorials?

Reply #9 on: November 12, 2008, 07:17:06 am
That's okay!  :)