Learning the Trade

[runfrodorun]

I'm not an artist myself (3d wise anyway) but a friend of mine is interested in 3d computer modeling and asked me if I knew anywhere where he could get started. I have no clue, so I'm turning to the next best place: The ogre forums.

If somebody wanted to learn how to create 3d models and then develop skill for it, where would they start? What software would they use? What classes/online tutorials should they take? What projects should they get started in?

I know this is a pretty basic question, but as I said, good friend of mine I want to help him. Any help is appreciated!

[iblues1976]

I'm a not a 3D Artist. If someone has the skills, then they could learn either from a school, online training or books/tutorials.

I think 3DS max is very popular. Maya as well. either one of those 2 if your friend can buy academic licenses. I buy all my academic stuff from
http://www.academicsuperstore.com

Otherwise, Blender will do I guess. My friend who does 3D, he likes 3DS max and Maya. He seems to find Blender inferior (I don't know why, they all seem fine to me)

They are plenty of books. Free tutorials you can find by using google. For paid tutorials, there is lynda.com and digitaltutors

Books, you can find plenty in amazon. I believe that if your friend wants to become a professional 3D artist, going to school for that is the best. In my case, I'm a CS person, so I have gone to school for that. While is not required, I personally like it better. I think school builds discipline.

I hope this helps!

[runfrodorun]

Thanks for your help! I'll send him a link to your post right away.

[LiMuBei]

Blender being inferior to Maya or Max is archaic and not true at all. So especially for a beginner it is a great tool. As with every complex software there is a learning curve, but there's tons of tutorials and info on the web. The big plus is that it's free, compared to the hundreds of dollars you would have to invest for a legal copy of Maya.

A blender tutorial site I really like is Blender Cookie

[Demarii]

As a former 3DSMax user who switched over to Blender because I did not want to spend alot of money to renew my licence to get to a newer version as I use it now as a hobby and not for work, I have to agree with Lui's statement, there is nothing inferior to Blender. And the techniques you learn and apply are fundamentally the same no matter what modelling tool you use. There are lots of great resources online you can learn from, really its all about the practice of doing, you learn something with each new model you make, you will often go back and redo your earlier works.

As for a project, it really depends on his interests, there are lots of them out there. You will want to look at what subjects he enjoys, and what he wants to make, and then try to find a good project with people who will be happy to take the time to sit down and give him some pointers, look at his work and help him out to start. Being a part of a good project is always good for inspiration and learning.

If he digs in now, and applies himself he'll know soon enough whether he wants or needs to go to school. Its not a requirement but definitely not a bad thing, but as I said before, you learn the most by just doing it, every work is a chance to learn more and get better.

Good luck to your friend.

[runfrodorun]

Thanks for the responses, guys, I'll send this over to him as well! I'm glad to see that there's a lot of support for blender, both of us are pretty young still, nowhere near having $4000 hanging around. Thanks!