For one you don’t want to pay for, that someone “wouldn’t mind” you using, have you looked around model repositories for the kind of thing you are after?
I’m not brushing you off here. Take a look at the Colbert challenge as completed by Weirdhat… a rush job done in Blender using a borrowed model from Scifi3d.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8Mkm3QtwgE
I want you to understand why people give you short answers to your kind of request.
It’s not elitism or anything like that… it’s more that you have no idea on what (or how much) you’re actually asking. There is a cost: when they accept your assignment and your goals get bigger and bigger (why not? isn’t costing you to expand your project… all good practise for the lucky artist right?), it costs them when you aren’t happy with anything and give them a “mediocre” reference of the final job (just being honest to the next employer eh? Betcha don’t mention you’re complaining about “free” offerings when you mention how they refused to do XY or Z).
I am largely out of work and struggling to get my feet into the industry. It does not mean I’m unbusy (btw: this is the first mistake people like you always make… that I will do your work because I have oodles of time). I give conferences on Open Source (mainly Blender) and work with schools where, say, the teacher has tried to teach Blender, found themselves in the “too deep - didn’t know the program was so complex we just wanted 12 shots of a semi realistic walking cat”, and then finally offers to hire me as a relief teacher until their project succeeds. (Did I mention I’m also a fully registered teacher here in NZ?)
I have another company I reguarly work in 3D for. They run holiday programmes which involves teaching Blender. It pays well while I’m teaching (like it pays anyone) but because I’m the one who knows Blender fairly well, it’s me the course gets landed on in terms of making brand new “never been done before” lesson plans each time… all largely voluntary because they consider the pay to be the course when it runs (I might get asked to make a lesson plan for a small amount, but then of course, the extra resources needed which take weeks don’t get considered). What really slots me off is that the company, getting their freebies, just books in all these kids and slams them into the same class… 1/3 students who have come back several times and really know their stuff together with 2/3 of complete newbies; really does my head in. I’ve tried for the past few years to convince them to separate the courses so I don’t have to reinvent the beginner basics every single time (they want the same activity but with all new different 3D models) and they agree… but only agree. Everytime we start a new course, their bookings are the same, and I’m the one stuck in front of class.
Why? Simply: it’s my reputation (as a teacher) on the line to make it work for them, and it ain’t costing them anything to ignore what I’ve recommended to make things go smoother because they are the boss (except that I won’t be staying with them for much longer if they keep it up).
Recently they asked me if I wouldn’t mind (voluntary) rigging just a few bits and pieces (another new modeler with Maya experience was going to make tentacles, wheels and odds and ends). I said sure, doesn’t sound too much. I ended up getting emailed a complete character mesh which had been professionally modeled (by someone I happen to know) years back as a mass project when he’d run into them. Took me 3 days to rig it!!!
I bet you forgot to mention this scary monster of yours needs rigging right? I mean… of course you want it to move. Can’t be that hard… we as humans do it all the time. Look - I can move my arm… just make the monster do that?
Yeah the director was surprised the rig took 3 days. On the other hand, their brand new Maya modeller was blown away by my rig when he saw it… he was surprised that I could have done it (full IK/FK switches the lot) in that time at all!
They’re still not paying any for those 3 days though. They didn’t think it would take any time. (sucker!)
Did I mention they want to copyright my free work to them?
But yeah… I know I’ve babbled, though I do feel for you when you ask for “just a model”. I sometimes even accept such challenges… if I have time (I have seminars to prepare for now though). Last time I volunteered to rig someones character, they then showed me the character (after I’d said I’d see what I could do). To be honest, it was kind of basic looking and I did have to reshape a lot of the geometry because the edgelooping was just bad. And then they kept posting me asking for project reports / updates.
It’s not that people are being elitist when they refuse (you didn’t say that by the way, though I would understand if it’s what you’d think when people don’t help)… it’s more that you have no idea how big a task of “just” making a model (and maybe rigging it, and maybe writing usage instructions etc) actually is.
Most of use have seen how fast “quickie” projects explode.
EDIT: should probably mention my job for the past weeks; I’ve been doing demolition. You know - sledgehammer and knocking down walls. A few cousins of mine have this Salvage firm and call me when they need more workers. I like doing it, though each day I’m aware I’m not furthering my 3D portfolio. It’s not really “me” (I’m a light build) though I have a fiancee (no date set) and she has a five year old boy, so I simply gotta do whatever I can to make ends meet. I told the afore mentioned company that I would not do certain XYZ extra hand outs (for free) in order to do this paying (non 3D) work.
Joining a team of even starting my own company for Modeling / Rigging / Animating in 3D (especially in Blender) is the dream.
None of the above is fiction. Thought you might want some insight into why the short responses. Good luck though… keep posting as you need.
