How to transform to blender professional in the shortest possible time?

General Forums Blender and CG Discussions
#1

I used blender for nearly a year.I think my blender learning curve is not rising alot.I was thinking in myself how some guys in blenderartists managed to reach their level of professionalism in blender .

Sometimes, I follow some tutorials and sometimes i read the wiki manual,what is the best way?.a guy will tell me by experminting and testing all the tools,but how to memorize all the technical details of these tools.I think may be by drawing a concept then navigating in the manual for selecting the tool,reading its details then using it in the project,then returning again to the manual,reading about the next tool then using it in the next step and so on, using some techniques from tutorials.I can’t manage what is the best way.:confused:

My artistic capibalities are fine but the technical are not so good. one can model a good looking character but with bad topology and many unnecessary vertices.

What i mean of all these things,how to start from scratch and creat professional looking stills and animations all by myself without looking for any information and really fastly,

Thanks,guys.:wink:

#2

You should use capital letters every time you start a sentence.

Now about your question.
You can’t be sure you will reach the level you want.
The only way to do it is trying, which means forgetting the “shortest possible time” part.

#3

KaChing! Money quote :slight_smile:

Sorry dude, Falks right. Getting good at 3D is not a sprint, it’s a marathon. But don’t take my word for it, do a run around the other sections of the forum and find a bunch of really nice artwork done in blender, then ask the person who made it how long they’ve been doing 3D.

But don’t get me wrong, you absolutely can do it, it’s just going to take a LOT longer than you realised (which is not so bad once you’ve made your peace with that).

#4

I’m by no means a blender professional, but I’d say try to learn in a manner which suits you. For me, I either have to learn something, and then quickly put it into use in some project, or learn something that I realize I need to complete some project. Jump into something which is a little over your head, and if you can complete it, then you will have probably learned a lot.

I also know (and have heard from others) that teaching others about something not only shows that you know it, but also deepens your understanding of it (especially because other people’s questions usually show you a different perspective on a topic). This may not be the fastest method, but a “project” would be to write a tutorial on a feature of blender which you know nothing about.

#5

Being determined, work hard at it.
Learn the stuff you need for your projects along the way, by watching tuts and documentation for the relevant information.
Do Weekend / Weekday contests here on Blenderartists.org
Join the #smc IRC chatroom on freenode and do speedmodeling contests… :smiley: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_Modelling_Contest)

These should help out with your modeling skills, I have seen modelers get quite good over time doing speed models… :wink:

#6

Exactly what everyone else said. This is no walk in the park. The best way to improve your skills is to force yourself to sit down and make something. I think the best thing that has helped me, was when I was asked to do a corporate DVD after saying I knew a thing or two about 3d. I never knew enough obviously once I started the project, but when it was done, I could say I knew little more about 3d. It was a stressful but extremely valuable experience.

None the less, some people are quicker than others at certain things. Just keep at it.

#7

Don’t forget to study things outside of Blender. Blender is just a tool, so you have to understand concepts of art, design, composition, color, lighting, etc. You can never learn these external things while sitting in front of Blender. So, be sure to study the types of things you need to bring to Blender.

For example, to learn about what to do with Blender’s Composite Nodes, you can study Photoshop tutorials (anything involving compositing layers), After Effects tutorials, etc.

To get better with lighting in Blender, study photography lighting tutorials, lighting tutorials for other 3d apps, painting, etc.

#8

yeah! doing the SMCs and Weekend challenges are great for learning and getting better. IRC channels are really helpful too, since there’s almost always someone available who is knowledgeable and willing to help you with your questions. #blender and #blenderchat are probably the places for that

practice makes perfect :smiley:

edit:
oh! and try not to start a project that’s too ambitious - start small. trying to do a big animation project will almost never end up being completed.

#9

don’t work in isolation you need to post work in WIP or focused critics so that you get critics. This way you can pinpoint your area of weakness and attack it. The more work you start and more importantly complete the better you will get. Speed modeling contests or in general modeling contests are another good way to improve, I have done one speed modeling contest on the 3dtotal forums and will probably start doing more once the Blender World Cup is over.

Contest are the best because you get a set theme and a set amount of time. It is amazing how much quicker you work when you know there is a time limit.

#10

Also, while I think of it, I teach (basic) 3D character modeling and animation at Uni and the stuff I teach those guys in 13 weeks took me 5 years to figure out :slight_smile: So either do a course or - probably more practically - buy some of the DVD training that some of the local blender gurus have made.

Sure there are a lot of free tutes out there, but they tend to be all over the show, some good, some bad, some ugly. Focused organized training like you see in training DVDs can get your skills up and moving a lot faster than just blindly sorting through the net. Back when I was getting started I was too stingy to fork out 50 to 80 bucks for DVD training, but in hindsight I wish I had so I could’ve spent a bunch less time getting to where I am now (which is about 7/10 in max, 3/10 in blender).

#11

Being good with Blender, as in learning the interface and tools, will not make you a kick-ass 3D artist, either. You should always continue to train every aspect of your art, from 2D drawing and painting to modeling and sculpting. Knowing what you want to make, how you’re going to arrange it, how you want to light it, etc is more important than knowing HOW you’re actually going to get it made. Once you know what you want, you can just make that. Knowing what you want and having the ability to see it through the way you want is much more important than just knowing where the ‘extrude’ button is.

#12

Similar questions have been asked many times. Blender can many things, and one thing most noobs may fail is doing too many things at once, the variables can be overwhelming. You may wish to concentrate on a few aspects ie modelling, rigging, animations . . . . and so on. As your tutorials files increase in size, you may find ideas in your head that you’ll want to render . . . and get something rather close to what you imagined. The closer you get to your render idea . . . the better you are.

I tend to dream of scenes/pictures, and then try to render them with existing tools eg free meshes, GIMP and so on. I don’t know 99.99% of blender myself, that’s because I don’t spend that much time learning about blender like I should. But then . . . having a social takes it’s toll, especially when one has family.

#13

Just get in the habit of using several tools (Blender included) whenever needed.
Learning the “techniques” of it all, is actually secondary, your primary goal should to
work with everything every day, such as in a - job - when you do, you’ll quickly gain
the experience needed.

Oh…and a quick note: Not having an image in the gallery - doesn’t mean you can’t get
paid doing stuff professionally, if you get paid - your work is wanted, it is that simple.

#14

Welcome to the forums!

My 3D knowledge and my Blender knowledge for the most part came along at the same time so I can’t really separate the two.

A few main things that helped me a lot however -

  • Proog from the Elephant’s Dream DVD. Studying the file, playing with the rig, turning various constraints on and off to see what they did, looking at the various textures, the material values, the hair, the jacket setup, etc. Pulling the character to pieces to see how they worked. Lots of other .blend files out there, but this was my favourite resource at the time.
  • Remaking famous/favourite works - Davy Jones (organic) and General Grevious (mechanical / some organic forms) helped me a lot from a technical learning curve. Your own designs are always more rewarding to make, but I found early on that I would design things I (often conservatively) thought I could do in 3D. Which is healthy for production environments once you are more comfortable with your skills, but in a learning environment you want to set yourself challenges. So picking something with a lot of interesting 3D forms and modelling one form at a time I found helpful. Once you start modelling a lot of stuff, the better topology and more optimised meshes start to come along a bit more naturally. Helps to read up on them but learning by doing over and over stuck with me more.
  • This forum - Seek teaching and advice where you can (training course, schools, online info, etc) but the users on this forum basically ‘are’ the knowledge base for Blender. It’s just taking a while to write it all down in wiki form. :slight_smile: Being polite and trying to share as much as you learn will go a long way towards helping you receive more useful feedback. Patience helps a lot in that regard too. You wont always get the reply you want in 24 hours. In fact, that might be rare. Take the criticism for what it is. Might not always be flattering, but sometimes what seems a bit harsh can be the most honest and helpful post in the thread. That might take some getting used to.
  • Contact Specific Artists - Contact, not pester. If you are polite in asking for a bit of advice / critique / help from someone who you think makes pretty cool art, some will reply some wont. However, even if four out of five were to ignore you, chances are the advice the fifth might give you make the whole thing worth while. Being specific probably helps a bit as well. “I wanna make good stuff” is much harder for them to reply to than “I am very interested in creating toon style characters. So far I have tried ++++ but I’m struggling a bit with -----. Could you please offer some advice on how you do -----?” The more of your time they save, the easier it is to reply and the more likely you get your help.
  • Don’t be afraid to spend a bit on resources! I put off collecting resources for a while when I started. Not just Blender gear, 3D related stuff in general. Just because Blender is ‘free’, doesn’t mean that you can quickly learn 3D without spending a cent. That is possible, but good resources are well worth a bit of cash, even if postage gets a little annoying at times… :slight_smile:
  • Also, it has been said along with a lot of other good stuff, but good ol’ patience and practice pays off a lot same as with everything else.

One final thing:

What i mean of all these things,how to start from scratch and creat professional looking stills and animations all by myself without looking for any information and fastly,like some guys you see in youtube.
I still look up tutorials. I work with people who have been doing 3D for well over a decade and teach it and they still look up how to do certain things. Try and be content with the fact you will always be learning new tricks because that can be half of the fun! Part of the joy of working in a creative field is that there is always something to explore, try and play with. You will become faster at the basics over time, but always be humble enough to learn more.

Happy Blending!