I stumbled onto cgcookie about a month ago. Im still very noob to Blender, started the Pumpkin/Jack O’ Lantern tutorial along with Blender 2.5.1, Im enjoying the tutorials(& Blender 2.5) but Im finding I need a forum to help my “motivation curve”. Ive always struggled when learning something new, no mater what it is. But thrive after I get past the noob stage.
Im also a writer(getting back to writing), learning Gimp, and learning Webpage building and trying to get back to my pencil drawing. Yes, I do get bored easily, but I multitask very well(after the noob stage). But I grew up doing everything myself(Family, couldnt pay anyone to do what we could do our selves), that working on our own vehicles, even rebuilt a longblock once.
So, help this poor cook, “How do ya’ll keep focused?”
My portfolio is about the same as yours and I just do what I feel like doing the most at that time. e.g. yesterday, I got this nice vid from a friend of mine so today will be blenders VSE to dig my teeth in. day before yesterday I worked my way through The book of JavaScript, written by “Thau” (because I felt like it), tomorrow, I might be coding some html, because I feel like it.
If I get bored by something I let it rest, I promise you interest and desire in that subject will return in a bit if you step away from it for a while, do something else…
Ive been trying breaks from the computer, might be working. Ive tryed going on walks or just cleaning the house and even a little XBox.
And getting feedback from other intelligent Artist, really helps. When ya work with half hearted lazzy a$$ co-workers, it starts to pull on ya a little. So, when i can talk to people with common scense & hard working, its a blessing.
I hope you will excuse the tautology, but you can only have one number one priority at a time.
That doesn’t mean you can’t do more than one thing but when your time is limited and when you’re dealing with activities that require a lot of time investment you have to prioritize and give up some other things.
Ive been trying to adapt my kitchen skills to my art skills. Hence, multitasking. But keeping focused was this topic. Ive been trying to find a balance and keeping myself from being overwhelmed. Hence, “Keeping focused” and how yall do it?
I think that it all depends on how curious and observant one is. Take this for an example…
OK, here you are hovering above a forest, it is a wondrous thing to behold. Being somewhat curious you decide to take a closer look. As you zoom in and narrow your perceptions you notice first of all the trees. What are these things you may ask yourself. As you start to examine them in more detail you note their dependencies on other things and parts of the forest, like earth, light, and other related creations/systems. So seeing how the trees for one are dependant on light for one of many things, you may ask yourself, “what is light anyway?”. As you probe that question the trees remain temporarily side-lined. During your quest to understand light you find out that you may know very little about the subject due to your lack of understanding of electricity, magnetism, physics and so forth. As you attempt, and will probably do, take to understanding these basics, the trees take to the sideline. So fine, after a bit of pondering, light starts making sense, and then you remember the trees. Hey, they need water as well…Why? And what is water? Now you move on into chemistry and hydrodynamics and for the moment, light takes to the sidelines. Fine, now you only have about a million or so puzzles/questions to answer and solve, each one putting the previous to the side-line.
What you have forgotten though is that originally you were looking at forest and only attempting to understand it. I wouldn’t worry too much about being “focused” in the immediate sense of the word, it will all “come together” eventually if you persist.
Now you get to hover on again and consider the mountains and then the oceans and beyond… .
You can also mentally program yourself to a task that should be ie learnin’. When you is away from ye task, tell yeself over and over that ye wants to achieve and that it is good etc and all. This was how how meself thru uni, and at the same times had some time for concurrent activities.
Blender/art is easy, when ye’s doing it, it’s relaxing too so in a ways she’s there to help ye relax and ye can make yeself look forwards to it.
A helpful hint I gots was Michealangelo or some other homie said he never got his art the way he envisioned it, so I give art the best shot and then throw in the towel when I feels I cannae go no further.
I hope you’re not doing it on a regular basis cause it is prooven to clog your neuro-synaptic plugs, giving you a high chance of becoming neurologically damaged on a very you age. (going comatose, or falling into vegetational state)
And this is not a joke,
But hey, maybe you (commander taco) are already neurologically damaged and don’t care too much
function multitasking (man || woman){
if (man){
while(subjects available){
spend lots of time at one task, making sure you grasp the basic fundamental
concepts of the subject at hand, only to change to a different subject if the
matter is resolved making sure you don not have to come back to this subject
again }
return solution;
}
if (woman){
for(i=0; i<all_subjects_at_hand_array.length; i++){
spend some time on subject i;
get bored and change the subject;
}
return NULL;
}
sorry if I offended anyone, but it is true though, both man and woman can multitask, it’s the result and the time spend at each task that is different.
What’s helped me the most to concentrate is learning to meditate. Otherwise, my mind is too distracting. Thoughts come at me in a torrent.
And as others have said, don’t multi-task, prioritize.
Learning is a struggle. Take small steps, take breaks but always return to the subject. Find your learning style. I discovered that I learn more by doing and less by reading.
Hello there, I sometimes have the same problem you have, I think a good thing is to make a plan or a “mind map” it makes it less overwhelming and frustrating
For example (and this is interesting for myself, I am not lecturing you I just thought of this for me also):
What do you want to accomplish: “Be able to tell a story using blender, (so that involves animation, and not just still renders)”
What skills do you need:
Not computer related:
Drawing, sketching is good not just for storyboards but for character design also
Sculpting, is very good for visualising stuff in 3d
Writing, that is really though (for me)
Be able to make screenplays (and from there storyboards)
Photography, that is for lighting but you can say the same of painting, but things like exposure (F-stop) Depth of field are related
Film related knowledge (I think it helps a lot to see many movies, you want to make one it figures that you like them) and I mean also directing even acting
Computer related:
Modeling, good topology, low poly counts, sculpting(just learned some of that, very cool stuff) etc
Materials, textures, shaders, uv unwraping
Lighting
Composition
Animation
Rigging
Particles and physics (where would that fit in)
Rendering that includes knowing about formats, codecs etc
I left out the game engine python and coding (unless you want to tell your story with a game)
I would appreciate if someone gets in and adds stuff I left out
