Mentoring / Tutoring needed for Product Rendering

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I’m looking for a mentor to help me in my Blender journey. To give a bit of context, I’m 55, product photographer with a long career, living with my wife and 2 happy kids (one with 8 years old and another with 8 months). I’ve been through photo shootings, video post-production, graphic design, image editing and zillions of hours of Photoshop. Since my 20s I fell in love with 3D imagery. Back then, Advanced Visualiser was a thing and only years later Maya became a software.

My life path took a different direction and only now I decided to get deeper into 3D and put some effort into Blender. I started some tutorials about a year ago and I made some progress. My goal is to be able to render some realistic product photos but there’s a caveat. In between work and family I’m not able to dedicate the amount of hours to improve drastically. Also, I start some tutorials, life gets in the way, and when I get back to it there’s already a lot that I have to learn again. I also end up spending a lot of time in little things that can be solved way, way faster. My belief is that with a mentor that can guide me through this journey, my progress will increase exponentially.

My ideal workflow goal would be to import a model from a CAD software, maybe retopology, create some realistic textures like metal and some rough plastics, SLS and FDM 3D printed surfaces and, finally, great looking renders. This will be a paid job though I don’t know if I can afford someone! So, if someone is interested, send me a message with hourly rates and I hope I can keep up. Maybe one hour a week… or 30 minutes, twice a week… I don’t know what would be the best but I’m open to suggestions.

Thanks in advance for your time,

Joca

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Life is never in the way… life is the way :wink:

You might want to post this in the Jobs category …

or simple have look at Tutorial, Tips and Tricks: search → Photograph

…or ask therein for some nice for a photgrapher usfull tut’s…

…of course there is also somthing like this with it’s multiple appearance…

:stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: …or at least maybe as an entry point of those site ( i not really know them because i’m not aphotgrapher :sweat_smile: ) Or any other course ?? Maybe:

And finally this addon might be usefull for a photographer :

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Something else: "Use(!) your existing experience as a professional photographer. Even though you once used “film,” the essential principles are still the same. In both cases, you used “a [then-physical] medium” to express (on film and/or paper) what “the audience ‘saw.’” Even though you “knew the trick(s).”

Okay: “Zillions of hours of photo shootings, post-production, graphic design, image editing, and Photoshop.” All (!) of that is “still relevant.” Priceless, really …

Now you say: “… but there’s a caveat.” I don’t agree. Of course there’s “much to ‘learn again.’” That’s what makes life interesting. Simply now select a project. Frame it in reference to what you already do know, then begin to inject “this brand-new (to you …) thing called ‘CG’” into it. It is actually a small addition to what you already instinctively know. There are specific “holes” to fill.

You did not acquire your expertise “all at once.” Do not expect to do so now. (And: you don’t actually need to.)

Long ago, there was a magazine series in a geek magazine titled: “Taking a Sip from the Fire Hose.” It’s actually okay to feel that way. In fact, it is to be expected. (Professional computer-programmer here: “I still get smacked in the face from time to time with a cast-iron skillet!”)

“Okay, yes, it’s not film.” But you still know how to use technology to produce an image." You’re still in the game. This is just a new way of doing it.

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Hello !

You don’t tell where you are located, if you are non english native it might be better to find someone that speak the same language, or even better find someone that you can meet IRL…

one hour a week is a good start. Are you able to practice more by yourself, or is it the only time that you can allocate for 3D ?

My advice is for now don’t focus too much on the end goal, but try to learn diligently one skill at a time.
Maybe you can get your hand on a blender 3D model with material and such, and then try to make good renders out of it. Try to transpose what you know in photography inside blender. Then you can always post your questions here…

After a few weeks, you can try to focus solely on materials, download an object from here : https://threedscans.com/
And with the help of a few tutorials try to make accurate metals, plastic, glass out of it…
Practice that for a few weeks/months and once in a while do cool lighting / renders on a few of them.

Then spend some times focusing on hard surface modeling, at least some basis to be able to make a few simple objects but with enough details so it’s photo-realistic with proper materials…

Every-time you can always asks a few advice or questions here showing your current work/exercise…

I’d say on the overall product visualization isn’t the most difficult in 3D so you’re likely to succeed especially since you already know the artistic side of it, anyway, 3D is complex so while it might take 3 months of daily practice to start to feel at ease, this might stretch to 1/2 years if you can only allocate a few hours per week. A tutor might help you save some time by giving you the right information, or avoiding you to waste time on useless stuff, but at the end of the day like in every art it’s your personal mileage that matter the most.

My final advice is to try to do something that shows your current level, even if it’s a very well lit donut, and ask for guidance here, and see what you can do with that already, and at some point when you feel you’re getting stuck you start to look for mentoring to fill the gaps…

Anyway, that’s just my point of view, and I wish you good luck and a lot of fun in your journey !

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I’d also add: “focus on …” Try a render, then try to identify and “focus on” what exactly is [to your eye …] “wrong with it.” And why. Then, focus on that specific area – while freely asking questions here.

“The world of CG” is today is frankly so(!) vast – even “just in Blender” – that today you can very easily drop into some rabbit-hole and never come out. Therefore, you’ve got to pick-and-choose your targets. Focus on your immediate goal, whatever it is. Come up with “a solution that works,” even if it isn’t the best one. (Geek Talk: “TMTOWTDI” = “Tim Toady” = “There’s More Than One Way To Do It.™”)

Your “well-refined photographic sense” will probably put you in a better position than someone who doesn’t yet have one. “We are ‘using technology’ to create and display ‘an image or idea.’” That much hasn’t changed, and it never will. What’s “new” is: “pure-digital image synthesis.” Other than that, you already know what you are looking for, and generally how to get it.

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@Okidoki, “Life is never in the way… life is the way” I’ll take that one with me from now on.

Thank you so much for your valuable inputs and time to reply. I’ll look into every single link you sent.

And I’ll take that advice and re-post in Jobs category.

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@sozap, I’m located in Portugal.

Your answer is spot on and I do need to allocate as much time as possible. I’m planning to actually schedule about 5 hours a week on a calendar to “force” myself into doing it. The good thing is that as soon as I’m able to do something that I consider good I’ll be able to incorporate more hours into my current workflow. I’ll also take that advice of posting about little things that can push the quality a little further.

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@sundialsvc4 @sozap @Okidoki I’ve heard before about the power of the Blender community and your answers have just warmed my heart. Thank you for taking the time and for the words of encouragement. This type of support is a great companion for “the way”.

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Ok cool , glad it can help !
5 hours a week is enough to make progress and eventually get there !

Great ! Keep in mind that in the beginning there is a lot of technicalities to learn therefore the brain has less space for creativity… As a result you might not be fully satisfied with your results for some time. But that’s ok, at some point every little bits will start to work together, as long as you learn some stuff you’re making progress !

From what you said, I encourage you to create a sketchbook here and try to post at least one image every week. That might be a work in progress, some screenshot of the 3D viewport of a model, or some complete renders.
That can even be the result of a tutorial…

Focusing on one exercise a week seems a good basis, maybe some stuff might requires 2/3 weeks, maybe you can manage to pull off 2/3 stuff during one week, but more or less in the beginning seems a bit counterproductive.
If you’re doing 1 hour per day, something that I would do is like : 1day is about looking for a tutorial on a particular subject and watching it, 1 or 2 day to actually do the tutorial (watching the video again), and the remaining time I’d try to push the result further or do something else based on the knowledge you just learned.

This will obviously vary from week to weeks but that can be a good way to get started. At some point some weeks can be solely about a personal exercise without tutorials.
Anyway, avoiding to spend too much time on something and posting regularly your progress will probably help you to not get carried away for too long.
People will be able to follow your progress an give some advice along the way.

I’d start with something like that and adjust accordingly given how well that works or not :smiley:

Have fun !

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