I should write #15 on my display.
I would like to add a common modeling error: Duck Moulth Syndrome. reffering to the bill-like appearance which occurs when the corners of a human moulth are not dimpled inwards.
10. Being stuck in tutorial-land.I see a lot of new artists get stuck in a tutorial and either languish in limbo or just altogether shut down. I think the tendency is for the artist to get too close to the tutorial and forget that the purpose is to get them into it and get their hands dirty in the software. If you get stuck in a tutorial, just start playing and having fun. I would recommend saving first but sometimes just getting in and messing around is what you need to dislodge the block that’s in your way. The other side of this is some artists get stuck ONLY doing tutorials and never actually create and experiment. I like to try and mix this up by doingsomething similar to what is in the tutorial while still following the underlying steps. This allows you to experiment and also see how the concept is applied outside of the very specific pre-planned example. Then, take what you learned and make something with that knowledge!
This one is probably the main piece of advice I gave my self when starting out. I have watched loads of tutorials, and they all give me insight into how to use blender and how to achieve things, but I have never followed a single one, Instead I decided to used what I absorbed to do my own thing. Its the only way to truly learn anything. I also studied everything about 2D art, lighting, drawing the human figure, etc. (and still do).
I have one that I am not sure has been mentioned yet (I am too impatient to read the whole 5 pages of responses). That is ‘don’t be daunted by all of the absolutely amazing work you see posted on this site and others. With patience and dedication (and of course a flair for creativity) you too can be an amazing artist.’
At least I hope this is the case as I am but a fledgling 3D creator with a programming background.
I remember when i started using blender i was like… Blender sucks you cant do anything with it… how come everyone is using maya. But what people must learn is that each software has its own speciallity and they are all good in specific ways. I made all mistakes mentioned above but just keep on practice and you will get better… Dont give up and do whatever you believe is the best for you.
dont listen do the persons who says that blender is the best or people who say the oposite. Go for what you think is the best.
So true. Sometimes listening to others can be as bad as a left-handed person using their right-hand just to please others. One of the worst things possible a new 3D artist can do is loose sleep over not using the industry standards(Max, Maya etc), due to peer pressure.
My first fully-functional 3D package was TrueSpace, which came free on the cover-CD of 3D World magazine back in 2003. Looking back on it, TS was very easy to use and I absolutely adored it. I was actually making animations and still images, but sadly, I was worried it wasn’t accepted as a “professional” package. I went straight for Maya thereafter, and whilst I did enjoy being able to do kick-ass programming with Mel and the C++ API, I found it much harder to do the simple things I was doing in TS in half the time, and I wasn’t producing as many animations.
Another package I wish I had gone with my instincts on is Lightwave. When I was doing this 3D lark back in 2003, I kept hearing that Lightwave was dying and even dead on arrival, but I saw LW’s advantages that most seemed to overlook(price, rendering, render-nodes, Modeller & Layout). Still, I accepted that I was a beginner back then and that the seasoned 3D artists knew what they were talking about…but for a package that was supposed to pop-its-clogs back in 2003…its doing very well by still seeing action in TV and Film today. I regret not having upgraded to LW when TS was MURDERED BY MICROSOFT! Sorry, the memory is still very evil…
I’m not that in love with Blender, but its the second package I have gone with my instincts with, and been handsomely rewarded. Its light on download and installation, free of charge, uses Python and its got a lot of love over on GameDev.net. Add to this the Blender Foundation develops Blender with its own film projects…its got the right pieces in place. I was going to go with Lightwave instead, but with Silo still holding up as my primary modelling tool, and Blender’s superior animation tools…I would only be buying lightwave for rendering…which Blender is doing well enough for my needs.
So to add to your post: Go with your nose when something smells wrong. The latest,greatest and most expensive is not necessarily the best option.
I am speaking about modeling, especially for 3d printing.
I made, not so long time ago, mistakes that I tried to make clean topology (all in one mesh, manifold), adding edge loops…like animators want to model. Well, I realised that when vertice count is many thousands and you add one edge loop, it creates about hundreds of vertices more and maintaining is more complex more you add.
Solution was very simply, almost all things … walls, windows etc. are separate meshes and the last thing was boolean (Netfabb cloud service).
Modeling is about 100 times faster, more accurate and maintaining is very easy.
Basically like Cad-softwares, all are separate objects.
I read this overall with pleasure and it made a lot of sense for me.
I know this is an old thread but I’m new and just want to say I got a lot from this post. Thanks
Regarding traditional art, I agree, but not entirely. On one hand, it’s good to know what can be cald “art theory”. I experienced it myself: after reading some books regarding art, I understand why some of my works just sucks (I knew they were not good, but before reading I wasn’t able to find a reason). On the other hand, however, it doesn’t mean You have to be able to actualy create traitional art to be good at 3D. The ability to create good art consist of two factors: 1.Knowing the theory and 2. Having appropriate skillset. While the theory behing 3D and traditional art is basically the same (or similar at least), the skillsets are totally different. It means the fact that I can’t draw even a simple, straight line doesn’t mean I can’t create awsome artworks using 3D software.
“Bender Artists”… really ?? ( I wish I had a Bender emoticon right now!!)
"If I can’t do it, then it surely can’t be done in said software’.
I read that a lot on various forums, even from people who seem like CG veterans over at CGsociety, they can be so silly. So many people don’t understand the the tool is not important, it is the skills and understanding of concepts of creating 3D art (I am sure that has been reiterated for countless times already :))
#7 and #14 were the most useful for me. Thanks!
Nice list. I don’t think these are beliefs only new CG artists hold.
Yep. I agree with many of the listed errors we humans experience when learning to use an advanced technology, using advanced tools like Blender. This is only natural to expect, but the most important is to be able to accept positive critique even if it is delivered in a slightly negative context. Some artists from around the world may not be able to express themselves in English in a psychological or “well versed” way, leading to misunderstandings and thoughts around self critique and plain anger or frustration.
With a large community like this forum, it’s important to “swallow some camels” before you get upset, and try to extract the positive critique from an otherwise negative sounding reply.
10. Being stuck in tutorial-land.
i seem to have the opposite problem. i will start a tutorial and then get so engrossed in my experimentation that i forget to look back at what the original goal was. thanks for the tips though!
hi Thank you
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I’ve made a quite a few Blender tutorials, but I try not to cover the same things other artists are doing tutorials on such as doing the fire simulation. I look for topics that other people have not covered rather than regurgitate the same topic. I also like to emphasize technique. I know that may sound a bit vague but is important. I recently looked around for information on blurring a face in video such as see in some televisions where someone is trying to remain anonymous. I scoured YouTube and couldn’t find that topic being specifically covered so I had to gather bits and pieces from several tutorials and spend several hours wrangling out a technique that I was confident that other Blender users could use. Anyway that’s my two-bits, now I’m looking for a way to create a glass bowl full of marbles using a particle system. So far I can’t seem to keep my marbles from penetrating the collision object even though I have the bowl set with collision. I guess I’ll figure it out eventually 
I definitely agree!
I’ve always been the one who loves people that take the time to criticize my work hence the work criticize not bash my work. it makes the least experienced get to the place where they are at but then again a criticism is majority opinionated on the persons taste. not saying it invaluable to take in what is said but use it to learn and further yourself with new ideas and to view your work from different eyes.
This is my current situation that a lot of newbies that begin with something for the first time do and i am also one of them. like its said, “get you hands dirty” don’t stick to something that is just following commands but use it to your advantage. Also it can be used for reference for your big motivational ideas.
Amen to this plan first on how your project will be done that way you can have and idea of how to go on and about with what you’re doing.
Having read this, and read it again, I’m not sure I 100% agree with it. From my own experience, I started off using Blender (and visual arts itself) from a very minimal back-history; I didn’t have a clue what I was doing, I was basically starting from complete scrap. Techniques, abilities, do’s and don’ts and progression, to me, wouldn’t have been possible without obeying a lot of tutorials.
The part about ‘languishing in limbo;’ my experience with this, personally, was when I tried to accomplish something too advanced for my current skill. Classic example, I’ve always wanted to model a human character, and I tied to follow the Blenderella series. I progressed, but it was painfully slow as you can imagine, leading to frustrations and time-outs. However, eventually I realised that I should be starting small, and learning how to model and topologise first. Looking at the Blenderella series now, I could quite easily follow along and I know what she’s doing despite the timelapses (which used to stump me big-time).
What I personally favour is learning the techniques first. At first, I’ll just be copying for the sake of copying when it comes to tutorials, and I keep doing it until I get the outcome that’s in the tutorial in question (one of the reasons poor tutorials annoy me). What I do then is start looking for patterns, and it’s then I get the opportunity to start experimenting. I was always a huge tutorial buff when I first started Blender, and my own projects were quite rare, but with the skills I feel I’ve mastered as a result, I feel limitless. I’ve looked at other people’s tutorials, followed through them successfully, tried to understand why the outcome is as such, followed more tutorials, notice the patterns, and then I feel competent and ready to experiment. Looking back, I didn’t even know what I was doing when it came to extruding four vertices. After you’ve added a plane 10 times, subdivided it, and extruded four vertices 7 times, it becomes a lot more apparent as an example.
I think it comes down to my need for maintaining control. If I experiment when I’m learning, I’ll end up clueless and won’t know what I’ve gone and done. If I follow a tutorial however, the end-result is predictable and replicatable. If I can understand how to make ten end-results, I can combine the techniques then and makes thousands of them. It’s at this point where I can start leaving the tutorials to one side and only get them up when I can’t get my head around specific things. When a mini project crosses my mind nowadays, I get a guide in my mind about how to best do things, and that’s a sign I’ve left the main introductory learning curve.
I do agree, however, that it does reach a stage where you should put the tutorials aside for a moment and have a go at implementing and having a go at a project based upon what you’ve already learned. I can remember feeling stumped when I tried modelling when I first started, and that prompted me to pickup a book again. It’s learning, learning equals knowledge, and knowledge equals power. Power to use the art-form effectively, and eventually create amazing work (which is a goal I’m still aiming towards).
One of my ‘fears’ if you like by slightly deviating from tutorials when I don’t know what I’m doing is that the minor modification I’ve made will require a huge change later on down the line (butterfly effect if you will). For very basic tutorials, the effect is minimised of course and I feel a lot more confident with a bit of experimenting as I go along. If the tutorial is a bit more complicated however, the need for a predictable outcome (which is in the tutorial’s end) starts taking priority and I would feel lost without the guidance to ‘correct’ the issue down the line thus forcing me to start over (and it has happened when I’ve tried this method in the past).
My ‘method’ if you like, is probably a lot slower and much more cumbersome than a lot of people would like I think, and it certainly isn’t for everyone. I’ve often found myself concentrating on one element for a time, then try my hand at something else. It’s amazing how everything comes together! However, I just didn’t think it was as black & white and clearcut as the quoted text above implied.