My first post!Need help

Artwork Finished Projects
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Hallo everyone,

I’m really happy hat i’ve access to take part in community like this one.I’m new in Blender and as you can see this is my first comment post in the forum.
So I’ll post some info about me, who don’t want to read this just skip it.I’m from a small country in Europe called Bulgaria, but here there are a lot of talented peoples.I’ve met one and than I understood how impressive 3D is.I’ve tried some programs and then i’ve found Blender.It was free and there were a lot of users, but i don’t have enough time to learn it.I’m 16 and I’m a student, but now in my summer vacation I would learn some basics and then practise a lot and maybe someday I’ll be good as you in the forum and I’ll can post responds to other guys like me at the moment.This was it.Oh I just forget my name is Harry(like Harry Poter).
The first thing that I want to ask is about my computer.I don’t really know, where I can post a question like this so sorry, if i’ve made a mistake.My computer rig is:
MB:GA-M61SME-S2(It’s cool,but don’t have enough memory slots)
CPU:AMD Sempron 3200 1,8GHz Single core:no:
RAM:2,5GB Kingston 800MHz
GPU:Nvidia 8600GT 256 GDDR3(If I go SLI for PhysX ?help)
HDD:160GB 5200rpm(it can’t help me)
OS:Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit(I’ll keep it)
So I’ve read what kind of configuration I’ll need.A good GPU for the viewport to run smoothly on big projects with solid shading.(hope someday make a short movie, but for now I’ll wait).A lot of RAM and a good CPU for the rendering part.I don’t really play games so I think Nvidia GTS250 1GB will be good, becaude it has CUDA, OpenGL and support for PhysX, but I’ll hear your recommendations.For RAM I think 6 or 4GB will be good for now, but I don’t know really what’s better DDR2 or DDR3(ofcourse DDR3 is better:D), but did it make sense.Quantity or quality?And at least for the CPU and the Motherboard.I like Intel and manytimes my opinion improves about this dilema:D.The new i3 530 is cool but it requires DDR3 memory.Or I’ll get core 2 duo or quad if I’ve enough money.Because I don’t really have enough and in my country computer parts are really expensive.If I must I’ll buy myself a AMD(This is an option too).And the motherboard will be maybe Gigabyte or something else.I’ll hear your advise.
For an hour or more(I don’t really know) I’ve done a project not so futurerealistic like yours and maybe you can help me with it too.The final image is below.I’ve done it fully in Blender without using any photoediting programs.
My last question is(really apologize for all of the unuseful information) where can learn Blender.I’ve found blenderguru and blendercookie and now I think Andrew Price, Jonathan Williamson and the other ones who post videos on these sites for awesome.Maybe I’ll buy a book from Blender e-store when there is one for Blender 2.5.And ofcourse I’ll rely of your help.
Thank you,if you have read this or at least the half of it!

Harry

PS:And oner last thing, how can I make money with this program.I’ve heard about freelancing and making video.But at most I’ll like if I can sell models or short animations.Can I really make money?Or I need to use a commercial software?

Attachments

canDoF.jpg1024×640 24.9 KB

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Start with this page for some ideas on making money. It’s not about what program you use it’s about whether the art you create is what someone else likes and is willing to buy.

As for your new computer - the best thing is to start with a budget and get the best config that you can put together. Don’t think that you need to top of the range for everything, the second or third best is often a lot cheaper than the best and still close in performance. You’ll find that amd will be much cheaper for similar performance than intel. A slightly cheaper cpu means you can get more ram which will help more than a small increase in cpu speed.

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Thank you for the help.But can someone help me with my project.What I need to tweak?

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Fiirst of all, Never start your posts with the word “First”. Second of all, your pic looks good at first glance, but i noticed the peas are in a sort of grid. It looks unrealistic. Also, it could be the background, but i think your cans are too shiny. A label on them would help a lot. maybe even some scratches. You used the defocus node just a tiny bit too much (yes, I know it’s a close up, but still too much blur). When i look even more, i see that your peas look dry. Try using a voronoi texture as a normal map to make them look bumpy, and add some specularity and hardness to them. Remember, I PICKED APART YOUR ART AS MUCH AS I COULD, so don’t get discouraged. With a few improvements it should be good…

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Thanks a lot for your help and I’ll keep in mind all of that you’ve said to me.

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good luck!

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Computer stuff: I jumped up from an 8600 gt to a gts250 actually. Not because I needed to upgrade, my old card just stopped working. I didn’t notice a big difference in the speed of the view port except when viewing in ‘textured open-gl’ mode (which I only do rarely anyway). For even high-res models the standard blender view port shading is actually pretty easy on the graphics card. My biggest bottleneck is cpu speed. I only have 4 gigs of ram, but I’ve never maxed it out with blender alone. So my reccomendation is save yourself from buying an extra 2-4 gigs of ram and spend it on a better cpu.

You render - other than what barrasn said I might add an environment map for your cans to have something real to reflect other than white space. You can composite it out later if you still want the “infinite white plane” look. But having something real shining in the cans reflection could go a long way to getting it to look more real.

Only other thing I would do is add some thickness to the can lid. It looks right now like an infinitely flat plane. Use the new ‘solidify’ modifier in 2.5. That modifier is a my new favourite.

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turquoiserabbit =I might add an environment map for your cans to have something real to reflect other than white space.

I totally agree with you, but it would save render time and work if you just add a texture to the cans, map it to reflection, and turn down the color value. It will still give you great results.