new to blender but with goals... Help me out

Support Modeling
#1

Hello blenders;

Admin im sorry if im not at the right section feel free to act… :slight_smile:

I know this question have been asked many times, YOUR PATIENCE IS APPRECIATED.
I did Post this question at Blender.org but it was before i see this community…

Im just starting Blender again and im trying to achieve view skills in blender.

I want to be able to model a low poly objects for games mainly characters, Im more into programming and software engineering, 3D modelling and animation i have learn using 3d Studio max 8 (Basics modeling and animation) in university class.

Issues i have faced with BLENDER(My Thoughts).

  • -I have come across several or hundreds of tutorials online and few books. I have noticed the version 2.65 is some how different from the previous versions. THE ISSUE HERE IS THAT BLENDER INTERFACE IS REALLY DIFFICULT AND CONFUSING.
  • -I have few friends who are an artists almost all of them agree that each artist or modeller has his on way. therefor; FOLLOWING MANY TUTORIALS FROM DIFFERENT BLENDERS SOMEHOW CONFUSE YOU especially if you are a beginner.
  • -Learning curve for BLENDER is very stiff…!?
  • -Going this website and that website ended me learning things i dont need at the time been and difficult to master.
  • Just to be clear I LOVE BLENDER i just have hard time learning it.
  • -I want to be able to model lowpoly characters. Not a complex accurate creatures.
  • -Most of what i want to do in materials is Toon style textures not Big Buck Bunny.
  • -When it comes to animation is as simple as basic character movements with out been as realistic as human been. well not yat.

I have learn that everything guess through a process and the process of learning a 3D software are these:

    • Theories of 3D space.
    • Modelling
    • basic lighting
    • Materials
    • Advance Lighting
    • Animation
    • Rendering

I have made this post to long sorry for that but i need a GUIDE FROM THE GURUS her on how to achieve what i need at the time been and how to achieve it fast.

I can allocate 6 hours a week 2 hours each time i can sit in front of Blender. More then this at the time been is difficult because i have other things to do.

I need an advises and links for the good tutorials online that can benefit me in achieving my set of goals using BLENDER 2.65. but please be clear on what the benefits of the link you submit.

ITS MY FIRST POST AND I HOPE ITS NOT THE LAST.

THANK YOU

#2

Hey, First of all. Be patient. Learning 3D basics is in itself a very time consuming process. And so is learning any 3D software. Every software has its own ways of approaching a thing, and creating what you want to create. So the important part is actually being clear what you want to achieve and to what level. And then learning the ways the software works and thinks!!..YES, every software has its own way of thinking. So the first part of learning a software is actually getting synched with the software.

And talking about Blender in particular, its way of thinking is very different. So its natural if you are having some hard time learning it. And considering that you have some experience in 3ds max, it’ll take quite a time to learn blender, bcoz you’ll need to unlearn the ways max approaches things and learn the ways of blender, which accounts for the extra time you’d have to invest. So, I’ll advice you to first have a good understanding of blender interface, and how it works, and most importantly how it lets you work. Dont let the interface scare you, coz behind its complexity is a very efficient design. For learning the interface basics, I’d suggest investing in some books that’ll help you get a nice start. See the following links…

a very good book to begin with.

This book is also very beginner friendly in its approach.

If you learn more by working than reading, than this book will be handy.

A very good book, as it has very good contextual screenshots along with texts, so if you want to have a visual cue as to what you are learning, go for it. And you can certainly look into the Blender online wiki for references, and though there are few things that are not updated, you will find many things that you wont find any of those books!

And If you are not into books( but I highly recommend them ), there are wealth of quality video tutorials, and I should say If you really want to have an up to date knowledge go for the Video tutorials. For videos I suggest you just two sites, for now, that wouldnt get you much confused. They are BlenderCookie and BlendeGuru. In Blendercookie look for the introduction to blender series, you wont find anything better than that elsewhere.

And Obviously go through the books, though they are not for the latest blender version, most of them are for above 2.6 series and so very good to go. And If you just like to get the overall feel of how the blender works, without going deeper into it, check the following link, and look for the playlist, Blender 2.6 Tutorials for new users.

Have fun!

#3

Know your pain and I’m still going through it, but in the few months I’ve been using this software here are some of the better materials I’ve either found or had someone point me to. Blender apparently changed it’s interface at version 2.5 so any tutorials using 2.49 or before are summarily confusing to my limited knowledge of blender though many of the concepts have not changed. The biggest problem I find is that since this is open source there are 1000’s of tutorials out there, some very well meaning, but not everyone can teach just because they have a youtube account and screen cap software.
2nd, Blender is complex, it’s vast, it’s powerful, it can’t easily be compared to another piece of software that you learned in an afternoon, or a week, or a month. the learning curve is very steep and it’s not necessary a journey that has a destination, except for what you keep learning on the way.

Texture, Mapping and Materials in Blender
and
3D Modeling 1: Blender 2.5

are available from iTunes U which is a service from the iTunes software, all of this is free.

this is a Blender course from Tufts University, they use 2.6 throughout, all the resources are available from this site.
http://gryllus.net/Blender/3D.html
It’s taught by a teacher, as I said before this makes a huge difference.

http://library.creativecow.net/articles/ciccone_paolo/blender-survival-guide-1/video-tutorial
Paolo is a great instructor despite the fact he’s a programmer and they usually make the worst instructors.
These videos use the older interface but I think he changes once the new one became available.


Ira Krakow is another great teacher and knows how to guide a new user and explain stuff.

#4

I’m still learning myself and I’ve been at it on and off for three years. I would also recommend getting a book as the teaching will be more consistent. A great free PDF download is the Blender Basics one, link provided below.

http://www.cdschools.org/Page/455

Just stick with it, the way Blender works does in fact make sense the more you use it. That said it could still use a little more polish, but it improves every day.

#5

3D Modeling 1: Blender 2.5

are available from iTunes U which is a service from the iTunes software, all of this is free.
Note that Jason normally uses the Maya so he changes blender to use the Maya shortcut settings, I’d recommend using the blender defaults so when watching/reading other tutorials it all makes sense. I don’t know if he thinks in terms of Maya but when I’ve seen some of his tutorials on YT (possibly these same ones), some of the ways he does things have been really long winded and he could do the same thing much simpler.

In addition to the links above there are many blender tutorials at cgcookie (link to getting started at top of this forum)

#6

Thank you very much… Im correcting my 3D path with your advices. thx

#7

Daulat thanks for the link

i think i will start with this


and definitely the youtube channel

Strat the link
http://gryllus.net/Blender/3D.html
definitely seems very interesting to start with

Richard CGCookies definitely in the list…

Thanks Blenders…