Hi All. I find myself with some disposable income that I feel like spending on Blender 2.5 training / reference. I’m leaning towards either the Sintel DVDs or Andrew Price’s The Wow Factor. Of course I could be convinced to try a third option. Any suggestions?
For what it’s worth, I plunked for The Wow Factor and it helped me immensely. Price explains not only how to do things but why to do them. The instructions for each effect are covered comprehensively and easy to follow.The extras that came with the package (Including a description of what each node does) were worth the cost (To me anyway) by themselves.
It would be of little use to someone brand new to Blender but, your join date of 2002 suggests that you don’t fall into that category.
that is the thing that separtes andrew from the crowd, he teaches you what something means instead of just how to do it.
but it would be nice to support blender foundation…
Both of them
Buy both. Money is only a number.
I’ve bought both and learned a lot from both. I tend to go back to Wow Factor more for reference, whereas Sintel DVDs I watched once and learned stuff, but rarely go back to. That said, it also matters what you intend to do. If the goal is animation/rigging/modeling then Sintel DVD is better. If you want to only know compositing, then Wow Factor is the way to go.
I can’t compare the products so I’ll just say
Sintel -> money goes to blender institute and future movie projects and by that blender development
Andrew -> money goes to him, supporting an important voice for blender
Thanks for the advice, all. I’m leaning towards the Sintel DVDs at the moment. (The whole Blender Foundation guilt thing is compelling.)
How are the tutorials on the Sintel discs?
I know what you mean about Mr. Price. He does good stuff.
No third alternatives?
All the .Blends on the Sintel DVDs are just awesome! I’d first go with Sintel!
The Wow Factor. Of course, Sintel is nice, but you shouldn’t feel guilt-tripped into buying it. This is just a personal opinion, though; as others have said it depends on whether you want to learn compositing or animation.
BTW, I didn’t get Big Buck Bunny, so my only experience was with Elephant’s Dream. Quite frankly I couldn’t follow it. Is there any better guidance on Sintel? Or would I just need to try harder?
Although I don’t have either, I think the Blenderella one looks pretty good, and the Blend & Paint looks sweet.
Interesting discussion, Blender Community. Or should I say—Andrew Price’s multiple alt throwaway accounts!?!?!?!?!?!?
Sure, you’ve got a legit post count. That’s what they all say. :RocknRoll:
Ha! Well, at the moment I’m leaning towards Sintel. (Wow factor won’t teach me anything about modeling landscapes.) So I guess Price’s throwaway account has gone “native”.
hmm, have you considered the cgmasters.net offers?
Chris Plush(of Yo Frankie! fame) instructs the Environment Modeling and Texturing DVD.
Whilst I’m not sure as to the coverage of landscapes,
it does seem to be packed with knowledge of environmental art.