I was wondering lately, how good am I in Blender compared to other users? I don’t know how I would figure it out, but I decided that maybe some sort of benchmark, much like a Blender IQ test of some sort might help answer the qeustion. I hope no one would be offended by this as the thread progresses, but I just would like to try out a Blender test or Blender quiz. Could someone devolope such a thing? Thank you in advance!
Does anyone want to reply? I like replies, : ).
A quiz isnt going to help you or tell anybody how good you are.
Post your stuff in Focused Critique and ask what people think. If you want to find out without showing your work to the world or risking having your feeling hurt, go through other peoples stuff and compare it to your own.
how many times you get something in a blender gallery might be a good ‘benchmark’
Well from a devils advocate’s point of view - is there a quiz ? Even though a quiz serves no purpose because a quiz isn’t there, we should have one. Questions could range from when blender was incepted to advanced questions like “what the “F12” key does ?” Maybe you are on to a good thing ?
Oh another advanced question - What month did "yellowlambo sign on ? for 20 points
look at the works in progress and finished works threads. you dont have to compare yourself to the gallery. me i can model a hell of a cube. i can even put a uv texture on it if that makes you feel better. you would beat me. i need to find the time to actually learn blender.
Not necessarily. Being in the gallery shows that a lot of people like the quality of your work. It is not a good judge of skill though. If anyone tries hard enough, they can come up with something gallery worthy. It doesn’t tell where you are at, but where you are not at.
The only real way to know where you are at now is to know where you want to go in the future. All you can show us is where you’ve been, we can’t give a good benchmark without knowing where it is you intended to go.
I know this one :
july july !!
in fact I don’t think that question is really dumb…
in high school you may have test to know how is your knoweledge and capability… that’s not stupid to have something …
something like a school test coold be great to know is you know enought to have your skill ability revelated to yourself … (that’s not the point of competition but only competition against yourself, to have a “level”)
a skill test could be :
1 ) model a banana with mesh tool within 10 minutes
2) UV map this given stuff has clean as possible in 50 minutes
3) animation : creat a simple bouncing ball in a single 2d viewport
4) how many chicken wings can you eat in 10 minute without barf…
it need to be must more develloped but a classic test of this kind with several level and time can give people a gradution evaluation of there level… being in the “gallery” his not representative of people level…
in judo, in the early time you only have white and black belt… they put intermediate color to give people a guideline of there level, can be usefull…
pulstulax : black-belted in lazyness.
i agree.
being one of the guys that put things into gallery here, i try to always be the “second opinion”, as i don’t necessarily agree with everything there.
most important thing is to feel good about your own work. if you think you have found your way, and you are producing art that you can look and stand behind with, then you are on a right path. it really doesn’t have anything to do with technical skills.
also, if you are unsure, best is to find comments outside the community… people that just looks at things, not judging the software and way you created it, but just the pure outcome.
.b
Lol… benchmark… wahaha. sometimes you really amaze me yellow…
however, skill and knowledge its always subjective and relative.
Apply for BFCT, if you get it then you are good in the eyes of the BF ^^
Apply for a job, if you get it, you are good in the eyes of the company
Post in FC or WIP subforum and you see if you are good in the eyes of other users.
Still you might get bells&whistles in FC&WIP, but then you lack knowledge in rigging which is exactly what you need for a job you don´t get then…
I like to test ppl´s ability to visualize complex 3d models and break down objects to basic shapes… another nice test is:
Model a dodecahedron starting with a plane not adding anymore meshes… just subD, bevel, extrude… whatever… sounds easy… it is if you got geometrical knowledge.
Or create renderings with minor errors in lighting or shadowdirection… like. make 2 render one scene with correct lighting and shadow, another scene with other geometry where the shadows don´t match the light and let the applicant tell if something smells fishy and if so what… but always depends on what you need. You will not ask someone you need to create complex rigs to be a wiz in lighting setups ^^
You can be a generalist, but you can´t master all categories of CG.
My opinion.
I agree with ropsta. You needn’t measure yourself against others. You can break 3d graphics down into some basic categories, and give yourself an honest critique of how far along you think you are in each one. I won’t try to name all the categories, but in my case I’d say I’m very good at texturing, and creating textures, very bad at animating, lower end of average in the GE, average to very good at modeling non-organics, like furniture or buildings, terrible at organics - people etc. And on and on. A self assesment is a good thing. You can then compare it to your goals to see where you are along the road. You can’t master it all, but you can master a few categories, and work with masters of other categories to conquer the world…uh…achieve your goals…
I just would like to try out a Blender test or Blender quiz
Here ya go:
moodle seems to be a great platform for such tests.
You can cling to the romantic notion that nobody measures themselves against others or except the sad truth that we do. some of the best art in the world has been produced in some in an attempt to outdo someone. Picasso and I think Matisse(Not sure on the name) had one of the best known artistic rivalries if neither man had the other to works to measure against just how good would they have been.
You want quizzed?
What keystroke do you use to center the 3D cursor? Eh?
It’s just as possible to have a high level of ‘technical’ skill and create boring work as it is to have a low/improving level of skill and create really interesting work.
Doesn’t really answer the benchmark question, but it’s food for thought.
However, something I’ve tried from time to time is pick ‘industry level’ characters like Davy Jones and General Grevious and see how close I get by having a good hard crack at them. I know when I start that I wont match a legion of experienced pro’s on my own, but I usually bump up my skill a bit in the process. Then I call it a day when I’m as close as I’ll get and move back to my own projects.
Not that blockbusters are necessarily a benchmark for art, but there is usually a lot of technical skill flying around to soak in.
…it’s harder to “originate” Davy Jones or General Grievous than it is to copy them, even if an army of developers was needed originally… an individual can reach similar results if motivated enough.
there’s technical skill which an awful lot of people are acquiring, the information is freely available on the internet, through training dvds etc and is creative in a problem solving/resource management type of way…
this is also very easy to quantify, to test, to have formal qualifications in…
then there’s the skill of originating developing and nurturing ideas and working them until they communicate with an audience and capture their imagination… Hard!
there are techniques for that that can be learned. Processes that help turn ok ideas into better ones, an element of being in the right place at the right time, an eye for what’ll work and an instinct that “you’re right about this” that convinces others…
most don’t even attempt that, even in film and games… just look at the slew of “bandwagon” jumping and “me too” titles…
I’d say that the best ideas can transcend all media, it wouldn’t matter if it was a painting, a book, a film a boardgame, a video game…a range of toys…
James Bond, Harry Potter, LOTR, Star Trek, Star Wars, the Matrix…
…creating something like that…That’s talent I’d like to compare ,myself too… I don’t mean “working on” either, I mean “originating that”
maybe someday, but not yet.
when I rant like this it usually kills threads dead…
Intresting comments there michael. I have to agree with what you say technical skills are easy to quantify and test. So than the question to ask was the orignal post about technical skills or the harder to quantify artistic skills
Michael W - for the record I agree with all of that. Doing those characters was decidedly a technical skill booster. As for artistic skill, thats a whole different ballgame like you said. Different methods to improve and such.
As everyone has different tastes, I’m not sure if creativity can be ‘quantified’ except perhaps as individuals we sort of know when something we tried was more creative than something else we did earlier. Having spent 3 years at a generally ‘theory over skills’ art school, I know where this line of thought can end up so I’ll leave it there.
Anyone still up for writing a Blender IQ quiz? 
http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?t=132473 - if people missed it, Popski started a little hints type thread. Fairly related I guess.