What's your problem, man?

[Xraygunner]

@BTolputt

Seriously - it’s lack of time. I’m a father of four, full-time developer, happily married (which takes time), and have friends that keep me sane (by actively helping me take time off work).

Wow! Four?.. I’m struggling with our two, and I’m not a dev, but busy with work as well… and yes, it does take a load of time for the happy marriage! Tips hat

[SterlingRoth]

@Arnywar

Internet has all you need. As a guy who`s about finish university if I could go back in time I would much rather spend my money and time on books, online courses and subscription for sites like CGCookie. While the networking there was worthwhile, the actual knowledge was bearbones, most of the stuff I had to figure out myself by trial and error.

EDIT: Keep going foward - keep learning, keep watching tutorials, model every day, study the basics of the trade like color theory, composition, lighting, topology. Internet has it all for a fraction of what university costs and a lot of it`s free.

+1000

Going to college isn’t the only way to get an education, but it is the most expensive! In the real world, nobody who is going to be paying you for your services is going to care how you learned to do it. Nobody ever asks to see my diploma before hiring me to do some rendering for them. All they want to see is a quality portfolio.

Now, college can be good at forcing you to get things done, but how much is external self control worth?

[Ray_Tungsteen]

Pick up a paintbrush and train yourself to become a master painter. It’s the only way you’ll create fine art of lasting value, which, given you seem to be an amateur not depending on the activity for money, is what you should be aiming for.

The idea that fine art can be created in 3D is a grand delusion. The physical paintbrush stroke can be tolerated by the viewer for centuries, but the tyrannical surface of 3D barely lasts a decade before we see past it, to its true nature as a synthetic, soulless, digital means to a fake end. 3D is for commercial art, for production, but only fools would think it’s for the love of art. The longer you work at it, the clearer its reality becomes.

Yes, you can succeed in creating a picture that seems like a real artwork, but the illusion will be resolution dependent. Zoom too closely and the object unravels. You can’t say that about a great oil painting or any other piece of fine art.

[SterlingRoth]

@Ray Tungsteen

Pick up a paintbrush and train yourself to become a master painter. It’s the only way you’ll create fine art of lasting value, which, given you seem to be an amateur not depending on the activity for money, is what you should be aiming for.

The idea that fine art can be created in 3D is a grand delusion. The physical paintbrush stroke can be tolerated by the viewer for centuries, but the tyrannical surface of 3D barely lasts a decade before we see past it, to its true nature as a synthetic, soulless, digital means to a fake end. 3D is for commercial art, for production, but only fools would think it’s for the love of art. The longer you work at it, the clearer its reality becomes.

Yes, you can succeed in creating a picture that seems like a real artwork, but the illusion will be resolution dependent. Zoom too closely and the object unravels. You can’t say that about a great oil painting or any other piece of fine art.

I know, right? Same with photography, bunch of new-fangled gizmos…

[Arnywar]

@@Ray_Tungsteen Your definition of art seems to be very narrow by today`s standards.

[BluePrintRandom]

My current problem, lack of enthusiasm + 95F temps at 9:00 at night

My computer and I just can’t take it, and my midget has the energy of a thousand suns.

I have the talent, and the code even, but I am melting!

my game is only a few steps from playable, but my brain is melting out of my ear and mixing with the sweat.

[PhysicsGuy]

@Arnywar

Internet has all you need. As a guy who`s about finish university if I could go back in time I would much rather spend my money and time on books, online courses and subscription for sites like CGCookie.

I don’t know if I agree with that. I learned a lot on the internet, about using blender, coding in python, programming arm cpu, etc., but in all these things I am not a professional. By training and profession I am an experimental physicist and I can tell you that you cannot learn that on the internet. You have to be trained. Isn’t it the same with 3d work? Can you truly become as good as someome who has had formal training? This is not a rhetorical question. I am really wondering. When you learned everything you know about doing 3d by doing cg cookie tutorials, can you get beyond doing some freelance work?

[PhysicsGuy]

@Ray Tungsteen

Pick up a paintbrush and train yourself to become a master painter. It’s the only way you’ll create fine art of lasting value, which, given you seem to be an amateur not depending on the activity for money, is what you should be aiming for.

The idea that fine art can be created in 3D is a grand delusion. The physical paintbrush stroke can be tolerated by the viewer for centuries, but the tyrannical surface of 3D barely lasts a decade before we see past it, to its true nature as a synthetic, soulless, digital means to a fake end. 3D is for commercial art, for production, but only fools would think it’s for the love of art. The longer you work at it, the clearer its reality becomes.

Yes, you can succeed in creating a picture that seems like a real artwork, but the illusion will be resolution dependent. Zoom too closely and the object unravels. You can’t say that about a great oil painting or any other piece of fine art.

I like oil paintings as much as the next guy, but your example of zooming is quite bad. If I zoom into an oil painting, and all I see is just one color.
I personally think art can be made in any medium, whether it is paint, sculpting, photography and yes, using a computer. Are there a lot of people making 3d art that doesn’t live up to scrutiny? Yes. But there are also plenty of Bob Ross followers who paint happy trees. Is that suddenly art because it was made using oil paint?

[PhysicsGuy]

@BluePrintRandom

My current problem, lack of enthusiasm + 95F temps at 9:00 at night

My computer and I just can’t take it, and my midget has the energy of a thousand suns.

I have the talent, and the code even, but I am melting!

my game is only a few steps from playable, but my brain is melting out of my ear and mixing with the sweat.

35 degrees C here, but then again I’m on holiday. I did fix a washing machine today. That’s not work you want to do in this weather either.

[BluePrintRandom]

@PhysicsGuy

I don’t know if I agree with that. I learned a lot on the internet, about using blender, coding in python, programming arm cpu, etc., but in all these things I am not a professional. By training and profession I am an experimental physicist and I can tell you that you cannot learn that on the internet. You have to be trained. Isn’t it the same with 3d work? Can you truly become as good as someome who has had formal training? This is not a rhetorical question. I am really wondering. When you learned everything you know about doing 3d by doing cg cookie tutorials, can you get beyond doing some freelance work?

yes… there are plenty of “Rouge” physicist who are self taught…

Some make bombs, Some make vegitible gardens, some are trying to fix what others don’t see as broken, (

• Jacque Fresco
  Futurist)

[SterlingRoth]

@PhysicsGuy

I don’t know if I agree with that. I learned a lot on the internet, about using blender, coding in python, programming arm cpu, etc., but in all these things I am not a professional. By training and profession I am an experimental physicist and I can tell you that you cannot learn that on the internet. You have to be trained. Isn’t it the same with 3d work? Can you truly become as good as someome who has had formal training? This is not a rhetorical question. I am really wondering. When you learned everything you know about doing 3d by doing cg cookie tutorials, can you get beyond doing some freelance work?

I think it’s much more possible to teach yourself an art than it is to teach yourself a science. There are plenty of examples of very successful self-taught artists throughout history, but much fewer self-taught hard scientists.

[Arnywar]

@PhysicsGuy

I don’t know if I agree with that. I learned a lot on the internet, about using blender, coding in python, programming arm cpu, etc., but in all these things I am not a professional. By training and profession I am an experimental physicist and I can tell you that you cannot learn that on the internet. You have to be trained. Isn’t it the same with 3d work? Can you truly become as good as someome who has had formal training? This is not a rhetorical question. I am really wondering. When you learned everything you know about doing 3d by doing cg cookie tutorials, can you get beyond doing some freelance work?

While I wont pretend to know how the science education and professional life systems work I do think my argument still stands purely due to the fact that 3D is a digital medium that has a wide range of accessable tools that can be run on anything from a tablet to high end worstation. Most of these tools are very well documented, if documentation is not sufficient there are forums like blenderartists.org or tutorial sites like cgcookie.com or support for comercial products. The barrier for entry is next to nonexistent, when you open Blender you have all the tools needed to create world class 3D art. Information on every single one of 3D art techniques is available on the internet if not for free then for a reasonable cost. There are numerous online workshops available at any given time taught by world class professionals with whom you get to directly interact and get feedback from.

All these things cannot be said about sciences. The tools of trade are really expensive. While you can make world class 3D art from your bedroom, you cannot do the same with high end science experiments. So, yes, if you want to be a professional scientist, you need university but for 3D art you really don`t unless one of the job requirements is to have a piece of paper given by university but that most of the time is overlooked if your portfolio is good enough.

EDIT: Take note that a lot of CG veterans today ar self taught as at the time there weren`t any universities around for 3D.

[xrg]

@PhysicsGuy

I don’t know if I agree with that. I learned a lot on the internet, about using blender, coding in python, programming arm cpu, etc., but in all these things I am not a professional. By training and profession I am an experimental physicist and I can tell you that you cannot learn that on the internet. You have to be trained. Isn’t it the same with 3d work? Can you truly become as good as someome who has had formal training? This is not a rhetorical question. I am really wondering. When you learned everything you know about doing 3d by doing cg cookie tutorials, can you get beyond doing some freelance work?

Art works similar to something like lifting weights. If you’re motivated you can do it on your own, but an instructor can help keep it more structured and kind of force you to put in the time. Something like CtrlPaint has a pretty good general grounding for what you need to focus on to get good at art, though it’s mostly a 2D focus.

You can get pretty far on about any skill these days with the various educational sites popping up. Coursera, edX, Udacity, Khan Academy, Duolingo, etc. I do a ton of them as a side hobby.

[BluePrintRandom]

Anyone can help anyone learn anything that they know,

Schools are buildings where people trap thoughts.

People teach, people learn. People can research, reverse engineer, or even just understand enough fundamentals to do ANYTHING.

Don’t be afraid of the problem, avoid fear.

fear is the root to the dark side…

[Arnywar]

The jedi speaks the truth!

[ohsnapitsjoel]

I’m also burning the candle at both ends, like some of you. I have two kids under the age of four, happily married to a doctor in residency, and committed to building and keeping friendships. My most productive time for doing anything is late at night when everyone else is asleep, so of course I’m NOT sleeping when everyone else is ( = I’m often tired, and I drink a lot of coffee). Trying to troubleshoot addons or nail down what you’re trying to “say” with your art is hard (or even flies right out the window completely) when it’s really late at night or you’re operating on only a little sleep.

[Craig_Jones]

Yeah, burning it at both ends… my problem is life gets in the way of life lol! I do everything I can, yet have to acknowledge that art for art’s sake is really not possible very often, and it really is necessary to draw a line at helping others instead of focusing on my own needs.

Art is art - whether 3d or 2d cg, electronic or print, 3d or 2d physical mediums, or even music and dance, it is still art. I would even add that the code we use in Blender is an art form in its generation and form.

Day job, Theory Animation, personal projects, personal studies, fiance and four kids, big family… but wouldn’t change it for the world, it all keeps me sane.

[Ace_Dragon]

@Ray Tungsteen

Pick up a paintbrush and train yourself to become a master painter. It’s the only way you’ll create fine art of lasting value, which, given you seem to be an amateur not depending on the activity for money, is what you should be aiming for.

The idea that fine art can be created in 3D is a grand delusion. The physical paintbrush stroke can be tolerated by the viewer for centuries, but the tyrannical surface of 3D barely lasts a decade before we see past it, to its true nature as a synthetic, soulless, digital means to a fake end. 3D is for commercial art, for production, but only fools would think it’s for the love of art. The longer you work at it, the clearer its reality becomes.

Yes, you can succeed in creating a picture that seems like a real artwork, but the illusion will be resolution dependent. Zoom too closely and the object unravels. You can’t say that about a great oil painting or any other piece of fine art.

Is there a reason you still use Blender then? Sounds like you’d rather be away from all of the 3D stuff and instead buy some big canvases to paint on.

BPR; Do you not have air conditioning at your place or are you outside all the time, most areas that get up to 95 degrees should at least have a basic window AC unit? As for me, I don’t have any children that are in need of rearing, but last year we adopted a new 1-year-old beagle who can be quite a handful (though the chances of me having to break from my Blender session to get back something he runs off with or clean up a mess he makes has gone down).

I also can be unmotivated at times as well, perhaps I need to start getting out of my parent’s house more (which is something I might do in the near future as there might be an opportunity to get a part-time job at a new business run by a neighbor and a good friend)

[BluePrintRandom]

@ohsnapitsjoel

I’m also burning the candle at both ends, like some of you. I have two kids under the age of four, happily married to a doctor in residency, and committed to building and keeping friendships. My most productive time for doing anything is late at night when everyone else is asleep, so of course I’m NOT sleeping when everyone else is ( = I’m often tired, and I drink a lot of coffee). Trying to troubleshoot addons or nail down what you’re trying to “say” with your art is hard (or even flies right out the window completely) when it’s really late at night or you’re operating on only a little sleep.

I also live on coffee…

I think anything you enjoy/hate/love/(insert), that is expressed through creativity is art,

This is random shapes, and edge highlights, there was no plan.
I like it, therefore it is art to me.

[tyrant_monkey]

@Ray Tungsteen

Pick up a paintbrush and train yourself to become a master painter. It’s the only way you’ll create fine art of lasting value, which, given you seem to be an amateur not depending on the activity for money, is what you should be aiming for.

The idea that fine art can be created in 3D is a grand delusion. The physical paintbrush stroke can be tolerated by the viewer for centuries, but the tyrannical surface of 3D barely lasts a decade before we see past it, to its true nature as a synthetic, soulless, digital means to a fake end. 3D is for commercial art, for production, but only fools would think it’s for the love of art. The longer you work at it, the clearer its reality becomes.

Yes, you can succeed in creating a picture that seems like a real artwork, but the illusion will be resolution dependent. Zoom too closely and the object unravels. You can’t say that about a great oil painting or any other piece of fine art.

I take it you are having a tough time with Blender.