5 replies to this topic

[NateP]

Hi again everyone. I am looking for a good 3D modelling program that is somewhat easy to learn for newbies like me. I currently have a friend's copy of blender 3D but it has no manual with it and I have been getting very frusterated trying to figure things out on my own. Just my luck my friend also has no idea how to use it. lol

My goal here is to be able to create some 3D models of fictional space craft for a 2D game. I know... why would I need a 3D model for a 2D game? Well the idea here is to take still images of my 3D model with textures and lighting to be used as static images of the various types of spacecraft that will be in the game. The actual space craft in the game will be simple 2D sprites but I wanted to give the game's players the ability to see what the ship looks like close up. A nice 3D rendered picture would be ideal and make my old 2D game look more modern and polished.

Can someone here please direct me to 1) a good and easy 3D modeling and rendering application and 2) a good tutorial site to help me on my way.
I am aware that 3D modelling isn't exactly something that one can learn just overnight or with a single tutorial but I was hoping that someone here who has already gone through the learning proccess could save me some time and some head aches.

[kikapoo]

Hey, glad to see you starting out in the 3D hobby.

I'm in no way a professional but I'll tell you what I've learnt so far from my own experiences.
I see that you've started out on Blender3D and I agree with you, it is definitely a intimidating program to pick up at first since the available resources in terms of tutorials and guides are not so much saturated than ones like Autodesk Maya and Autodesk 3Ds max.

I myself am using Maya, with school being the biggest influence but it cost a bomb. If you're really into it though, there are student licenses available and it costs much more reasonable and can be purchased just with a student password / matriculation number.

Blender however IMHO will be the upcoming force of the 3D industry, due to the fact that it's free of course and there are feature sets that are not even readily tested and available in expensive 3D packages. I'm currently picking up blender too and it was a tough process for me initially mainly due to the fact that Blender's interface are "Sky and Ground" apart from Maya's and having used Maya for a couple of years, getting thrown into the ever changing Blender interface was daunting to say the least.

To answer your question, Youtube might be a good way to look for blender tutorials and since it is a free software, people are more willing to devote sometime to share their knowledge and I myself have come across some tutorials about Blender and it did help me get a step ahead in blender.

I hope I'm not droning too much and hope that I'm pointing you towards the right direction. Always remember to have fun and that is what will pull you through the hardest stages in learning a new software package.

[NateP]

Thanks for the response kikapoo

I have taken your advice and checked out some you-tube tutorials. As of yet I have not actually followed any of them but some of them seem to explain the basics and having the visual aid is a big help. Watching the tutorials has raised one more question however that I was hoping you might be able to answer for me. I assume from watching these tutorials that blender does not come with a pre-installed renderer. Or perhaps if it does then maybe it is not very good as most of the tutorials mentions something about getting a good renderer for your models. I have googled to find some blender compatible renderers and the most mentioned is a renderer called Kerkythea. Is it worthwhile in my learning stages to use a renderer such as this? Will using this renderer cause more difficulty for a newbie like me or should I stick to something more basic to start?

Thanks again

[kikapoo]

Hey, glad it helped.

Blender does come with its own internal renderer, and there are open source projects that tries to integrate V-Ray into blender. There are links on their website that you can check out.

External Renderers for Blender

More-ever, blender often has many development projects that tie in directly to the development of Blender. In other words, the team at blender and a group of professional artists work together on a production, developing blender to fufill the production needs and integrating the changes into upcoming releases.

There are some open source projects such as:
Elephant's Dream
Big Buck Bunny
Sintel

Blender Open Source Movies

As you can see from the productions above, all of them are rendered using Blender's internal renderer, and it is constantly improving with each revision. One reason I can think of that the youtube videos does not go in depth into the render engine in Blender might be linked to the downside of Blender is that with every revision, there are usually major changes and so it is usually quite hard to keep up with the revisions, although version 2.6 would be the Final version.

Although I have not gone in depth into rendering in blender, but in my opinion, the blender engine, although not as beginner friendly as I hoped it will be, it has much potential to be explored and definitely will improve leaps and bounds in the near future to come.

The one advice would be to head to Blender's forum and be part of the community there. The people there are helpful and they would be the best people that I can direct you to get help from all aspects of blender.

Blender Forums

Just scroll down and on the left there are a huge number of blender forums and resources.

Hope that answers your questions!

*Update: It took me 2 hours to post this reply! Darn forums keep logging me off whenever I click post reply and I had to resort to using Proxies to access my account and post this. Cookies or whatsoever not solutions didn't help either! I blame the forum >. If you're seeing this Nate, that meant I succeeded though .

[NateP]

Wow thanks for all the great information Kikapoo! I'm sure it will keep me busy for quite a while.

I also noticed that the forums have been very slow of late and a huge amount of spam also. I think someone has launched thier spam bots at the forum
Sheesh 2 hours to post me a reply... thanks I can't say I'd have been so dedicated.