FuturePoly ; Prereqing/Preparing self?
polycounter lvl 8
Hey guys, so I'm about to graduate Highschool and within the upcoming months I was lucky enough to have a family member obtain contract work in Seattle and live about 10 blocks from FuturePoly (and to hopefully keep the job throughout the summer).
This kind of changed my scenario of my initial approach towards upper education and so now I believe before I go to my community college in Texas I want to take advantage of the wonderful deal and current-gen education FuturePoly has to offer.
However, my only concern is how I should prep myself for their program so I don't waste my time, their time, and fellow students time by - being "that" handicapped stalling student. But most importantly take advantage of 'my time' and in which case makes me not feel guilty about their time and students time.
My idea of what I want to take is their "Zbrush for Games" course and "3d Modeling for Games" course. Problem is though, I can't draw and know nothing of anatomy. I've never sculpted a creature in Zbrush [Which is month 1 of the zbrush course] nor have ever had the most interest in creating living things - not that I wouldn't enjoy it. And lastly never touched a game engine or UDK [Which is month 3 of the 3d Modeling course].
Basically I'm looking for people who may have gone there or know a little sumthin-sumthin about the curriculum(s). Because while in the future I do plan to learn how to draw, learn modularity, learn perspective, and learn UDK.. I just don't have the luxury of time contract work advocates to live up in Seattle for more than a summers worth.
..But judging from current trends the classes in May will probably start May 20th and school doesn't get out till the 31st so may not even get to go :poly127:! Hehe
If I do get to go, I have 3 months to prepare
!
TL;DR
What concepts should I know before attending FuturePoly and how advance should I be in the programs.
This kind of changed my scenario of my initial approach towards upper education and so now I believe before I go to my community college in Texas I want to take advantage of the wonderful deal and current-gen education FuturePoly has to offer.
However, my only concern is how I should prep myself for their program so I don't waste my time, their time, and fellow students time by - being "that" handicapped stalling student. But most importantly take advantage of 'my time' and in which case makes me not feel guilty about their time and students time.
My idea of what I want to take is their "Zbrush for Games" course and "3d Modeling for Games" course. Problem is though, I can't draw and know nothing of anatomy. I've never sculpted a creature in Zbrush [Which is month 1 of the zbrush course] nor have ever had the most interest in creating living things - not that I wouldn't enjoy it. And lastly never touched a game engine or UDK [Which is month 3 of the 3d Modeling course].
Basically I'm looking for people who may have gone there or know a little sumthin-sumthin about the curriculum(s). Because while in the future I do plan to learn how to draw, learn modularity, learn perspective, and learn UDK.. I just don't have the luxury of time contract work advocates to live up in Seattle for more than a summers worth.
..But judging from current trends the classes in May will probably start May 20th and school doesn't get out till the 31st so may not even get to go :poly127:! Hehe
If I do get to go, I have 3 months to prepare
!TL;DR
What concepts should I know before attending FuturePoly and how advance should I be in the programs.
Replies
Sure there's increasing zbrush use in environment art, if that's your thing... but seriously, if you don't want to waste your money (assuming you eventually want to work in the industry, and assuming you want to do so for a longer time) I suggest you start with the foundations such as drawing, anatomy (or architecture), sketching, painting, color theory, composition before taking it all into the digital realm.
Well, I have a lot of experience in the "digital realm" before realizing the near necessity for foundational skills. I mean I feel like there are a fair amount of people in the industry without having fundamentals who did something like I did (which was jump into the digital seat before preparing)
I have a ton of interest in 3d...In fact that's literally all my life has been besides school for the past 2 years. I just don't have much interest in creature design and I don't have much interest in drawing except for the ability to concept for myself to further detail and realize 3d objects and environments that I create (which I guess is actually sketching and not drawing).
It's just the problem is - I would hope to knock this out between the summer before community college. 'If' I had it my way I would take a few courses in community college for fundamentals before thinking of doing this...Also it's kind of my one and only chance of going to some sort of school physically for game art (that isn't over priced and has a good program...As I will be likely majoring Comp Sci in College while being passionate in 3d and pimping a portfolio.)
But it would seem your right about the fundamentals..I guess I just screwed myself for the most part haha, life is unfair :P.
http://www.gageacademy.org/
Its bicycle distance (though uphill) from Futurepoly Seattle (though if you mean Bellevue... not sure whats over there for traditional training).
Thanks I heard about Gage a little while trying to research reviews of FuturePoly, I guess I need to be a little more serious about my fundamentals, also is traditional art ever able to be self taught or more so recommended to be.. The person I'm going to be living with in Seattle has a masters in some sort of trad art and money always seems to be a slight issue.
In general I wouldn't suggest dumping the cash on the courses if you don't have decent foundations. Anatomy especially is something that will hold you back a lot in character art and is easy to study on alone.
Just about anything you could ever want to know about foundational art is in books.
Think of them as video tutorials with subtitles and very low framerate.
If you'd prefer to take a course though, Scott Eaton's anatomy/figure sculpting classes are supposed to be awesome, and CGMA has a course on figure drawing.
Okay I don't think about books enough when researching learning material. I'll definitely be looking into some foundation art books because I feel like more and more I'm growing a double edged sword of loving 3d art and always going "Meh" on Traditional Art.
Haha, well I'm fairly certain I would want to do Environmental Sculpting/Modeling but I think I read in a recent forum how you (and others) went a little back and forth with 3d specializations.. So maybe I should actually look into learning anatomy for future proofing..
Although there wasn't any proper anatomy course either where you'd really study the human body and individual muscle groups. What we had was all rather generic. But it could just as well be that super muscular dudes are something that's only found in our nerdy world of video games and super hero comics
From what I could remember while attending at FuturePoly is that they teach you the stuff that you really need to know about the application to get the job done without bogging you down with all the complicated stuff as well as give critiques on your work on both the technical and artistic aspect. At FuturePoly they don't really give you grades on your work or assignments but rather how much effort you put into your assignments each week. If you don't work on any of the assignment then you won't learn anything and your work will not be critiqued. You get most of the class based on your effort which is different from the typical academia where you are graded on your work.
Personally I found that if you run a class based on the students efforts and who are willing to learn then you get more out of the course. If you didn't learn anything it's because you didn't put much effort into your work so you have yourself to blame for it not putting enough time in your work.
I agree with what other are saying that you are better off with studying with fudamentals first before diving into the intermediate to advanced stuff. You're probably going to do fine if you have some knowledge of 3d but you'll probably going to struggle a bit if it is your first time opening Zbrush.
Thanks for the in depth information! That's a wonderful way to run the class. I can't stress how fond I am of the "What you put into it is what you get" when combined with knowledgeable instructors.
However, I'm fluent in nearly every area of 3d Studio max, photoshop, and topogun, while I have a few projects in zbrush concerning rock models and hard surface application I do feel that I got past Zbrushes initial awkward ergonomics and could delve into some more less straight forward modeling.
My concern was the basis of my fundamentals and whether or not they taught on it. Such as knowing the techniques of using the grid for modularity and pre-conceptualization and anatomy. (Basically anything non 3d I lack) So I feel like I've kind of hit this awkward u-turn in the road where I've done a lot of intermediate/advance stuff in 3d (relative term) and am looking back to further progress my foundations that I should of had when I started back 2-3 years ago.
That's so awesome in general though
Thanks for your input!
Regarding the start date, I've been in contact with Sabrina at Futurepoly (she's been really helpful, drop her an email if you have more questions) and the summer start date is June 3rd - that's for the Modelling and Digital Art courses at least, but I imagine the Zbrush course is the same, so you should be alright with your timing.
OH and one more thing, I was told the Modelling course isn't running in the autumn term, in case that changes things. Hopefully see you there in the summer!
Wow, very useful information Benji! I'll definitely start learning anatomy right now if I can get a grounding in 3 months
Books however are not necessary, only useful additions. All the information you need is available online, free of charge, through numerous websites. idrawgirls is a decent starting point, a digital tutors subscription is a good investment as well, but costs money.
Most of the things that cost money, you are basically paying for the service that they have provided of putting all of the information they provide in one spot.
Drawing, and fundamentals in general are called "fundamental" because they are the building blocks to being an artist in any medium. These skills are all also very cyclical with digital art and 3D art - you will find as you improve your drawing skills you are suddenly a better zbrush sculptor - its part mind set, part mechanical control of your hand, and part expanded understanding of art.
To finish it off, drawing and subsequently painting or at least colorful drawings, are some key elements to visual communication in the studio, working with a team on a project. While my studio experience is fairly limited to only a few projects, you spend a lot more time drawing while talking then anything else when it comes to conveying your initial idea.
The general goal of the class is to get everyone out the door with no questions as to what they need to do to become marketable. We are not concerned whether or not you have a 4.0 gpa, we are concerned whether or not you can make great art and come work with us at our day jobs. That's the goal. Get a job.
The technical stuff, in my opinion, is the easy stuff. Spend some time and do some anatomy studies. Start figuring out how/why stuff works so you can deconstruct it. The more you understand about broad anatomy the better you will do once you get into the tool.
Honestly? What it comes down to is how much time you want to put in studying--it needs to be your job, not your hobby.
Thanks for the recommendations, I'm currently looking for some good physical books in as I'd like to take advantage of time I sit in school not doing much.
I can definitely relate with zbrush correlating with drawing. Ever since switching from pure sub-d modeling you go from technicality and logic to how artsy can I fiddle with this object, which is awesome but nothing I have enough experience in. Also, I didn't really think about how communication works in the field so that's some cool info you dropped on me about drawing to convey ideas with your team while talking it out.
lmao, wasn't expecting the teacher to respond. Being the teacher is a good source of credibility about the curriculum I guess! But yes, while there in Seattle I have nothing but FuturePoly to concentrate on which is wonderful for a change.
I'm kind of wondering whether some students take 2 classes at a time. Because I don't know if that'd be the smartest choice as it'd probably be much more beneficial to critique and refine 1 solid piece of art all throughout the week than 2 different programs going on at once...Though ALL of my time is dedicated to 3 months in this program.
But I'll be studying and brushing up on more Zbrush and see where I'm at before considering myself applicable! That's awesome you're here and active on Polycount haha.
(ps I'll be doing some creepin' on your speed sculpts.