Hi Polycount! Im new to modeling and was wondering if I could get some advice

Cloakedninja

Hello Polycount! I've been lurking on your forums for quite some time now. I've been playing with some tools for about 3 months now and I was wondering if you guys should help me out on where to start and maybe point me towards some references that i can use to aid me.

I'm fairly comfortable in UDK and CE3. I'm learning 3DS max and somewhat getting into it, though i haven't tried making anything on my own yet. I've just been following some tutorials on youtube to get more more comfortable with the program and i've also did some of the tutorials with the Autodesk Tutorial for 3DS max 2013 (http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?id=18995103&siteID=123112&linkID=9241175)

I'm interested in doing meshes like props and structures, and characters. My next focus will be on characters so I've been looking into Mudbox and Zbrush. I'm considering picking up zBrush (even though from the sounds of it that its harder, I like that the brushes and sculpting tools are better and i can manage with complicated UI's.) and I was planning to use mudbox more for Textures. And speaking of textures, what programs are most popular in the creation of textures?

What currently boggles me is what sort of pipeline that you artists generally follow when making a map? Like say for example, do you go from concept to making the meshes to laying out the map?

sun_smasher

Depending on what the end result is to be used for, there are several different ways people go about making a piece of art. For example there are different methods for just portfolio / beauty shots than there are for something that would actually be used in a game engine. What is your primary focus? Is game industry something you want to make your vocation or are you looking more into the art as a hobby?

ZacD

Textures are mostly done in photoshop with some painting in a 3d tool such at 3dcoat or zbrush or mudbox.

Enviroments go concept -> graybox -> assets