3D motive vs Digital tutors or other websites

SaboR1996

I need help deciding on which one I should go with, as I am not going to university and going to spend the money I would be spending at uni on these tutorials I want to get the best possible help with 3D, I know my basics with max and relatively advanced with Photoshop, I would just prefer learn myself from the comfort of my own home whilst also saving around £30,000+ in debt that I would end up paying back at some point.

so if any one can point me into the right direction, another alternative solution would be getting a loan of about £1500 and just pay yearly on both sites and learn as much as I can, but that is the problem of paying it back in time etc.

I'm eager to learn and expand my knowledge of 3D and even 2D, hopefully pushing myself towards level design or prop artist.

Anchang-Style

Maybe check out what eat3d, ZBrush Workshops, Gnomon Workshop got to offer as well.

Fwap

I would just prefer learn myself from the comfort of my own home whilst also saving around £30,000+ in debt that I would end up paying back at some point.

I used to be subd to 3d motive, great tutorials, learnt a lot.
Tyson Murphy's hand painted sword tutorial was great, really kicked off hand painting for me.

Check out CGworkshops too, i've been eyeing off a few courses there, but it was just out of my price range when it was viable for me to do it.
http://workshops.cgsociety.org/courseinfo.php?id=477

I know that feel, i was self taught for ages until i maned up and went to uni, best idea ever.
I do get a bit anxious over the cost of it all, but sometimes you gotta roll the hard six, working 2 jobs now so i can stay afloat.

LRoy

I've taken a number of courses and I much prefer the ones where you have interaction with the guy teaching. Scott Eaton's, Zbrushworkshop, and CGWorkshop will all teach you much more than going to a uni.

I suggest you first get a grasp on the basics with the stand alone video tutorials like

http://www.cgcircuit.com/course/3d-character-art-for-games

Then when you feel comfortable that you know the workflow you can push it further with an instructor giving you feedback.

Higuy

3dmotive and Eat3d are both really good websites and have a variety of tutorials to choose from - look at which one has the things you want to learn and go with that.

ExcessiveZero

ive gone with digital tutors in the past personally didn't learn a fraction of what I did with 3Dmotive, as Lroy mentioned scott eaton is fucking incredible if you are into anatomy.

Jonathan_AV

Digital Tutors is perfect if you have absolutely no experience with certain pieces of software. IIRC Digital Tutors has an insane arsenal of tutorials for Photoshop and 3DSMax. Gnomon is also quite a bit more pricey than other tutorial sites, but I've heard the quality of the tutorials are outstanding. However, I've heard prior knowledge is a must and it's less teaching software and more teaching techniques. 3DMotive typically requires basic knowledge of the program but the tutorials are fantastic, particularly the UDK ones.

You can't go wrong with DT, they just have so many tutorials it'd be impossible not to learn a ton of new techniques. 3DMotive when you need some variety and then Gnomon when you need advanced training.

ENODMI

There is so much info spread across the interwebs, I find it silly that anyone one would consider going to school. Besides that, check them all out. The sites themselves dont really guarantee the quality of the material, but the instructor themselves. Even the bad ones can still have bits of valuable material in them. Absorb it all and sift out the shit as you go along. Im completely self taught through this method, so I can vouch for it. Also, youtube has a lot of free tutorials on it, plus tons of Artists time-lapse to watch. livestream has guys working in realtime, giving you an idea of how long it actually takes to model, texture, blah. And once you learn enough to get an entry level job, you get the awesome opportunity to exchange ideas and argue about why one program is better than another one.

Oh, and obviously search the Polycount Wiki and the forum threads. I see youve made a few threads with questions too, excellent. Keeps asking questions and learning and youll be on your way to becoming a 3d wizard

NegevPro

They're both great, and as others have said, there are other awesome services as well. 3dmotive and DigitalTutors both have active youtube channels that have "mini" tutorials on them, be sure to see which one caters more towards your learning style.

http://www.youtube.com/user/3dmotiveHD/videos

http://www.youtube.com/user/DigitalTutors/videos

Keep in mind, the premium tutorials completely outshine the free videos they have in every way imaginable. I've learned so much from both services. I'd also suggest keeping an eye out for the 3dmotive thread here on polycount, Ott occasionally makes a post about some awesome deals.

Torch

DT is great for starting off, I would say Eat3D/3D Motive are a bit more advanced, Gnomon tuts are also worth a look but tend to be more VFX focused.

On a side note I'm surprised none of these sites have resources on the new PBR workflow, I get its relatively new but I'm sure a lot of artists would be interested in training on the subject, similar to 3D motive's briefcase prop for example.

Ott

Trust us Torch - we're learning it as well! We can't wait to start diving into tutorials for that stuff, but it's the same as UE4 - We got access to it at the same time as everyone else. Any exposure we have had is still learning / infancy as well. I'd be leery of too many people preaching "gospel" about UE4 and PBR, as the tech is all fairly new and will be drastically changing in the coming 6-12 months from a development standpoint. Most game engines are just now starting to implement it and develop their own systems for it.

I'd love to have an army teaching Crytek, PBR, Unity 5, UE4, Frostbite, etc, but until someone drops a bunch of

A) Good instructors
Good instructors who have time to do tutorials
and
C) Good instructors who have time to do tutorials that can actually teach

into our laps, these sort of videos are very difficult to create. All the buckets of cash in the world don't matter when it's a needle in a haystack to find instructors who fit the bill and all 3 of the criteria above

But if you know anyone who does fit those bills, send em my way haha! We're small compared to Digital Tutors, but we don't want to rush a bunch of shit tutorials out so we can be the first to churn out content that will be outdated or incorrect in 6 months, OR churn it out fast at the cost of quality.

ExcessiveZero

Ott wrote: »

Trust us Torch - we're learning it as well! We can't wait to start diving into tutorials for that stuff, but it's the same as UE4 - We got access to it at the same time as everyone else. Any exposure we have had is still learning / infancy as well. I'd be leery of too many people preaching "gospel" about UE4 and PBR, as the tech is all fairly new and will be drastically changing in the coming 6-12 months from a development standpoint. Most game engines are just now starting to implement it and develop their own systems for it.

I'd love to have an army teaching Crytek, PBR, Unity 5, UE4, Frostbite, etc, but until someone drops a bunch of

A) Good instructors
Good instructors who have time to do tutorials
and
C) Good instructors who have time to do tutorials that can actually teach

into our laps, these sort of videos are very difficult to create. All the buckets of cash in the world don't matter when it's a needle in a haystack to find instructors who fit the bill and all 3 of the criteria above

But if you know anyone who does fit those bills, send em my way haha! We're small compared to Digital Tutors, but we don't want to rush a bunch of shit tutorials out so we can be the first to churn out content that will be outdated or incorrect in 6 months, OR churn it out fast at the cost of quality.

my favorite instructors have always fell into two camps, people who are really excited and enthusiastic about what they are trying to teach, and the ones that have partial mental breakdowns during the video, following tutorials I still remember gems like
"don't worry I am just talking to myself, no one else will talk to me, I do it every day......" funny thing is I can even remember the exact process he was going through as well.

so in that total breaking of the standard format something can easily cling on, and I can't but help enjoy oddballs.

one of my favorite moments in the UE4 tutorial videos was where he almost said if you think wood is very metallic you are just .......and almost said something akin to retarded then switched on to his professional video maker mode and avoided that red herring.

ZombieWells

This is the way I would go about doing this.

Get your software:

I would go to autodesk website, http://www.autodesk.com/education/free-software/3ds-max all their products are free for 3 years its seems... your a student. get max, mud, (Zbrush if you can instead of Mud) pay for the $20 subscription to PS, get Cazy bump, or Knald, Xnormal; software done.

Get your engine:

I recommend, https://www.unrealengine.com/ drop your $20 and you don't have to pay a cent more, unless you want up-dates. I say UE4 because it comes with a ton of super pro content you can pick apart... learning is easy and made fun. Or you can go cry, unity.

Get your education:

Don't under estimate the polycount wiki, it will teach you more than most of the Tutorial sites out there, or at least point you in the right direction 99% or the time.
http://wiki.polycount.com/
http://eat3d.com/
https://www.3dmotive.com/
http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/
https://www.imbuefx.com/
Ask polycout when in doubt.

Get your motivation:

http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=92838

Start making stuff! Finished.

peanut™

On my end, i'm surprised to see Gnomon losing its appeal and share of the market, with all the competition and quality coming from Digital tutors these days.

This idea was unthinkable a few years back.

LRoy

I think I remember them saying how they were shifting their focus away from tutorials because of all the piracy.

peanut™

LRoy wrote: »

I think I remember them saying how they were shifting their focus away from tutorials because of all the piracy.

didn't know that, good explanation.

Ervin

Digital tutors is great because of the sheer variety of topics and software they cover, it's all for beginners though.

MDiamond

Regarding the advent of PBR workflow and CryEngine 3 specifically, Eat3D has a 3-Volume course(http://eat3d.com/cry3_materials_vol1) on material creation in CryEngine, does the workflow shown in this dvd still applicable to the PBR workflow? I was considering buying the CryEngine tutorials dvds in a few months but I would like to know if the content is outdated or something.

Ott

Also to the OP - see my signature for a permanent discount code on your first month's signup or any downloads if you want to take a test drive on our service