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Subscription based tutoring websites

HashBrownHamish
polycounter lvl 5
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HashBrownHamish polycounter lvl 5
Hey, i was thinking of getting a subscription to a tutoring website such as digitaltutors to get some good quality tutorials and not have to shuffle through the outdated stuff.

but i was wondering which to choose from? I know digitaltutors, 3d motive and eat3d but don't know which to choose and i don't know which offers what i need.

I'm currently a beginner leaning towards intermediate and i want to learn a lot more about texturing, UV mapping (i really need to improve this ) and modeling obviously.

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  • Haledorn
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    Haledorn polycounter lvl 3
    Good morning Hash,

    I am also just getting to the point where I want to fill in the gaps in what I have learned on my own. I recently subscribed to digitaltutors and then have really great introduction to all the basics of the 3D world (modeling, texturing, UVs, and more) I can tell you in less than 2 weeks of study, I have learned so many little things that have made the learning process so much smoother.

    That would be my recommendation.

    Good luck,
    Hale
  • GhostDetector
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    GhostDetector polycounter lvl 10
    This one's free and you can donate if you wish, its library isn't as extensive as the other sites but it has some basics you can learn.
    http://flippednormals.com/

    Its mainly 3d stuff.
  • lefix
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    lefix polycounter lvl 11
    I love the 3d motive tutorials, although i have to say for the big industry standard tools, there's more than enough quality learning material out there for free.

    However, you could probably watch all the interesting ones within a single month subscription?
  • Cay
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    Cay polycounter lvl 5
    If you are at a point where basics are not interesting at all anymore (how to navigate inside zbrush) there's only so much you can learn from these pages..

    I'd say take a look at what they offer.. most of these tutorial videos have some kind of introduction video telling you exactly what you'll get.. Eat3d also has some free stuff, pretty cool videos.
    Just take a look and chose which one you like most or decide to not pay and learn from the free stuff on youtube/polycount wiki.. Keep in mind though that the more advanced it gets the less stuff you'll find anyways.
  • Ott
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    Ott polycounter lvl 13
    If you decide to go with 3dmotive.com, don't hesitate to use the coupon code in my signature for 30% off ;)

    We've always got lots of great game art tutorials for all skill levels, with tons more on the way!
  • slipsius
    I've personally loved and learned so much from Eat3D tutorials. And they are definitely worth getting the physical copy.

    I've tried digitalTutorials through work before and that was decent, but didnt feel like the same quality as eat3d.

    Unfortunately, ive not tried 3dmotive, but I have heard some pretty good things about it.
  • ExcessiveZero
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    ExcessiveZero polycounter lvl 12
    digital tutors is good, did not love paying for it......

    Only had it for a month tbh some courses I have got on udemy have hugely benefited me more than digital tutors.

    and Udemy regularly has sales, great price point all round

    Max to maya course is awesome.
  • Zack Maxwell
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    Zack Maxwell interpolator
    Depends largely on what software you're using.
    Digitaltutors I don't recommend; overpriced, only covers the most basic aspects, lot's of rubbish and outdated stuff to sift through, etc.

    3DMotive is pretty good and fairly priced, but it is seriously lacking in content. It claims to add new training weekly, but they split their videos into several sections, and I'm pretty sure they count individual sections as "training". So on average they appear to only add like one new video series per month.
    The training series they offer are often extensive and detailed, but very few in number, and as such they don't offer training for a very wide number of subjects.
    As an example, they've erroneously mashed Modo and Blender together into a single category. Inside that category they have only two video series; one is as much about Unity as Blender, and the other is just basic entry-level Blender training. Nothing at all for Modo, despite it being right there in the title.
    It does have some of the best training I've found for creating hand-painted and stylized textures, which I'd consider to be its greatest strength. That stuff is incredibly hard to find elsewhere.
    The ZBrush training is also pretty decent.
    Unfortunately, as far as primary 3D packages go it's basically Max/Maya or nothing.

    Eat3D is very good, but is both expensive and, like 3DMotive, covers a very small number of subjects. Far fewer, in fact, though it has some awesome and very advanced training. Particularly for ZBrush.
    The huge majority of what it covers is just ZBrush and 3DS Max.
  • Add3r
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    Add3r polycounter lvl 11
    I think its fair for 3D Motive to focus on Maya/Max as id say 90% of the game industry right now uses them as their primary 3D packages. If you do not have experience in them, then you are shooting yourself in the foot to say the absolute least.

    To the OP though: break down what you want to focus on in your career path, then research what skills are required and what software is used and go from there. Each tutoring site will offer very different ranges of classes. The others have already covered the basics of pro's/con's quite extensively already. I like what 3D motive has to offer, especially the hand painted and Max tutorials as they fit what I needed the most at the time. I liked the Gnomon tutorials, but they were expensive and there is a ton of filler content I skipped over, but absolute gold mines of obscure tips and tricks. Gnomon tuts are made by some of the best in the industry.

    Do your research first and foremost, and then look through the class list. You could even get a one month sub from multiple sites to get certain classes. Gumroad is even a great source for specific tutorials, though most are advanced level talks about techniques for time saving and high level topics related to modeling and texturing (id say 75% are actually 2D Digitial illustration based...), but amazing nonetheless.
  • Ott
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    Ott polycounter lvl 13
    Grimwolf and Tyler - Thanks for the feedback!

    We are running two separate courses a week, and are intent on never running a single course for more than 3 weeks. We're close to being able to run 3 a week!

    We definitely felt like some of the 4-5 parters just drug on forever. We're learning and always looking for more feedback!
  • Zack Maxwell
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    Zack Maxwell interpolator
    Ott wrote: »
    Grimwolf and Tyler - Thanks for the feedback!

    We are running two separate courses a week, and are intent on never running a single course for more than 3 weeks. We're close to being able to run 3 a week!

    We definitely felt like some of the 4-5 parters just drug on forever. We're learning and always looking for more feedback!
    Do you know if there are plans to put out some Modo tutorials?
    That section of the site has been empty for a long time, and I'd REEEEAAALLY be happy to see that.
    It's surprisingly hard to find tutorial sites that cover Modo, despite its popularity.
    The only one I even know of off-hand is Digitaltutors, which as I already mentioned is not a great site in general.
  • mats effect
    Eat 3D and 3d Motive both really helped me out though Eat 3D seams to have slowed down a lot at adding new content so I have used 3d motive a lot more recently.

    I fee like for most tutorial sites like this they are all a little slow at adding content for the "next gen" set of tools that have arrived Substance, Unreal 4, PBR etc etc.
  • Lazerus Reborn
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    Lazerus Reborn polycounter lvl 8
    I fee like for most tutorial sites like this they are all a little slow at adding content for the "next gen" set of tools that have arrived Substance, Unreal 4, PBR etc etc.

    I'd happily wait to let the actual tutorial writers get to grips with the software first, to the point where they feel they know enough of worthwhile content, to write a paid for tutorial. (software is also expensive in terms of learning it and buying it, as that is time that could be spent on a paid for tutorial in mainstream apps)

    I mean you can youtube for hundreds of half arsed and sometimes so very wrong tutorials. (obviously there are gems out there) With paid for tutorials you expect to have good information which is presented in a reusable way.

    From what i've seen, that is what you get from 3Dmotive & eat3d, both also have close ties to polycount which is nice since as you can see above, they listen to honest feedback.

    When i've settled down into my new work i'll be getting a subscription from both eventually.

    *3dmotive & Eat3d have free videos to the major programs, some of them are actually high level workflow tips/tricks. So get through them first to get an idea of the presentation styles.
  • mats effect
    Yeah that's also true. Don't want stuff that's rushed at the same time.
  • iadagraca
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    iadagraca polycounter lvl 5
    http://cgcookie.com/ has some neat stuff, depends on what software you use and espcially if you use blender cause there's a lot for that.

    They're pretty cheap at 19 bucks and includes access to files and a community.Worth testing out some free ones if you use any of the software they use.

    There's also a lot of training tutorials made by some of the software makers so if you have Maya LT and such there's lots of training directly from them.

    I see a lot of people ask about UV mapping and there's no easy way I know of to do it (depending on if automatic solutions are ok), there's always just patience.
  • KeirKieran
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    KeirKieran polycounter lvl 3
    I keep dancing around the idea of getting a subscription to one of these. I need to just do it. My skills have gotten woefully out of date. I tend to flounder a bit when picking cus I'm so far out of date, I don't know what I need to learn.

    Sadly brick and mortar schools don't offer update courses for people like me. Which is a shame cus I live near two schools with animation and game design courses.
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