Learning Modo by myself...give me some input, please.
polycounter lvl 6
Hi, folks.
I work two jobs. I am a background actor...meaning I am an extra. And I am a manager at a small clothing store in a ghetto area in Inland Empire, So Cal. I usually spend 12 hours plus 1 hour lunch time and 2 hour commuting time on the set. And I usually work 3~4 days a week as an extra. And as a store manager I work at least 10 hours a day with 1 hour commuting time. And I work at least 2 days a week. I usually sleep anywhere between 5.5~7 hours a night.
And someone told me that I need 7200 hours of experience with CG to become just about to be proficient. I am about to cry in sorrow.
Since this July I slowly started learning Modo, and 3DCG in general. I did have some experience with MAX back in...1997 and Softimage in 1998, so that left me some bad taste in learning CG. I practically gave up for many years and now I am dabbling into CG.
No wonder why some people tell me to give up CG. Yeah, it's really tough to make time (4 full hours a day) to study. You know, I am not a risk taker and I often give up easily, since small beginner's mistakes in my childhood were dealt with violent punishments and abuses. (well, what I can say...I was raised in South Korea and corporal punishment & verbal abuse are integral part of the society...)
But this time I really hate to give up no matter how clueless I am in learning CG. Yeah, things are intimidating. But for some reason I hate to give up. I am learning Modo in a snail's pace and I find lack of learning materials in Modo kinda disappointing. I need to figure out a lot of things myself. It's tough.
I work two jobs. I am a background actor...meaning I am an extra. And I am a manager at a small clothing store in a ghetto area in Inland Empire, So Cal. I usually spend 12 hours plus 1 hour lunch time and 2 hour commuting time on the set. And I usually work 3~4 days a week as an extra. And as a store manager I work at least 10 hours a day with 1 hour commuting time. And I work at least 2 days a week. I usually sleep anywhere between 5.5~7 hours a night.
And someone told me that I need 7200 hours of experience with CG to become just about to be proficient. I am about to cry in sorrow.
Since this July I slowly started learning Modo, and 3DCG in general. I did have some experience with MAX back in...1997 and Softimage in 1998, so that left me some bad taste in learning CG. I practically gave up for many years and now I am dabbling into CG.
No wonder why some people tell me to give up CG. Yeah, it's really tough to make time (4 full hours a day) to study. You know, I am not a risk taker and I often give up easily, since small beginner's mistakes in my childhood were dealt with violent punishments and abuses. (well, what I can say...I was raised in South Korea and corporal punishment & verbal abuse are integral part of the society...)
But this time I really hate to give up no matter how clueless I am in learning CG. Yeah, things are intimidating. But for some reason I hate to give up. I am learning Modo in a snail's pace and I find lack of learning materials in Modo kinda disappointing. I need to figure out a lot of things myself. It's tough.
Replies
that sounds rough. I will say outright that you don't need anywhere near 7200 hours of experience with CG to 'just be proficient'. It really depends what your goals are with CG and if you are looking to do games or movies, a particular style or subject matter, etc. The biggest issue it looks like you have to face is your schedule. If you're able to find even just 1-2 hours every other day, but are persistent about it, you should see progress for sure.
you mention you've chosen modo - If you're still just learning the ropes with it then it might be worth checking out Tor Frick's tutorial 'Introduction to Modo'. It's five dollars and is available here https://gumroad.com/snefer though you could also probably find good starter tutorials on Youtube, though most of them will probably be geared towards max or maya due to their bigger user bases. Modo is known to be an exceptional modeling tool though so there's no issue with your choice.
I'd say the most important thing is that you enjoy learning it and can see yourself wanting to spend time creating things in 3d, the rest will come, just be persistent and if you have questions people here are usually more than willing to help.
I also recommend this guy's youtube channel — He's like the Bob Ross of modo.
Now I am kinda stuck in a rut and need to build a new skill just to keep my brain rolling. Actually that was the very reason why I started learning CG recently. Some of my family members started showing signs of Alzheimer's disease and I got scared. One way to prevent it is to work my brain a lot. I know that it sounds funny but I started learning CG just to keep my brain working. Then I started thinking about using CG to work on my concept design...
How empathetic. Have you considered doing motivational speaking or a TED talk?
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Real-World-modo-Authorized-Trenches/dp/0240811992/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1442764343&sr=8-1&keywords=Real+World+Modo"]http://www.amazon.com/Real-World-modo-Authorized-Trenches/dp/0240811992/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1442764343&sr=8-1&keywords=Real+World+Modo[/ame]
This book is quite dated, but it's not a bad introduction to Modo. Maybe you can pick up a used copy for cheap somewhere. It covers most of Modo's major modeling & texturing methodologies as well as some stuff on rendering.
I'm not recommending it based on its 'current-ness' but rather on it's clear and simple writing style, which seems to be what you need. It's not written from an uber-technical, inside-baseball perspective, but from a practical "Let's get some work done" vantage point.
It's not an exhaustive Modo bible. It mainly goes over core tools and workflow techniques. I think it's a decent introduction to the meat-and-potatoes of Modo which is its modeling paradigm. It does not cover Modo's newer tools (like true rigging or animation) as those features didn't exist in Modo when this book was written and published, but it will get you familiar with the main tool set.
Even if the book doesn't strike a chord, my advice is to just keep at it. Do a little bit every day and when you cross your frustration threshold, back off, take a walk or do something you enjoy for a bit and then come back and try it again. Never practice frustration...unless you can return to a tranquil, open mind.
Another book to check out, although it is not necessarily Modo-specific, is William Vaughn's Digital Modeling book:
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Modeling-William-Vaughan/dp/0321700899/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1442765351&sr=8-1&keywords=William+Vaughn+modeling"]Digital Modeling: 9780321700896: Computer Science Books @ Amazon.com[/ame]
Mr. Vaughn posts here from time to time, I think. He's got a lot of good advice on modeling, attitude and the like, and is a bonafide Modo guru. Look him up on the Modo forums and feel free to ask him questions. He's very eager to help.
Work hard, be patient and kind with yourself and keep at it.
Sometimes I wonder why there are relatively few learning resources for Modo comparing to other tools. Maybe I am horribly wrong but I suspect that Modo is intended for people who have had sufficient training in other tools who want an easier one. Probably that's why there are relatively small amount of beginners' guide out there...Maybe I am wrong.
I finally got some dayoff today and tomorrow. I woke up today very early and created a couple of different meshes. I did some errand and now I am back home. Maybe I should dig into my storage room and look for my copy of Real World Modo after a nap. I don't get enough sleep.
One major weakness I have right now is the skill to clean up the messy topology. I keep forgetting about many tools and often I have no clue what to do with mangled meshes. Some unintended holes and unnecessary vertices end up popping up somewhere.
And I realized that having some reference really helps me plan how to approach for modeling. What I enjoy is planning ahead in my head although they often fail. It doesn't matter since it's a brain exercise, which was the original reason why went back to CG.
There is less training material about Modo compared to other apps simply because it has less market penetration. Simple as that
Planning in one's head is fine, but don't rely on this too much, otherwise you'll end doing the same thing over and over again without much progress. Test things out first (by putting together reference sheets, planning your designs for real, and so on), and establish firm end goals. Also, try to avoid overlaps between execution tasks (How do I clean up this mesh ? How do I solve this topology issue) and design tasks (What am I making ? What is the intention behind this design ?). These are two very different things, but the raw fun of manipulating things in 3D space sometimes causes artists to forget the fundamental distinction - and then we end up with an abundance of alien busts and robots with square heads
I have to ask though, why continue to be an extra? Unless you have an agent, funnel money into SAG/AFTRA and are planning on being an actor full time... its just a waste of time. The pay isnt even worth it. If being a pro actor is the goal, then its all about networking. Who you know is more important than how many times you become a non SAG/AFTRA background object.
In my personal experience, CG is far more rewarding, both in terms of personal accomplishment and employment for quality of work. Cut out the highly abused extra work and funnel it into CG.
Just likeHoudini, Modo suffers form the lac of proper free reoussrcefull tutorials and documentation (which stop me from learning it further)..
I mean there is a few stuff out there and here but whenever you wanna tr soething a lil bit more in-deep, it can take you hours to find answers to your questions on forums.:(
I expreienced the same with XSI and Houdini.
I fear that you are very close to truth...
If I had the money, I would build my 2D portfolio and enroll to Gnomon with 3 year program and emphasis in modeling and texturing. Their software of choice are Maya, Zbrush, and Mari.
Someone told me that modeling in Maya is pretty straight foward, and that was back in 2012. So I guess things got better with Maya since then...riiiiight?
PS. Trust me, there's not enough PAID learning resources for Modo.
Define proper?
http://www.modopedia.com/
http://help.thefoundry.co.uk/modo/901/
https://www.thefoundry.co.uk/tv/section/1/
https://youtu.be/5skBZ3E5vwQ?t=9s
I agree it could be better presented but there really is enough there to get in pretty deep, and due to Modo's tight integration with variety of features... learning one thing pretty much carries over to the next. In other words, the logic is fairly consistent.
The paid stuff is pretty good too... and its not that hard to get a free trial period of something like Digital Tutors. In fact I think if you get the trial for modo 901, you get a free offer from DT, but could be wrong.
But I won't give up, at least for now.
It's capable, but extremely sloppy and inefficient.
If you do aim to use Maya, get ZBrush as well and just try to do as much as you possibly can in that, reserving Maya for more of the non-modeling tasks.
Also keep in mind that Maya is expensive as ever-loving hell.
I don't know if you have ZBrush, but that was actually the tool that got me into 3D art. Working in it is absolutely amazing.
It is what it is now, whatever you paid for modo try to resell it somewhere to someone else and pick up zbrush with the sale money or take it as a loss.
A lot is being said that Maya is the direction to go, at least a few people and threads have brought this up. Also since your already sort of "in there, like swimwear" you might pick up work at one of the movies for your 3D work.
^If that is the case 3D kitbashes, will work for you best if 3D Movie quality designs is what your after, slap a few pieces together and call it a day, and at the side lines learn as you go to model your own pieces.
Possibilities are endless?! good luck.
With all due respect it doesn't take years of experience to figure that in this case the most sensible advice to give is to pick ANY polygonal modeling package and just stick with it. Really doesn't matter which one, and you can always switch down the road when you reach a certain level and you develop more advanced workflows.
In this case though, since he's focused on hard surface, and especially since he already has Modo, I definitely recommend sticking with Modo.
I started using it months ago and its great. That being said, I took a different troute to learning it than most. I use it for modeling at my job, and everything i learned i did so thru trial and error. As far as tutorials go, I understand the Foundry forums have a lot of great people willing to help. That may be the best way to go. j
ALSO, I dont think it matters the tool which you use. As long as you get the job done on time, it looks good, and its usable.
Find the one you're most comfortable with and stick to it.
to be honest, the skill transfers over to each program. IF you get good with one program, you know what questions to ask when you switch over to the next.
I hope this made sense, cheers!!!
Zbrush is great for something, but others are better done in max maya or modo
https://www.thefoundry.co.uk/support/user-guides/#modo
And as many have said, do small projects. Learn the fundamentals and take them forward into slightly bigger projects. Make sure you learn from your failings.
You also appear to need a good motivation talk on CG. so recommend Andrew Kramers:
[ame]
Most of all enjoy your Modo journey!!! It is a journey and not just a trip. ie: it doesn't end!!
https://www.youtube.com/user/stammpe2/videos?sort=da&view=0&flow=grid
It's generally just video demonstrations of interface documentation you could find online, and the occasional basic workflow riddled with errors.