Getting into the 3D World

Arrowtic

Hey there.now I know this has been asked a lot,so I'll explain my case as fast as I can.I've been wanting to get into the 3D modeling world for some time now,and recently I got more serious.

I want this mostly for my own amusement.My major in college is completely unrelated to this field and I'm not going to learn it for financial reasons or anything,just to enjoy it as a side hobby.I haven't had any kind of experience in this field ever.I'm familiar with programming(mostly C++) and used to help out a couple of friends in their game designing journey!,but I've never had any experience in it myself.

So I guess my question is,where should I start?Considering the fact that I'm not looking into making animations or anything like that(mostly characters and scenes).It has to be said though I do like to learn in the right way and not necessarily the easy way(who knows?!perhaps one day I did want to get into game designing or something else).I myself have three free softwares in mind : Blender,Sculptris and Daz Studio.But honestly I don't even know their differences,and whether they can be used in addition to each other or not(do they do the same task or are they in different subfields?). I don't know if I should learn them side by side or instead , in a specific order...to put in a nutshell,I dunno how and where to start !

Thanks in advance and sorry for all the possible mistakes in my post.English isn't my native language.

Eric Chadwick

Just choose one of them and start making things. Don't over-analyze it.

If you are conscientious and persistent, you will soon understand which software is good for your purpose, vs. which is not.

There is no good subsitute for hands-on learning. Do not rely on other people to assess the software for you... most of them are barely literate in that particular software. Informed opinion is very difficult to find!

Also, look at our wiki for many possible solutions and workflows.

Jonas Ronnegard

I would suggest you just get started with blender, work with that until you feel that your imagination isn't getting suppressed by your technical skills.

sacboi

As Eric said, don't over think it just download/test each app to see which one or more feels the most 'comfortable'. Now I'm a bit of a fan for the first choice on your list, been using it for years and I've some quality resource material suggestions mostly authored by industry professionals, that's if you're not already aware of:

CGMasters

Blender Cookie

BlenderArtists.org

Digital Tutors.