Taking a modeling class at a local community college.
polycounter lvl 6
That's what I am doing. So far I discovered a few things, especially about myself.
1. Without proper, structured curriculum, I can't do a damn thing.
2. Without a sufficient amount of reference, I can't do a damn thing.
3. Without proper planning and contemplation, I can't do a damn thing.
4. Modeling with Maya after playing with Modo for a while...make me feel like I am dragging a cinder block.
5. I am seriously in need of self-discipline.
6. Modo is a godsend for modelers.
Well, the class itself is pretty much platform-agnostic, which is good for me, I can easily transfer (I mean, really easy) what I learned back to using Modo. Now I am in the process of modeling a lampstand and a tricycle. What can be easily and effortlessly done with Modo takes whole lot more effort and time with Maya. (Snapping, Workplane, Action Center...Modo is far superior when it comes to modeling.) I do like the subD algorithm of Maya better, though. I find the native subD function of Modo rather lacking and strange.
Truth be told, the amount of information I learn from the whole semester can be compressed to a couple of weeks on Pluralsight. But structured instructions and peer inputs is something that can't be replicated on online tutorials. Without pressure, less-disciplined people like me suffer even more.
P.S. I might restart my Wall-E fanart project soon. I am NOT happy with what I did in the first version.
1. Without proper, structured curriculum, I can't do a damn thing.
2. Without a sufficient amount of reference, I can't do a damn thing.
3. Without proper planning and contemplation, I can't do a damn thing.
4. Modeling with Maya after playing with Modo for a while...make me feel like I am dragging a cinder block.
5. I am seriously in need of self-discipline.
6. Modo is a godsend for modelers.
Well, the class itself is pretty much platform-agnostic, which is good for me, I can easily transfer (I mean, really easy) what I learned back to using Modo. Now I am in the process of modeling a lampstand and a tricycle. What can be easily and effortlessly done with Modo takes whole lot more effort and time with Maya. (Snapping, Workplane, Action Center...Modo is far superior when it comes to modeling.) I do like the subD algorithm of Maya better, though. I find the native subD function of Modo rather lacking and strange.
Truth be told, the amount of information I learn from the whole semester can be compressed to a couple of weeks on Pluralsight. But structured instructions and peer inputs is something that can't be replicated on online tutorials. Without pressure, less-disciplined people like me suffer even more.
P.S. I might restart my Wall-E fanart project soon. I am NOT happy with what I did in the first version.
Replies
This is something that you really need to sort out then. :S You won't learn everything from college. Most of your learning will happen when you sit down to actually make things. For art a lot of the learning happens when you fail at doing something and then you work to try and improve.
2. Without a sufficient amount of reference, I can't do a damn thing.
That sounds pretty normal to me. Especially as a beginner, getting a lot of good references is important. Once you've had more experience you can rely on it less.
3. Without proper planning and contemplation, I can't do a damn thing.
Judging from your previous posts it does sound like you are overthinking things. I thought you were making some decent progress on the Wall-E project. You should keep up with working on it, you will learn a lot from working on something from start to finish.
5. I am seriously in need of self-discipline.
Definitely, you do seem to have a problem with this. This seems a bit strange to me though as you have some 2D skills - you must have had to sit down and practice for that, right? 3D is no different.
Can't comment on Modo vs Maya as I've only used Maya... but IMO, like with all software it's just a case of taking the time to get used to it.
Now I realize how hard it is to make it in this world. If you don't step up you will be left in the gutter to rot and die and nobody will weep for you except yourself.
You need to internalize the concept that it is work or die. Every second not spent doing something is opportunity leaving you. If I have a job application I pop some modafinil and spend 8 hours non-stop making a custom portfolio.
There are a lot of things that I need to say, but I don't know which one should go first. Well, let me start with this: Until 2 years ago my brain simply couldn't process how to use 3D tools at all, no matter how much I tried to understand it. I chose Modo as my primary tool and I gradually started to learn basic stuff.
I've heard that self-teaching 3D can take whole lot more time than having some classes and inputs from mentor figures. And I wholeheartedly agree. And it is true that I kinda chickened out after first few months of learning 3D. I do have some background in 2D art and I tried to become a graphic novel artist. But I turned out to be a really horrible storyteller and finding collaborators in storytelling turned out to be rather hard.
One main reason that I decided to jump into 3D was that modelmaking was my hobby. And yes, learning 3D started out as a hobby. But as someone who has some case of OCD, I tried to make everything perfect. And that was the roadblock. Yes, I was formally diagnosed with OCD and it caused some unnecessary fears and perfectionism that really interfered with my learning process.
So I keep telling myself that I need to fail a lot to learn a lot.
P.S. Yes, I will redo my M-O fanart from scratch. This time I will just start from the simpler proxy model.