Besides Polycount, where do you go when you need help on something 3D?

Turbopasta

I love this website and I've been on here for a while, but sometimes when I have things that I really need or want answers to, just posting it in Technical Talk isn't enough. It's great that the stuff I post there eventually gets read most of the time, but it just takes so long. My last question was answered by one of the mods after going a little over two days with radio silence. 

I know 4chan is awful but I've tried posting questions there, in the 3D category. The responses are usually more rude and crass and sometimes it's even helpful, but the same issue persists, it just takes SO LONG to get any sort of feedback. It makes me feel like this industry is actually really small when I know there's no way that could be the truth.

Where do you guys go when you have a burning question you need to get answered, or when you just want feedback or conversation with somebody involved in the 3D scene? I intend to keep posting on polycount but I'd like to at least have more resources. 

Taylor Brown

Get on discord. Look up Dinusty's community. Polycount also has a discord

Alex_J

honestly, the fastest way to get answers is to get good at googling. I've been in the same boat, and this is what I've found true in my experience. I know, that probably sounds insulting, but i watch a lot of online communities and 99% of the questions I see asked are like a 1 min google search away. OFten times when I answer a question I literally just take 1 or 2 minutes to google to double check that I'm right. 

Also, chances are if you are a beginner and have a question to ask, it's been asked before. Benefit of finding archived answers is that it's usually gone through some degree of peer review, whereas if you have just one person telling you what's what, how would you know if they are right or not? Got to have some degree of irreverence so you don't get fooled or run off with bad advice. 

But a community to talk shop with like minded people is a great thing. Besides the two Taylor mentioned, character artist Georgian Avasilcutei has a disccord community, and The Rookies has a discord as well.

Brian "Panda" Choi

I talk to specific colleagues.

Taylor Brown

I know when I was starting out, I had no grasp of the jargon so that can oftentimes make googling for answers a total stab in the dark.

Alex_J

absolutely. i mean, when i started i couldn't tell you what file explorer is. Never used computers at all really. It's not easy, finding everything on your own, mainly because it requires tons of patience. But if you don't have an experienced colleague sitting right next to you, you just got to grind through, search farther, trial and error... eventually things start clicking. Just can't be in a rush.

Having somebody knowledgeable to ask is easiest, but for like a full time mentor that usually cost money. I did hear that the polycount slack has quite a few professional and senior artist active, so maybe that's something to check out as well as the other discords..

sacboi

Friends/acquaintances and app specific sites.

zachagreg

Can't agree enough with Alex. Being good at googling and knowing how to change keywords to filter specific results is a god send when it comes to learning pretty much anything these days. A lot of times the colleagues are a great resource if you're in the position to be around those people but not everyone is so just keep that in mind. 

A bit of a philosophy I've followed when coming up against problems like that is to spend one hour and no more trying to solve it myself. Second take all of the things you've maybe figured out in that hour and condense it down into basic keywords. No sentences and no punctuation plug that into google. Change both time settings and keywords until you start to get into the ballpark of what your problem is. (This takes like 5 minutes if that) Hopefully that will solve your issue. If not, then ask for help and you can just shotgun that honestly. Post on the relevant forums to the software or technique you're learning and await response. For more immediate results of asking for help take Taylor's, Brian's, and Sacboi's advice and get in touch with real people or discords.(Don't DM people you don't know expecting help though)

It's the first part, in my experience, that really teaches you and expedites your learning. Being able to take your accumulated knowledge on a topic and apply it to solve a problem you face is amazing for retention and speed of learning. You put what you know into practice. There is nothing wrong with asking questions but I know many people that given time to just solve a problem they can surprise themselves and solve it on their own. It's just a lot of people don't even try. 

Below is a link to some neat things I use for googling. The only one I would pass over though is tip 12 as question and inquiry words become less and less effective as your problem gets more specific into an area. Also tip 14 directly contradicts it so idk what their editor was doing.
https://www.lifehack.org/articles/technology/20-tips-use-google-search-efficiently.html

There is also this that I've had on my wall since starting university.
https://mashable.com/2011/11/24/google-search-infographic/#P.BWtSRMPGq2