Starting again from scratch. Is Blender a good option now?

ambelamba

 The last tool I used was Zbrush as a beginner. 

 Now I am taking care of my dad who had a triple bypass surgery last week. For next 6 months I will have to help him recover while mom is running the family business. I had to drop out of modeling and sculpting classes in Fall because of that. Caring for my dad and helping out my mom will be my full time job. I am a 100% service connected disabled veteran with general discharge. So, no GI Bill. But I do receive financial assistance.

 I guess the only option left for learning CG is Blender. By teaching myself from the scratch. I tried Modo first a few years ago with little progress, partly because the lack of learning resources. 

 What do I wanna do? I don't think I can work corporate because of my disability entitlement. I think I can do freelance tho. I wanna do concept design with 3D. I am mostly interested in vehicles and mechs. So I gotta practice a lot of hard surface modeling. I am not sure if extensive knowledge in sub d topology is necessary but... I just need to to a bunch of small practices first. 

 So, is it a good idea to go ALL-IN with Blender? Training wise that's the only viable option for now I think,

TheGabmeister

I think all of the well known 3D modeling packages are great for hard-surface modeling. I've heard that 3ds Max seems to stand out of the crowd in terms of hard-surface.

ambelamba said:

  So, is it a good idea to go ALL-IN with Blender?

You can definitely do so especially with Blender 2.8. Try it out and see if it fits your preferences. I've done hard-surface in Blender in the past. The only issue I encountered was probably with UV mapping. It seems that the tools available are not as good as the other packages.

Alex_J

What's disability got to do with GI bill? As long as you served 11 months you should get it.  Using disability plus GI is how I funded first two yea re s of 3d training. And definitely look into the details about work. Dunno that 100% precludes all types of work. I am 90% but that doesn't prevent anything. Anyway, That's discussion for different board but I just mention in case you got some bad info and havent looked into it. Also, dont trust the buffoons at the VA. Nobody knows what's going on, just nag people till you get the answers you want.

As for CG, yeah it shouldn't matter what you use, especially as a beginner. There is a few blender gurus here who can probably clue you into the latest and greatest plugins. Check out the blender mega theead.

Whatever you are doing, go all in. And have fun with it. 

sacboi

Is Blender a good option now?

You betcha!

BlenderArtists is another resource or Blender Market, if hard surface is your thing:

https://blendermarket.com/products/hard-surface-modeling-in-blender

ambelamba

Alex Javor said:

What's disability got to do with GI bill? As long as you served 11 months you should get it.  Using disability plus GI is how I funded first two yea re s of 3d training. And definitely look into the details about work. Dunno that 100% precludes all types of work. I am 90% but that doesn't prevent anything. Anyway, That's discussion for different board but I just mention in case you got some bad info and havent looked into it. Also, dont trust the buffoons at the VA. Nobody knows what's going on, just nag people till you get the answers you want.

As for CG, yeah it shouldn't matter what you use, especially as a beginner. There is a few blender gurus here who can probably clue you into the latest and greatest plugins. Check out the blender mega theead.

Whatever you are doing, go all in. And have fun with it. 

I got a general discharge with honorable condition which bars me from getting GI Bill.

Alex_J

Check this out:

https://www.swords-to-plowshares.org/guides/va-character-of-service-determination-an-alternative-to-discharge-review/

I'm sure you've already done your homework. My advice though, if one person doesn't give you the help you need, try another. Nobody knows what the rules really are, and they are always changing anyway. Two people told me I wasn't eligible for disability at all, a third got me 90%. Same deal when I was in the navy and they guaranteed me an MOS I wasn't medically fit for. One person ran me in circles for months trying to keep me in, finally I jumped the chain of command and got released on a breach of contract.

You get the one person whose having a good day and wants to take care of you, you may get the benefits you risked your life to earn.