Recommended CONCISE Tutorials for Blender, ZBrush, Substance Painter & UE5

Ryan_JJ

Hi everyone, 

A few weeks ago I put a post up asking for peoples opinions on what softwares to learn as a beginner in Games Art & Design. 

I am now giving myself 3 weeks to learn Blender, ZBrush and Substance Painter. I wont go off on a tangent and explain why but I really cant push any further than 3 weeks for this stage. I have found some tutorials to do online and wanted to ask if anyone can vouch for them or raise any concerns with the plan I have set up for myself.

Note: I typically give myself double the time of the video length to get through a tutorial

Blender (I have done the donut and Anvil tutorial by BlenerGURU. I feel I have beginner confidence)
I can dedicate approx 5-6 hrs of time to this.
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2L_Oe7HsloQ

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYezbqk79tA&list=PLsGl9GczcgBunqnsT17P3q_nq51B1kqr0 (parts 1-3)


ZBrush
I can dedicate about 9 hours of time to this.
-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yKGfcp2z3k

-additional suggestions please??


Substance Painter
I can dedicate about 12 hours of time to this.
-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQ-hRk0WHJ8

-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBgdLmvK_U8


---------------
I can move time spent on different programs around if needed but this is roughly what I'm working with. Hence why I really need recommended ad concise tutorials to learn from as I've not got much wiggle room for failure.

Any suggestions are much appreciated!

Thanks!

Ryan_JJ

Edit: Didnt realise the post would add thumbnails. Hope this doesnt make it too hard to read!

Alex_J

what are you trying to accomplish exactly in three weeks?

Ryan_JJ

Alex_J said:

what are you trying to accomplish exactly in three weeks?

Sorry should’ve said. I’m aiming to have a good ‘beginners’ knowledge of the softwares. Confidence in knowing where most of the tools and best ways to use them.

Alex_J

that's more like a ten or twenty year goal, really.

for basic intro to the major modeling apps I think pluralsight still reigns supreme. they may still have a 30 day free trial. they'll have entire project based tutorial that crash course through major features of blender and so on. In three weeks you could run through a few of those quickly, but once you open it up to do your own thing you are hardly going to remember what to do. Will still need to be looking things up as you go for a long time before you are able to work quick and efficient on your own with minimal stop to look up how to do something.

and experimenting to find best tools to use, when and why, is something you'll always be doing for every different job.

zetheros

lol good luck

Rima

There's definitely no way you can attain adequate knowledge and skill with all of those in three weeks. Not even if you didn't need to eat or sleep, and could maintain an inhuman level of concentration. Even if you could understand the theory, that's not worth much by itself, because these are skills you can only really gain by doing.

If you try to learn everything, you won't learn anything. Pick one and focus on that for a while instead.

I recommend starting with Blender; the learning curve of that software is rough enough by itself, but if you can learn it, it's a good starting point for the other two, as you can use ZBrush to sculpt on high res versions of models you've made, and Substance to give them materials and textures, and because it's probably the most versatile, being able to sculpt, model, create shaders and all.

Zbrush and Substance are made to do very particular things; if you're just starting out, I think it's probably best to learn your basic 3D first.

Ryan_JJ

Alex_J said:

that's more like a ten or twenty year goal, really.

for basic intro to the major modeling apps I think pluralsight still reigns supreme. they may still have a 30 day free trial. they'll have entire project based tutorial that crash course through major features of blender and so on. In three weeks you could run through a few of those quickly, but once you open it up to do your own thing you are hardly going to remember what to do. Will still need to be looking things up as you go for a long time before you are able to work quick and efficient on your own with minimal stop to look up how to do something.

and experimenting to find best tools to use, when and why, is something you'll always be doing for every different job.

10-20 years to get beginner confidence in a software?.... That seems a bit exaggerated...

A crash Course is basically what I'm after. Tutorials which are good and concise (such as Unreal Sensei UE5 castle Tutorial and Blender Gurur's donut tutorial) I'm seeking that same level of knowledge for the apps I mentioned. However blender I am a bit more confident with already so for that I'm looking for something between beginner and intermediate. 

Ryan_JJ

zetheros said:

lol good luck

Thanks. Can you recommend any good beginner tutorials? 

Ryan_JJ

RimaModela said:

There's definitely no way you can attain adequate knowledge and skill with all of those in three weeks. Not even if you didn't need to eat or sleep, and could maintain an inhuman level of concentration. Even if you could understand the theory, that's not worth much by itself, because these are skills you can only really gain by doing.

If you try to learn everything, you won't learn anything. Pick one and focus on that for a while instead.

I recommend starting with Blender; the learning curve of that software is rough enough by itself, but if you can learn it, it's a good starting point for the other two, as you can use ZBrush to sculpt on high res versions of models you've made, and Substance to give them materials and textures, and because it's probably the most versatile, being able to sculpt, model, create shaders and all.

Zbrush and Substance are made to do very particular things; if you're just starting out, I think it's probably best to learn your basic 3D first.

I have been focusing on Blender for the past month or so and now want to learn some of the basics of the other software I have learned. I am aware the learning process isnt just [watch something -> do it -> retain the knowledge forever] I am just looking for some suggestions for good beginner tutorials on these other softwares so that I have an understanding of how they work....

Can you recommend any tutorials? What are your thoughts on the tutorials I have in my original post?...

zetheros

Ryan_JJ said:

zetheros said:

lol good luck

Thanks. Can you recommend any good beginner tutorials? 

no, I'm not going to recommend them, I don't even remember which ones I watched; the beginner tuts I used are outdated by now even if you can even find them on the web. You'll have to forge your own path of blood sweat and tears, this involves learning how to use google, youtube, and reading documentary on the software you'll be using.

no one beginner tut will help you achieve your goal, you're looking at dozens of tutorials per app, ranging from minutes to hours long, and you'll have to follow these tuts step by step over the span of months (if you're insanely good at learning and have hours of free time each day) to get any sense of a beginner's grasp at 3d from zero.

Alex_J

Ryan_JJ said:

10-20 years to get beginner confidence in a software?.... That seems a bit exaggerated...

You caught me. I was lying to see if you are really determined or not

Look, there is no stopping you. If you find a tutorial and it is not as concise as you like you'll just become good at skimming and watching at 2x speed. Or you'll drop it and find another. Get back with us in three months and show what sort of models you are making then somebody might be able to say if you are learning slowly or quickly

if speed is your goal then you should watch all the tutorials on a subject, not spend extra time trying to find the perfect tutorial. Just like if you want to learn math. Dont spend two weeks searching for the perfect math book. Go through all of them as quick as you can so you know what is thrre, then start testing yourself and when you get stumped refer back to the books. once you face problem and reference back to the material to work through the solution step by step will you begin to develop the fundamental knowledge.

just watching and following along the first time won't give you much useful knowledge. A general approach is like this:

skim tutorial so you understand big picture of what is in there

go through it, following along step by step. you'll hit a bunch of problems not covered in ttutorial and have to look them up to keep going.

finish it, take some time of so brain can rest and then either do a new tutorial from different author which covers same material, or if you are feeling froggy you can try to redo what you did in tutorial but with your own twist, and when you get stuck just reference back to it. Naturally you'll hit new problems and have to google them one by one.

I don't think there is any quicker way to learn. If you are very smart perhaps you require less repetition than us regular morons.

one new tool you have which many of us didn't is chatgpt. its particularly good at figuring out your question without you having to define it properly, so that can be a big speed boost. but it can also tell you a bunch of nonsense too so have to have some small sense about the subject to be able to discern fact from fiction.

Ryan_JJ

zetheros said:

Ryan_JJ said:

zetheros said:

lol good luck

Thanks. Can you recommend any good beginner tutorials? 

no, I'm not going to recommend them, I don't even remember which ones I watched; the beginner tuts I used are outdated by now even if you can even find them on the web. You'll have to forge your own path of blood sweat and tears, this involves learning how to use google, youtube, and reading documentary on the software you'll be using.

no one beginner tut will help you achieve your goal, you're looking at dozens of tutorials per app, ranging from minutes to hours long, and you'll have to follow these tuts step by step over the span of months (if you're insanely good at learning and have hours of free time each day) to get any sense of a beginner's grasp at 3d from zero.

Yes, trying to plan that path ahead of me, hence why I'm askiong here and have used google and youtube to find some whihc appear ot be recommedned. But I thought it might be good to present my finddings on here to see if anyone coujld spot any glaring issues. Luckily I'm not learning all 3D from scratch, just these softwares (besides blender). But I am aware I will be looking at dozens of tutorials. Hence why I added some in my original post and am asking for advice for more (if anyone can suggest any). That's the whole point of my post haha

Ryan_JJ

Alex_J said:

Ryan_JJ said:

10-20 years to get beginner confidence in a software?.... That seems a bit exaggerated...

You caught me. I was lying to see if you are really determined or not

Look, there is no stopping you. If you find a tutorial and it is not as concise as you like you'll just become good at skimming and watching at 2x speed. Or you'll drop it and find another. Get back with us in three months and show what sort of models you are making then somebody might be able to say if you are learning slowly or quickly

if speed is your goal then you should watch all the tutorials on a subject, not spend extra time trying to find the perfect tutorial. Just like if you want to learn math. Dont spend two weeks searching for the perfect math book. Go through all of them as quick as you can so you know what is thrre, then start testing yourself and when you get stumped refer back to the books. once you face problem and reference back to the material to work through the solution step by step will you begin to develop the fundamental knowledge.

just watching and following along the first time won't give you much useful knowledge. A general approach is like this:

skim tutorial so you understand big picture of what is in there

go through it, following along step by step. you'll hit a bunch of problems not covered in ttutorial and have to look them up to keep going.

finish it, take some time of so brain can rest and then either do a new tutorial from different author which covers same material, or if you are feeling froggy you can try to redo what you did in tutorial but with your own twist, and when you get stuck just reference back to it. Naturally you'll hit new problems and have to google them one by one.

I don't think there is any quicker way to learn. If you are very smart perhaps you require less repetition than us regular morons.

one new tool you have which many of us didn't is chatgpt. its particularly good at figuring out your question without you having to define it properly, so that can be a big speed boost. but it can also tell you a bunch of nonsense too so have to have some small sense about the subject to be able to discern fact from fiction.

Ok that's great and very useful. Thank you so so much for your time!

sacboi

grab Plasticity - you can thank me later 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvmiWHtAiqQ

 tute for the price of 2 starbuck coffees:

https://www.artstation.com/marketplace/p/5VNzN/alternative-hard-surface-game-ready-production

Blender Bridge Addon (Pro Version) - https://doc.plasticity.xyz/blender/install-blender-addon

Addon overview:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOftfx05l14

Scullder

BlenderGuru and FlippedNormals stuff is pretty great and straight to the point but I'm not really sure what can you accomplish in 3 weeks. I have five years of experience in 3D and I am still watching tutorials and learning everyday. This is not something like you learn one time and that is it. It is constantly evolving and changing and you have to be prepared for that.

Simple youtube/google search for a 3D tutorial regarding what ever software you choose will lead you to some great and cool stuff that you can learn and create. I am really curious what will you achieve in 3 weeks so please post some of your artwork here.

Don't give up and good luck. 

Ryan_JJ

Scullder said:

BlenderGuru and FlippedNormals stuff is pretty great and straight to the point but I'm not really sure what can you accomplish in 3 weeks. I have five years of experience in 3D and I am still watching tutorials and learning everyday. This is not something like you learn one time and that is it. It is constantly evolving and changing and you have to be prepared for that.

Simple youtube/google search for a 3D tutorial regarding what ever software you choose will lead you to some great and cool stuff that you can learn and create. I am really curious what will you achieve in 3 weeks so please post some of your artwork here.

Don't give up and good luck. 

Thanks, by no means am I expecting to becoming fully clued up in 3 weeks. I am well aware I will still be refering to tutorials for most of my early career/education. I am looking to have a beginner understanding of the softwares listed, hence why I was looking for beginner tutorials... I'd like to build up some basic muscle memory with the tools and how the programs work and how they differ etc.

I have been googling the relvant tutorials and the videos in my original post is what I had found. Was just putting it out into the forums here to see if anyone can suggest any additions/replacements/suggestions or steer me away from ones I had originally listed for whatever reason...

Alemja

I think the best tutorial and learning motivator is making what you want to make and look stuff up as you go. "Learning software" is only part of the battle, and some software has so much to it, like Blender, UE5 and you could argue Zbrush that knowing what you want to do is so important. There are many aspects of Blender I haven't really touched because I don't have to, like they cycles rendering pipeline. It's great, I've heard and seen how it's great, but I have never touched it because I render in Marmoset or put things into an actual engine. I've been doing 3D for about 15 years and there are so many aspects of various software that I only touch when I need to and I will learn them as I go, or have a project that forces me to learn the new thing.

Learning basic 3D concepts is also important, probably even more so than the software itself because those skills and that general knowledge can transfer between software pipelines. The knowledge you need can also vary between discipline, so knowing what you want to make will help you make sure you're learning the most important things to you and will probably help you retain information a lot better.

Out of all of the software programs you listed, Painter is probably the easiest to learn because it has a singular focus... however again you will learn it best if you have a project you need to texture.

Watching tutorials is honestly really dry and can be boring. If you really want to learn all of this stuff in 3 weeks, you need to make sure you're having fun with something you want to make too. Oh and you're going to fail... a lot, it's part of the process and it's how we actually learn, so even though you said you don't want to make room for failure, you really have to. It's not a bad catastrophic thing, I noodle with things all of the time trying to figure things out, every time it's a bunch of small failures that help lead me to the result I'm looking for and even though some of those failures weren't right for this project, they may work for something else. 

If I was in your place, this is probably a list of what could be realistically done in 3 weeks:

• Make a low poly model of a thing that interests you, shoot for 500-1000 triangles. Unwrap it. This should take you 1.5-2 weeks
• Ignore Zbrush for now
• Texture in substance and export the final textures
• Import your model in UE5, hook everything up and drop it into a scene

That at most will give you the bare-bones basics of everything you need to learn for each program.

Wishing you the best of luck!