Where do I pick things up again?
Greetings fellow polycounter's, it's been awhile.
I've been totally absent from the model/texture scene for a few years now during my time attending school. I left "the field" so to speak, but never realized how much I missed it until recently. I loved making things for games, that's all there is to it. I'm really happy to see that almost all of the regulars from then have landed respectable industry positions. Congratulations fellahs!
I have a problem now though. Quake 3 was brand spanking new when I stopped. Shaders were this new mysterious thing. Models could actually aim.
I've been browsing all day after re registering, and I gotta say, things have advanced tremendously. Honestly, it's a bit overwhelming. Normal maps, spec maps, higher poly counts, quads, n-poly's, etc. I'm pretty floored by some of the stuff being pumped out in everyone's spare time these days. I gather there isn't much of a market for the old school 2d guys anymore.
Here's where I'm looking for: any and all advice.
I still love skinning/texturing, but it doesn't seem to be a position anymore. I want to advance into making models, and learning the ropes, the light at the end of the tunnel hopefully being some sort of industry job. What do I need to know? Perhaps this thread could end up as "so you wanna get a job" or something.
I'm looking for directions to be pointed towards, any. I have a lot of catch up to do, but I'm willing to bust hump to get there. So far I've been messing around in maya 2008 and zbrush. It's all pretty ugly, but it's a process, right? I bought Learning Autodesk Maya 2008 (Official Autodesk book) to help with some fundamental understandings. So far so good I suppose.
I've been totally absent from the model/texture scene for a few years now during my time attending school. I left "the field" so to speak, but never realized how much I missed it until recently. I loved making things for games, that's all there is to it. I'm really happy to see that almost all of the regulars from then have landed respectable industry positions. Congratulations fellahs!
I have a problem now though. Quake 3 was brand spanking new when I stopped. Shaders were this new mysterious thing. Models could actually aim.
I've been browsing all day after re registering, and I gotta say, things have advanced tremendously. Honestly, it's a bit overwhelming. Normal maps, spec maps, higher poly counts, quads, n-poly's, etc. I'm pretty floored by some of the stuff being pumped out in everyone's spare time these days. I gather there isn't much of a market for the old school 2d guys anymore.
Here's where I'm looking for: any and all advice.
I still love skinning/texturing, but it doesn't seem to be a position anymore. I want to advance into making models, and learning the ropes, the light at the end of the tunnel hopefully being some sort of industry job. What do I need to know? Perhaps this thread could end up as "so you wanna get a job" or something.
I'm looking for directions to be pointed towards, any. I have a lot of catch up to do, but I'm willing to bust hump to get there. So far I've been messing around in maya 2008 and zbrush. It's all pretty ugly, but it's a process, right? I bought Learning Autodesk Maya 2008 (Official Autodesk book) to help with some fundamental understandings. So far so good I suppose.
Replies
EQ- Pm sent buddy
Or is it some leftover prejudice from back when Autodesk hadn't aquired Alias yet and they were *gasp* "the Enemy" ?
What is so horrible about modeling in Maya ?
So it seems guy's are preferring mudbox over zbrush. Why?
It scares most people off because it just works different then other apps. They name things weirdly and they put things in odd places as well as clutter up the interface with all manor of useless tools (only useless at first). V3 went a long way in making it more user friendly and it really is an amazing app.
I switched from mudbox to Zbrush and haven't looked back. For a while I would build forms in Mudbox and detail in Zbursh but after I got used to it I just stuck to Zbrush. I'd keep my eye on Skymatter now that they are owned by Autodesk, it could bring about some amazing innovation and really give Zbrush a run for its money or they could stagnate and prove utterly useless. I do thank Mudbox for being a thorn in Pixelogic's side and prodding them into creating some great advancements.
http://draster.com/component/page,shop.product_details/flypage,software-flypage/product_id,35/category_id,7/manufacturer_id,0/option,com_virtuemart/
But otherwise, its damn impressive.
Selection:
full loop/ring = select edge/vert/poly and ctrl+shift double click on non-adjacent one.
partial loop/ring = select edge/vert and ctrl+shift double click on adjacent one.
Other = Edge loops can be selected by simply double clicking on one
Paint = Hold tab while using LMB. Start on non-selected to select, or on selected to deselect.
Chamfer = Select edges/verts, ctrl+shift+MMB
Delete loop ctrl+del
QuadDraw = LMB to place points, hold shift and drag LMB over surface to draw polys
Soft selection:
Enable = B
Falloff = B+LMB drag
Extrude = ctrl+shift+MMB
The strength of Maya is that everything is unified. You can basically access the whole app from within the hotbox, which is great for fullscreen users. However the downside is, when you model you have to look for each and every operation in this hotbox - at the expense of a rather heavy, multiple submenus navigation. After a while you end up creating shortcuts or shelfs buttons for the things you need the most but I dont think that is something that people new to a program are eager to do (especially since some of these shortcuts need code editing aso). Also, every operation is stacked up in a editable history list, which is great in some case but can also create errors because of a very complex node network buildup.
On the other hand in Max you simply convert your mesh to edit poly, and you will get all the modelling tools you need in one panel. No history in there, you simply edit the mesh without keeping track of multiple operations (which is the way specialized modelers like Wings and Silo do). You can still add a history of operations on top of that (modifiers) but thats not something you need for core polygon operations like bevelling, connecting edges aso. Max's edit poly mode has been thought to give you all you need under your hand, which is why it is much better for beginners to mess around with and experiment. That's basically what Nex is doing, its just that it uses advances keyboard combos instead of a panel of sliders and buttons.
I find Maya very good but sometimes too complex for simple things. For instance to connect verts in Maya you need to use the split polygon tool, slide your pointer along the edge of the verts you want to start the new edge from, and then slide the same way for the second vert. In Max you just select the two verts and hit connect. Same result, different appraoch. Yet split polygon can be use to cut through many other edges accross the the model, while Max relies on another tool for this, called Cut. I think it's a good example of a unified VS specialized workflow. To each his own.
Hence to bring back this thread on topic, FearMe I would strongly advise you against Maya if you want to go back to modelling, especially for complex hard surface work - it simply is not suited for that kind of things. I would recommend a more solid, thought out app with stong, dedicated tools developped over the years. (I am speaking only about modelling here).