Looking to potentially subscribe to a 3D magazine. Any pointers?

Clinch_Control

Firstly I'd like to say Hullo! I've been a small time lurker on Polycount but recently decided to make an account and really get into this great site :]

I've been contemplating on subscribing to a 3D magazine, I am a 2nd year computer games design student and enjoy all aspects of modelling, whether it be environment/character or anything in-between.

From what I've seen so far '3D World' & '3D Artist' seem to be solid, if anyone here has subs to these mags or any others for that matter I'd be really grateful to hear your opinion on them!

I hope this wasn't too drawn out, thanks for reading.

Clinch_Control

Shameless bump, had some trouble with account activation so this invisible thread dropped a few pages

ojlsparkes

those are the best to subscribe to, there are not any others that are worthy

Clinch_Control

Alright man cheers for the input - I know that a lot of tutorials and articles can be found online, but if these magazines are coming with tutorials loaded onto discs that are worth a fair amount then it seems like a decent idea to invest :]

Tom Ellis

I've got a subscription to 3D World, and despite me being a huge advocate for digital magazines (iPad, Kindle etc) I love it.

It's always got some decent articles and interviews in. I personally don't ever use the tutorials, but the features on the big projects going on in the 3D world are always an interesting read and it often gives good insight into workflows / production pipelines of studios.

I really wouldn't recommend subscribing for the tutorials though. I think out of the 40 or so issues I've got, I've actually put the cover disc in my computer probably twice. If it's pure training you're after, you'd be far better off getting a month subscription to Digital Tutors, you'd learn more in a month than in a years worth of 3DWorld I'd say.

It's also obviously filled with inspiration. They hardly ever cover games though, they focus on the animation industry and also a lot of illustration stuff, TV / Film / Advertising etc. Architecture is often featured pretty heavily too.

I've only bought 3D Artist once or twice but it's never that great I find, certainly nowhere near as good as 3DWorld.

mdeforge

Holy crap, over $120 for a year? Sir, just read Polycount or something. You'll learn more. I imagine much of any useful 3D information is lost on non-savvy writers and editors. The internet is wonderful!

Tom Ellis

Stradigos wrote: »

Holy crap, over $120 for a year? Sir, just read Polycount or something. You'll learn more. I imagine much of any useful 3D information is lost on non-savvy writers and editors. The internet is wonderful!

There's more to it than that. As I said, for pure learning the mag is not that great. But having a 4 page article with interviews from Pixar or ILM that you can sit down with on the couch with a coffee will always beat mindless trapesing around forums and Google.

Sure the internet is the ultimate resource for everything, but condensing a bunch of inspirational articles into a magazine format that pull you away from the computer is sometimes a nice thing.

But yeah, if you just want the highest learning>money ratio, then do what Stradigos said.

Clinch_Control

Thanks for the input guys, I'll look into 3DWorld as a magazine, however I won’t be making a decision until I'm done for the summer. I will forget about the tutorials though, as there are so many amazing ones on the internet, and you're right Stradigos, after checking this site out for a few days I've already picked up some great things.

For interviews, workflow and articles on anything related to 3D graphics subbing to a mag could be great for me as I engross myself further into Computer Games Design :]

Again, thanks for taking the time to reply.

EDIT - I would be getting the magazine for the reasons stated by Creationtwentytwo above, to have a more diverse understanding and bigger insight of the CG world as a whole, and getting away from the computer every now and again is always a good thing :]

Tom Ellis

See if you can pick up a copy of 3DWorld to see what you think. The quality is often consistent so you should get a good idea of how you like it.

It's sometimes tricky to find in the shops, but WHSmith do seem to stock it.

Clinch_Control

Alright, I'll have to pop into town during the week and have a look, cheers man

Gannon

edge is nice.

Calabi

I get either sometimes, depends on the articles and tutorials in whichever. There mostly interchangable, so similar they must be from the same publisher. I wouldnt subscribe to be honest no point in locking yourself in when the other magazine might have something good in it. Best is to read them in WHsmith and buy one or the other occasionally.

I do wish we had better magazines instead of these commercialised rubbish though.

XenoKratios

I love 3DCreative, they are quite cheap and very imformative. Always has a good interview in each mag.

http://www.3dcreativemag.com/

Andreas

The internet.

BadgerBaiter

I'm in my second year down at Brighton

I have been reading 3d World for a while now and I love it.
I used to subscribe to MiniWorld and MiniMag as well (mini related, suprisingly) until my car went into the garage and I ran out of money!
Yes there s the internet and yes there are PDF versions or whatever for the rubbishy ipad etc... however, I do still love reading books and magazines as I find it gives me a break from the computer screen.

crazyfool

I used to buy 3d world and 3d artist religiously, but now they just gather dust and I think what a waste of money it all is. At £6 an issue its not really worth it in my eyes, I now just pop down WHsmith and have a read through and see if theres anything interesting in them that makes them worth a purchase. I havent bought any in months as all the cool stuff is circling the forums and the tutorials in them very rarely apply to what Im doing or the software I use.

They are great for people starting out and wanting to get into the industry but they just dont do it for me anymore. I buy imagineFX and Edge every month though which are alot more useful.

3Dartist is definetly my favourite of the two though, greater design and alot more insightful, I found that they really concentrate on the art side where as 3d worlds more about the technical aspects and is just not as much fun to read. The behind the studio section in 3dartist is always a great read aswell. Gav and Kekai Kotakis recent project collab in 3dartist was pretty good fun also.

Tom Ellis

crazyfool wrote: »

They are great for people starting out and wanting to get into the industry but they just dont do it for me anymore. I buy imagineFX and Edge every month though which are alot more useful.

Ah yeah forgot about that one, ImagineFX is always awesome.

I've never read Edge though, sounds like I should check it out.

Also, look out for the 'special editions' that 3DWorld / ImagineFX do. There's a pretty good ImagineFX one on anatomy that came out a little while ago, and 3DWorld have one on ZBrush which is pretty good for picking up a few tips.

Playdo

creationtwentytwo wrote: »

I've only bought 3D Artist once or twice but it's never that great I find, certainly nowhere near as good as 3DWorld.

Personally, I've found 3dArtist to usually have the better content. Though depending what you're into either of them can be hit or miss.

After looking at my magazine collection and seeing all those 6+ pounds per mag adding up (I don't subscribe), I now tend to just have a good read in WHSmith's instead ..unless there is a really useful article in there.

@Badger: How's Brighton going for you? Is Andrew teaching you?

Clinch_Control

I've heard a little about ImagineFX myself, guess I'll just have to pop into town and give all of them a look (If the WHSmith in town stock them heh)

Thanks for all the replies guys, appreciated.

Lennyagony

To the few people mentioning the cost of these, if you work in the industry full time for a studio, the odd contract or anywhere in between, you can claim magazines on your tax return. In Australia at least.

Jeremy Lindstrom

I'd have to say I used to 'love' 3D World, but it's gotten so popular now it's watered down trash, it's got a few nuggets, in there but with modo/maya/softimage/zbrush/max/etc/etc/etc/ they have too few actual applicable tutorials now and where it used to be mainly a max magazine, it's now mostly every few months you get something you might be able to use.

Clinch_Control

So as a tutorial based magazine it's not that great, but as a magazine surrounding the world of 3D/3D art (articles, interviews, behind the scenes, workflow, etc) it's worth it

XenoKratios

There's also Develop, but it's more of a game development mag. A good free read none the less

http://www.develop-online.net/

Jungsik

Its totally worth it - my friend gets subscription 3D world and he brings it to class - and I'm thinking of getting it now too - Its greatt.......... Totally WORHT IT