Guidance on how to improve hard surface modeling
polycounter lvl 4
Hello everyone,
This is my first tread here, I'll try to be as complete as possible. For a basic introduction I'm like lots of people in here, I love 3D. I left a promising career in my country to start a new life in other. I've been studying 3D by myself for the past 2 years on my free time. I have made a good progress (imo) but now I feel that I don't know which path to take.
I really enjoy modeling props, specially weapons. Not so much into character sculpting but I want to try modeling armors.
I have watched a bunch of tutorials on a diversity of topics (quick start to Max or ZBrush, creating game assets on ZBrush or on Max, UV Unwrap, character modeling, professional game assets pipeline) but I feel that they don't connect to each other to give me the all idea of worrkflow/pipeline or I'm too dumb to see.
As I said before, I want to model props for games and I'm tired of wasting time with tutorials that are not for me (not right now).
Most of the stuff that I watched are from Digital Tutors, I know they have the Learning Paths, but I also feel that is not a very good path for me (am I wrong?)
Well, first if you read all of this thank you very much, it took a lot of effort to create this tread because I feel that I'm bothering people with silly questions. Second, what I'm looking for is some guidance, someone to tell me that I need to be able to model this and that before moving forward, then I should study this and practice with this. Someone to give feedback. I know that I'm asking too much but I assure you that I'm a fast learner and I'm not going to bother you too much. I'll try to find the answers by myself but I need a guidance on where to look.
I'll leave some stuff that I created here for you to take a look
https://sketchfab.com/mikewitk Max and Substance Painter. (Sketchfab created today October 12, 2015)
http://prntscr.com/8qnmii Dagger made entirely on ZBrush, but I failed to bring it to UE4 on a Low Poly mesh that I did (retopology)
http://prntscr.com/8qnp5u Hunting Knife made on Max, failed to bake maps on Max
Well, the rest I'm too ashamed to show, they are not very good anyway.
In summary, if it's too confusing, what I need to know is:
Should I watch this tut:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHg49CS2Mq0vbxxnAC5FdZIdcMiMUnu4_
or this one:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL925958D31D8D30C7
Or none of the above, I need to practice and study other stuffs.
Thank you again for reading all of this.
Best,
Mike
This is my first tread here, I'll try to be as complete as possible. For a basic introduction I'm like lots of people in here, I love 3D. I left a promising career in my country to start a new life in other. I've been studying 3D by myself for the past 2 years on my free time. I have made a good progress (imo) but now I feel that I don't know which path to take.
I really enjoy modeling props, specially weapons. Not so much into character sculpting but I want to try modeling armors.
I have watched a bunch of tutorials on a diversity of topics (quick start to Max or ZBrush, creating game assets on ZBrush or on Max, UV Unwrap, character modeling, professional game assets pipeline) but I feel that they don't connect to each other to give me the all idea of worrkflow/pipeline or I'm too dumb to see.
As I said before, I want to model props for games and I'm tired of wasting time with tutorials that are not for me (not right now).
Most of the stuff that I watched are from Digital Tutors, I know they have the Learning Paths, but I also feel that is not a very good path for me (am I wrong?)
Well, first if you read all of this thank you very much, it took a lot of effort to create this tread because I feel that I'm bothering people with silly questions. Second, what I'm looking for is some guidance, someone to tell me that I need to be able to model this and that before moving forward, then I should study this and practice with this. Someone to give feedback. I know that I'm asking too much but I assure you that I'm a fast learner and I'm not going to bother you too much. I'll try to find the answers by myself but I need a guidance on where to look.
I'll leave some stuff that I created here for you to take a look
https://sketchfab.com/mikewitk Max and Substance Painter. (Sketchfab created today October 12, 2015)
http://prntscr.com/8qnmii Dagger made entirely on ZBrush, but I failed to bring it to UE4 on a Low Poly mesh that I did (retopology)
http://prntscr.com/8qnp5u Hunting Knife made on Max, failed to bake maps on Max
Well, the rest I'm too ashamed to show, they are not very good anyway.
In summary, if it's too confusing, what I need to know is:
Should I watch this tut:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHg49CS2Mq0vbxxnAC5FdZIdcMiMUnu4_
or this one:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL925958D31D8D30C7
Or none of the above, I need to practice and study other stuffs.
Thank you again for reading all of this.
Best,
Mike
Replies
Don't be ashamed to show your work - put it up in the showcase forum - then when you hit a problem people can help you.
One of my concerns are: What should I study now that will improve my skills?
Because I feel like wandering around, with no objective, just doing stuff.
Cheers
Grant Warwick's hard surface tutorial is amazing
https://vimeo.com/10941211
Also Arrimus 3D's channel on youtube is also great
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSLLdTBwLMfTKWS56tOiQpw
this is really good advise. I know a lot of artists that didn't make it far because of not showing their work.
My only suggestion is to make more finished work and ask for criticism. For example you say in a few cases that you've hit a technical problem and can't finish the piece. (eg the knife)
If you start a thread about those pieces in the 3D art forum you might get some useful solutions and feedback.
Here are my suggestions.
Gather tons of references. and make sure they are correct. If you are modeling something like a gun. make sure its a real gun. airsoft guns look close to the real thing, but they leave out a lot of detail or they have made up parts that are not on the real gun. Constantly check your model against your reference to make sure it has the right proportions before you start to add detail. its way easier to fix skewed proportions before the model gets complex
Your dagger is either a bit too thick or too short or both(ive scene the tutorial), but your detail is not bad for someone who has been teaching themselves only in their spare time. This stuff is all about practice, and observation. Everyone started out at the same point as you . No one just makes something AAA quality their first time.
I would suggest watching both of those tutorials you asked about. they are both good and cover the basics. The tracker knife tutorial is very good, beginner friendly and is not an extremely complex model to make. not too much has to be exploded in the bake.
Do not feel ashamed to show work that you think there is something wrong with it. If it makes you feel better start the post off with "hey I hate how this looks can anyone give me feed back on what I need to improve on." It's good that you are critical of your work because that will drive you to improve.
I know too many people who are still at the school I graduated from that will ask me for help (and I do help them), and ask if I could critique their work. When I finish critiquing I ask them if they have posted it on polycount to get other peoples opinions and they say "its not good enough, Ill post something on Polycount when I feel like its perfect." I've never understood that logic. It will never be perfect. and if it was then there would be no point in critiquing it.
As far as goals for yourself. Pick a game studio that you think you would want to work at and model things that would be seen in their games. If you like blizzard model environments and props that you would see in wow or diablo with the stylized look. Want to work on something like Assasins Creed model props and environments that look real. Just keep practicing and learning as you go until your work looks like it cane fit in the games you want to work on. It may take a while before you see a change, but you will improve. Every model that you finish that you hate will be better than the one before.
So don't be ashamed. Post away, listen to critique, and keep at it.
good luck dude
I'm thankful for each and every opinion. I'll read them carefully and try my best to improve and show to everyone for feedback.
If you have any other suggestions, please make it.
THank you all again.