Very nice! I agree with having more video tutorials from you. I would pay double for such good information/tutorials. That pit scene you were working on was just too good. (shaders and all) Go Canada!
To increase your texturing skills, I would strongly suggest you to take a look at racer445's tutorials : http://cg.tutsplus.com/tutorials/photoshop/how-to-hand-paint-convincing-metal-textures/ http://www.nextgenhardsurface.com/index.php?pageid=racer445
Since you're talking about reactor and I think Maya is reactor-less? I'm going to take a wild stab in the dark and say you're using max? http://www.escalight.com/tutorials/3dsmax-tutorials/earthquake-part-1.html
I think that you will learn much more with Video Tutorials. The money that i spend for Art School was thrown out of the window. @School i learned maybe 3% of my complete knowledge. 97% is selfstudy and watching Video Tutorials.
@imbueFX first, thanks for that informative post. Will your tutorial for beginners cost anything? Don't know how 3dmotive works. Or is it more like a monthly subscription? I think your tutorial would be THE place to start for me. Cheers, Sharky
Here's a tutorial for doing the rounded normal baking in 1.5.0 beta. http://www.mightybake.com/tutorial-rounded-baking/ . Object courtesy of @malcolm. Here's a quick preview of each of the different directions. Suface Normals Geometry Normals Rounded Normals (New)
www.c4dcafe.com has a multitude of free tutorials, there is also a good bodypaint dvd on sale but you might be able to figure out whats what buy doing some of the tutorials, I use c4d at work and max. Nice community too
It's difficult to known what the issue is exactly from this image, if you could explain it in more detail I may be able offer further advice. In the mean time you should read this tutorial: https://www.marmoset.co/posts/toolbag-baking-tutorial/
Kanga - looks nice, you should consider doing a tutorial series on Gumroad or something with that similar to the Mike Pav vids, I think a lot of people would benefit from it.... and now I realise I'm the 'tutorial plz' guy :P
Gnoop - Sorry to hear that you dont find the new suite satisfactory, we´re really pushing for more tutorials and learning materials and it will come in due time! Did you mean tutorials on dirt and weathering effects for the old or new suite?