How did you guys get started in modeling?

[Destron]

Hey, I've been trying to avoid modeling characters and stuff for my game up until now, but I've realized that I just need to jump in and get started.

I know a lot about 3D modeling, such as the terminology and applications used by professionals, but I could never wrap my head around a certain 3D package.

What sorts of books/tutorials helped you guys along when you started?

Thanks in advance.

//destron

P.S. If it helps any, I have access to Blender, gMax, and I also have a licensed copy of MilkShape.

[Juutis]

My advice is: start modeling. And keep doing it. The best way to learn it is to do it.

I've never used much tutorials. It's a form of art, after all, and everyone has their own style. So I prefer developing my own style rather than learning styles used by others.

But if you desperately need tutorials, here are some. http://www.psionic3d.co.uk/page.php?3
There's some pretty good stuff about lowpoly modeling with MilkShape and texturing with Photoshop.

[scott]

well for now i would use milkshape, it is simple to use but then it dont have many features wich is perfect for something like RF, if however your like myself and want to get into computer games design then i would try and stay away from milkshape, the trouble i am having is that i am very good with milkshape and am unwilling to try the top modeling programs such as 3ds max, wich when i go to university i will be using along side maya, these are what everyone uses in the leading games industry, i know for a fact that halo 3 was made using 3ds max for modeling just to show how powerful it is.

the only advice i can give you is from my own experience, that is using milkshape, i never read any tutorials at all until recently, apart from the very first time i opend milkshape and dint have a clue what a polygon was, the tutorial was making a very simple 30 pollygon or so stealth plane, after that i developed all my techniques myself until i struck upon the hard task of modeling a human head, this is because we see heads every single day and we recognise everone by their face so to us humans this is the single most hardest thing to get right as we notice even the slightest thing.

i made a small tutorial on how to make a wheel in milkshape wich could be useful for you, it uses techniques that can be aplied to alot of other models, and as juutis has said, practice, practice, practice... make something simple, it dont matter if you dont even need the model just make it, then make it again remember what you did the first time and how you could improve it, do this about 6 times, then move onto something different, again do it a few times improving as you go, then you can start exploring the world of modeling with the techniques you have picked up.

[ardentcrest]

i made a small tutorial on how to make a wheel in milkshape wich could be useful for you, it uses techniques that can be aplied to alot of other models, and as juutis has said, practice, practice, practice... make something simple, it dont matter if you dont even need the model just make it, then make it again remember what you did the first time and how you could improve it, do this about 6 times, then move onto something different, again do it a few times improving as you go, then you can start exploring the world of modeling with the techniques you have picked up.

Why not post the tutorial here and on http://filestore.rfcommunity.0lx.net/

[MakerOfGames]

I would suggest you pick a program and dive in head first. I am a trueSpace 3.2 user natively. TrueSpace 3.2 is free but it is from 1997 and does not have a good UV mapping tool for getting skins to texture objects. Also it doesn't have bones for animation it only uses joints so each piece of the character has to be modeled individually if you want to animate it easily. Because of this I am in the market to learn Blender.

Blender is a top of the line free modeler(http://www.blender.org). It has a steep, I mean STEEP , learning curve. But judging from what users have made with it, you can do just as much as any professional application with it. I am going to try and learn it myself just because you can't beat its features for its price. It currently isn't compatible with RF and you need to use a seperate program to convert models, but I believe that it saves natively to a model format that will be supported by RF2 when it releases.

One more thing is that practice makes perfect. Not only that, but if you practice enough, you can see your skills really grow in a short amount of time.

A tip for finding modeling tips is that once you pick a program to use, or have some skills behind you is to google for modeling tutorials. It doesn't matter what program they are for either. In the tutorials look for how they used the prefab shapes and polygon editing tools to create objects. What I mean is look at how they went about shaping the human, or weapon. Its that kind of information that will help you be able to figure out how to take a cube and make it into a piece of armor or a weapon. That will greatly help you advance your skills.

I hope this helped.

[scott]

because it wasnt anthing to do with reality factory, it only used milkshape, i forgot to put the link aswel
http://www.realityfactory.info/forum/vi ... php?t=2664
if you want to put it up on the site you can, just didnt mention it much as it dont involve RF

[ZenBudha]

I started in modeling over 5 years ago probably closer to 10 years now. However I've always been artistic, and like to draw, paint, etc.

First off always texture your models. Start the models simple, using phototextures. For example a sword, just grab a photo off the net, model it, and then phototexture it. Sounds easy but it's not.

The primary object is to keep the model clean. It's best to learn good modeling techniques first than to relearn after you've self taught yourself the wrong way to do things. Since this is art that has to work with software there is a right, and a wrong way to do things.

As an example...
http://ontarget.altervista.org/002.html

This is one of my earliest works. It's a phototexture, and even though it's fairly low poly it's still not low enough. Also it's made up of multiple pieces, and has hidden polys, and the UVW unwrapping is not spot on.
However I must have done 100 different medieval weapons this way.
Maybe 6 months later of 8 hours a day of modeling I ended up somewhere around...
http://ontarget.altervista.org/021.html

So don't get discouraged. However you have to put forth the time, and effort.

[darksmaster923]

Just pick a modeler and use it! if you wanna use wings, use it. if you wanna use milky, use it. if you wanna use gmax, use it! course it takes a long time to master the art of modeling.

and zen, i didnt think phototexturing was that hard..

[ZenBudha]

Depends on how well you know your tools. You only have to do something once. After that it's easy because you know how you did it the first time. It's doing it for the first time thats tricky.