I do modelling for 11 years and i say ,and dont spend too much time in 3d stuff-
specially if you re not going to get any money in the future from it.
If you work for hours,take breaks every 5-10 minutes the most.
There s no reason to put much money in.
Argile costs only 70 euro,and i assume someday you ll upgrade your computer to play newer games-not specifically for making 3d graphics.
If you want to know,i now regret that i spend more hours on the computer with modelling than i should.
Many times i should be out,doing other things that i miss now.
You model do UVW Unwrap,make skeleton and physique in gmax,in Argile you texture with the 3D Paint tools
and trade the model between the two programs as .obj.
(quidam- and quidam2 is another modeler -more expensive -the common spot is that argile can import export in quidam QDM format) .
You dont need quidam of course because as i said you animate in max.
If you dont hurry,you ll succeed.You dont need the college and all these tens thousands of euros for fees-
you can learn more things by yourself and later have a specialty in something as the time passes (character modeler,environment modeler,animator).
With rf you can do fun practice and to keep in touch with minor game development things,test your models,animations etc inside level previews,without being committed anyone.
You will need two years practicing -the minimum,so dont bother trying hard so early.
About the cg companies,many projects get cancelled,and they anyway drink your blood with the sponge.
Freelancers can earn more,and are free to work whenever they want.
Take a look at this:This article is monumental and even better,save it to disk.
Learn about Paul tosca,massimo righi and others.
There you ll find some of the most famous freelancers
http://area.autodesk.com/index.php/stories_bts/print/
Gmax Tutorials
Watch these and save to disk whatever can be saved
(Leave each video play again and again from the begining
until you have learned something).
Note,you may see various mapping types.You,use planar mapping to faces according their normals direction.
Normal maps need this planar mapping -or box mapping the most-
the other mapping types (spherical,cylindrical ,etc) are of no use to normal bump mapping.
Gmax Fundamentals- Part 2: Functions, Operations and Techniques
http://www.the3dresource.com/index.php? ... techniques
some more there
http://www.the3dresource.com/index.php?/gmax-tutorials
Gmax UV Mapping Video Tutorial
http://files.filefront.com/Gmax+UV+Mapp ... einfo.html
http://www.windyweather.net/WW/max/gmax/
http://www.fsdeveloper.com/wiki/index.p ... deo_(GMax)
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fusea ... id=1669335
http://www.freewebs.com/gmax-tutorial/a ... npart1.htm
http://www.freewebs.com/gmax-tutorial/candleholder.htm
http://airspace.uhk.cz/mlk/msfs/tutoria ... ng_01.html