Training DVD: Introduction to Character Creation Part 1

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From Montage Studio this new DVD (currently only available in download form) is set to be part of a series of exercises that will walk newer users through modeling, texturing and animating in Blender.

From the Montage Studio blog:

I’m pleased to announce Montage Studio’s third training DVD has hit the (digital) shelves! Meant as a crash course in modeling with Blender for newer users, this training DVD takes the viewer through the basics of the interface, navigation, modeling, etc. Then puts all of it to the test with a step-by-step modeling exercise in creating your first character!

This is part 1 in what will eventually be a three-part DVD series:

Part 1: modeling
Part 2: texturing/rendering
Part 3: animation


Training DVD: Introduction to Character Creation SAMPLE CLIP from
Jonathan Williamson on Vimeo.

Find out more information at the Montage Studio blog. Or visit the product page to purchase.

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    • http://redbirdiii.blogspot.com RedBirdiii

      Definitely a must have!
      **Clicking on the site link to order the DVD**

    • http://www.taddmencer.com Tadd

      Sweetness. I’m definitely interested. *peak*

    • Lil’ Wayne

      I think he wanna get money by any ways ^^

    • MyFault

      Bought and watching now. Really great so far, especially for a blender newb like myself. Look forward to the next two!

    • JonnyMac

      I have only looked at a couple of the videos but it appears to be a bit of a “bang it out quick and make a buck” project. That’s not to say that the material isn’t worthwhile, but I find it annoying to pay $30 for what’s billed as “professional” only to have shoddy audio (some bits are downright terrible [compression aliasing]). Is editing audio and video lost on so many people? With no on-screen presenters there is no reason these guys couldn’t have edited audio mistakes — no reason except for laziness… or lack of pride in one’s work. Maybe I’m old fashioned, or maybe it’s that I live and work in Hollywood were presentation is considered important.

    • llonden

      Ummm..well…
      I think I’m gonna stick to purchasing that Creature Factory DVD for the meantime.
      Now that one had me SOLD.

    • http://www.lenwest.org Len

      @JonnyMac: I haven’t heard the sound so I can’t comment on that, however I know that Jonathan worked for a long time on this so it’s certainly not a case of “bang it out quick”.

      I think this will be excellent for newbies who’d like a quick and thorough crash course to Blender ;-)

    • Dorian

      Looks different (icons) from the build I downloaded from the official Blender site. Confusing for newbie?

    • http://www.fantomgl.com MikeHart

      Don’t call it a DVD when it is for download only. How big is the download anyway?

    • http://redbirdiii.blogspot.com RedBirdiii

      Is it a download? oh no.. please god no..
      I want a real DVD!

    • Lil Wayne

      @ RedBirdiii

      I saw you blog and guess what,

      “Unfortunately, cmiVFX does not send DVDs anymore, because they’ve become green. Their new moto now is:

      “NO MORE DVD’S = NO POLLUTION!”

      I though that it’s ok for me to download a video then.”

    • http://www.montagestudio.org Jonathan Williamson

      @JonnyMac, I’m not going to try and say the audio is particularly great but I wouldn’t say it’s as bad as you’re making it out to be. Unfortunately parts of it are worse than others as I had to switch to lower quality mic when I moved.

      @llonden, I think we’re all SOLD on the Creature Factory DVD. There’s no doubt Andy’s work is TOP-NOTCH. I can’t even try and say mine is on the same level.

      @Len, that’s the idea :) Quick, but thorough.
      Len Edit Link Jul 1st, 2008 at 7:01 am

      @Dorian, you’re right, the icons are slightly different in a couple of the videos. This was a mistake on my part, I switched over to the new Tango icon theme and didn’t remember to change it back ’til everything was said and done. It shouldn’t be too confusing though as the introductory videos in chapter 1 are the original set.

      @MikeHart, the DVD form will be available soon. It will be a little while before I can get them printed and packaged so I went ahead and released the download version rather than make people wait.

      @RedBirdiii, coming soon ;)

      ————

      Thank you everyone for your comments and critiques. For those that see problems with the current presentation I will do my absolute best to remedy those concerns in Part 2: Texturing and Rendering.

    • http://www.taddmencer.com Tadd

      While I agree that if it’s not a pressed DVD they shouldn’t call it a DVD, I think that’s kind of nit-picking. If you want it on DVD, buy the download and burn it on your own DVD.

      As far as those who are talking crap because the guy is selling his wares: come on. Get over it. Really, think about it – are you going to go your life giving everything you do with Blender away for free? All your hard work, freely available? If they wanted to make it free, good and great I can’t afford to pay. If they want to charge $30 or more … their choice. No use in complaining about it. He has some free tutorials on his site that are worth watching.

      I just find it funny that people complain when groups charge for anything. I think I’ll go complain that McDonalds charges for their potatoes since you can grow a potato for free.

      hehehe

    • JonnyMac

      @Jonathan: Moving and switching to a lower quality mic is just what I was referring to: bang it out quick to make a buck. A professional would have used a professional mic and edited the audio to remove mistakes, and would have compressed the files for consistant quality in both audio and video (the video portion looks fine in all that I’ve seen).

      It’s clear from what I have viewed that this is an attempt at a one-take wonder. Professionals (here in Hollywood, anyway) go further than that… I’m suggesting that when you charge for your product you should, too.

    • http://www.montagestudio.org Jonathan Williamson

      @JonnyMac, I’m not trying for a one-hit wonder. My goal from the beginning (with this dvd, my other two, and my free tutorials) has been to produce a resource that the CG and Blender community can learn from. If the simple fact that I can’t afford a professional grade mic means I’m not a professional, than I’m fine with that. I would rather be judged by the quality of work and techniques I present rather than just the presentation.

      Again, I’m not trying to claim this is a *Hollywood* quality production; I’m nothing more than a college student trying to pay the bills and share my skills at the same time by giving back to the community that has taught me so much.

    • Tony

      JonnyMac, for pete’s sake, there’s a sample online, you checked it out, and decided it wasn’t something you wanted to pay for. That’s fine. As for whether the product is worth the price, I’m sure Jonathan can do exactly what “Hollywood” does and let the market determine that.

    • Anthony

      I purchased the tutorial and have watched it. I think the bottom line is that Jonathan got the point across to the newer users and that’s what really matters. He did it in a clear easy to understand fashion and you have to start somewhere, so what if he doesn’t have completely professional resources at the moment the tutorial still works.

    • JonnyMac

      I will bow out after this — clearly the YouTube generation has little regard for production quality (and the cost of “pro” quality tools is near nil; one could easily record and clean the audio in another FREEWARE tool: Audacity). Thank Goodness the developers of Blender have a different attitude about the quality of their product — and they don’t charge for it. My [rhetorical] question is: If the production quality is flawed, could the information presented equally flawed? (Sorry, this is how Hollywood thinks, so it’s in my make-up). I will begrudgingly force myself through the bad audio to find out if the information presented is actually worthwhile. I hope so….

    • http://www.montagestudio.org Jonathan Williamson

      @JonnyMac, I look forward to hearing what you think of the actual content.

    • BlenderLovingSquirrel

      Well this is the second time in a short period of time where I learned something really cool just from the previews of JW’s videos.

      thanks, really helpful!

      @Jmac – I think it’s a good tutorial from what I can see because what I want in instructional video is a feeling of starnding over the shoulder of the instructor as he models. Or sitting right next to him while he talks candidly about what he/she’s doing. But I can also see what you’re saying – there are audio/visual philes and industry people who would agree with you. Or people who fee like their $30 should purchase not only good info but good everything else including a snazzy logo on the box, such as DVD collector types.

      Though I go for the info first, I could throw away the box (or recycle it). And the audio was clear to me.

    • theLichKing

      @JonnyMac
      don’t compare the work of a modest and active college student to the work of a multi-millionaire international company.. It just doesn’t work.

    • BlendRoid

      @JonnyMac: One look at Jonathon’s site or his phenomenal modeling time-lapses and anyone with half an educated opinion can see that he’s as professional as they come.

      Bashing his work because he doesn’t have the money for an exorbitantly priced microphone is really very foolish. Not everyone here’s a rich kid with money to blow left and right to satisfy “Hollywood professionals,” who, according to you, believe that your opinion doesn’t count unless it can be played in HD.

      I’m really glad the Blender community doesn’t share such a view.

    • http://www.montagestudio.org Jonathan Williamson

      Thank you everyone for your comments. Just as long the community continues to have a positive response towards these dvds I’ll continue producing them.

      A quick glimpse of dvds in the making/planned for the near future:

      -Character Creation Part 2: Texturing, Lighting and Rendering your character
      -Character Creation Part 3: Animating your character
      -Vehicle Design process: from concept to finished render

      Note, the vehicle one will not be mine but Jean-Sébastian Guillemette’s, as he is now a member of Montage Studio.

    • http://tieleman.m.googlepages.com Freakydude

      Stop bashing johhnymac for stating these points. The guys from montagestudio seem to bring good to understand tutorials around (can’t really judge, bookmarked the site the first time I saw it but never had the need to watch the tutorials, sorry…) and that is not a bad thing.

      His points are valid though, and there is nothing wrong with him stating them, regardless of him being right or wrong. You don’t need to be rich to get “pro” tools these days… and you don’t need “pro hardware” tools to make “professional” content either. Just some creativity, something these guys do not have a shortage of.

      Calling people rich kids with money to blow just because he stated the audio isn’t all that good is rather insulting if you ask me. Just because some of us have a daytime job doesn’t mean we are “rich kids”. And I sure as hell wouldn’t want to be called one.

      The guys from montagestudio know their stuff, and they released plenty of well received material while asking for nothing in return. That should say enough about their character. But when someone notices some potential flaw and mentions it, you shouldn’t insult him for it.

    • BlendRoid

      Freakydude, it seems you’re the only one who has misunderstood JonnyMac so far.

    • dyf

      @JonnyMac and Freakydude
      you can say all you want.. the Adrianna face tutorial by Jonathan Williamson is the best of the best resources for modeling a character’s head in blender.. Sure, i hear construction work in the background, and the audio quality isn’t good to say the least but i learned from that video what i think no one was able to teach me and i’m not exaggerating..
      Once someone with this modeling and teaching skills (i won’t say YOU GUYS) comes up with at least something that matches Jonathan’s work, i’ll consider your points valid..

    • ccherrett

      BlendRoid,

      Jonathan should be able to afford a decent mic after the tutorials I bought so far :)

      It does not take a lot of money to put together a great sounding vocal track. That is just not the case.

      Jonathan,

      nice to see you box modeling now :)

    • Odell L.

      Once I can scrape together a little bit of extra cash, I’ll definitely be buying this video, but I must voice my personal opinion that the $30 price tag is quite steep. I think maybe $20 at the very most would be a lot more reasonable of a price for them

    • Sovvolf

      I think this is a rip off and the author needs shooting this is a free engine and your taking advantage of poeple new to the engine to make alittle extra cash if you want to help poeple then help poeple dont make them have to pay for it. and for those paying for the dvd i wouldnt bother just look around and find a free tutorial by some one who wants to help you not rip you off, $30 for a bloke to tell you what to do…. id rather figure it out my self. sure if he wants to make money from his accoplishments at least set a reasonable price lile $5 or $10 but $30…. your a discrace.