CG Cookie just launched a new workshop on topology.
Pavla writes:
Models are the center of everything created in 3D, so they're important to create properly. Topology is how a mesh's vertices, edges, and faces combine to form shapes, and good topology uses those components in the most practical way possible. In this course, you'll learn a slew of mesh editing and selection tools, as well as how to use them to create good topology. By the end, you should be able to model anything that you set your mind to.
7 Comments
I am just wonder why there are so many modeling courses. If a course is taught right, it should only be done once. A hundred years from now, there will be projected to have 20 million courses on modelling.
there are updates to software that come with changes to the process, new tools added that cause new workflows to become available, different methods, different focuses, different teaching methods.
things get outdated even if they share the same fundamentals.
this one is more of a continuation on their current introductory course to continue improving your skills beyond what the introductory course teaches.
In all fairness, there have not been that many new modeling tools in recent years, and the workflow for modeling has not changed that much either, and although I welcome any new learning material, one must admit that there is an unusual amount of modeling tutorial for Blender compared to other skills needed to create complete 3D animation.
I put it on the fact that most Blender users are hobbyists and that the skill they sought the most is modeling so they can produce nice looking pictures, which is why you dont see that many, more advanced tutorials on things like rigging or even animating!
I would say IMHO that the biggest issue i face with Blender isn't tutorials, but rather meeting someone else who actualy uses blender near me, who can guide by actualy talking about my weak points.
More often i follow a guide perfectly but when it's time for me to execute it on my own project i stumble somewhere, somewhere small and i then fall into a black hole trying to find a way out of the issue i was in. That is what makes me waste the most time, not the lesson but rather having no teacher to correct me where i am at.
As a side note i am learning the Violin. The #1 tip they suggest when learning an instrument? Get a teacher. You can do youtube tutorials till you are blue in the face, and you will only be so-so.
With a teacher you can do poorly and be corrected, try again and succeed. (well... i still trip and fail but i get it sooner or later)
So ya thats my comment, you can add as many guides and tutorials as you want but what's really important isn't the tutorial but the tutor.
i think most of us never had someone else around us who used blender. i certainly didn't. nor have i ever actually met someone in person who does use blender.
stop trying to follow a guide perfectly. if you end a tutorial with a scene that looks pretty much just like theirs and think that's all it takes to learn what they did then to reuse it, you're fooling yourself.
also, not all tutorials are created equal. some are more of a "lets make THIS scene" kind of thing, which can be useful for learning new ways to use the tools, while others are more meant to teach you the tools so you can use them on your own.
CGcookie tends to teach you the tools, methods, and process more than trying to get you to copy what they did. it's more of a lesson and homework style thing for a number of videos. sure you can copy the video process in order to do the exercises but it's set up so that you know you aren't specifically meant to.
i ended up having to re-rig a dog 3 times before i actually got it.
they may not be free, i'd even say they may be a bit expensive, but even so i can't say it's not money well spent if you actually go through their courses. they do put a lot of effort towards trying to actually teach you rather than just getting you to follow along.
that is fair and i haven't actually gone though this course yet but fist thoughts are that it's an update of their older tutorials that were made quite a while ago in order to help keep their library more up to date with the current versions of the software and the small changes that happen in the UI over time.
i don't really think the number of modeling tutorials is that unusual if you compare it to other software.
also, just because the user base is mostly hobbyists doesn't mean their hobby isn't animation but there are a lot of things 3d is used for besides animation. modeling just happens to be common ground.
rigging is also a bit complex and dry with little visual advancement to show until right there at the end.
how your model is made also affects how well it's rigged and how it reacts to the rig.
advanced animation is really just a lot of basic animation done together.
btw CGcookie has courses on those things as well.
Why are there so many utterly pointless comments on the Internet? A hundred years from now, the internet will consist of nothing but poorly written, pointless comments.