Best way to learn how to 3D model/animate

[Lilani]

Okay, so I have a motion graphics position at a great company, but my lack of experience and skill making/animating 3D stuff is beginning to be a stumbling block in my career. I have access to 3DS max 2014 and Lynda.com, and I've watched several hours worth of tutorials...but I still can't consider myself proficient in modeling. I can follow step-by-step tutorials which teach me how to make stuff (I was able to make and animate a 3D basketball for a graphic), but when I try to go in and model something I've drawn out myself, I just draw a total blank.

I can make the preliminary sketches and upload them into the program to use as references, but I just don't know how to decide on how to model something. Usually I end up just dragging the points around by hand or using boolean a lot, but I know that's not the most efficient way to go about things (because Boolean tends to create awkward polygons that don't take textures properly). I can create things from tutorials just fine, but I don't trust myself modeling something on my own.

To anyone else who has experience doing this, how did you learn to model stuff of your own creation? How did you prevent your skills from developing in a vacuum and avoid getting into the habit of turning a 3 step model into a 50 step nightmare?

 

[Smooth Operator]

Well I'm certainly not a professional so this is advice from a novice.
What people who actually do professional work told me is the bottom line is always practice (incidentally also my biggest problem), when creating your own stuff you inevitably need to eyeball the desired shape and the more you practice putting your ideas on "paper" the faster and more accurate you get at doing so. And by that extent your first draft is also the farthest from a final one, you always need to go back and look at the full creation then go in to redo parts that don't yet fit.

Now I mostly stick to mechanical stuff because it is infinitely easier, but when I do dabble with organics I will look for guides on the specific shape to be done to see how others use tools which I usually didn't think of myself. Youtube has become quite a valuable resource on that, also the people who make videos for others anyway don't mind questions towards your own creation.

 

[Lilani]

Well I'm certainly not a professional so this is advice from a novice.
What people who actually do professional work told me is the bottom line is always practice (incidentally also my biggest problem), when creating your own stuff you inevitably need to eyeball the desired shape and the more you practice putting your ideas on "paper" the faster and more accurate you get at doing so. And by that extent your first draft is also the farthest from a final one, you always need to go back and look at the full creation then go in to redo parts that don't yet fit.

Now I mostly stick to mechanical stuff because it is infinitely easier, but when I do dabble with organics I will look for guides on the specific shape to be done to see how others use tools which I usually didn't think of myself. Youtube has become quite a valuable resource on that, also the people who make videos for others anyway don't mind questions towards your own creation.

Ah, mechanic things, of course! I love mechanical things, and making something like that would be a great way to get some hours in the program without driving myself mad. I don't know why I didn't think of it before. I was trying to jump straight into more organic shapes and it was really making me resent the whole thing. Thanks for the inspiration

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

snip

It is a good idea to start with mechanical things. Try starting with a car, those can be as simple or as detailed as you care to make them. For organic stuff, the way I learned is to set your references on planes as a texture (sounds like you already know how to do this), make sure to have at least a front and side view.

Work in the quad view (where you can see the four different viewpoints), start with a plane in an area that's fairly flat (like the bottom of the foot), start from the side view and extrude the edges of the plane, tracing around the side view of the body, once you connect back to where you started, switch to the front view and repeat the process. Once you have the front and sides traced to give you a frame, start extruding the edges toward each other to join them.

It also helps to model in several pieces, the head as one piece, the arms are others, the legs, the torso and hips, and connecting them all together as you go.

 

[purf]

It's been said and you know already, don't you? Practice. Practice, practice, practice and then some more. And constantly. Internalise the most important commands, functions and shortcuts. Drop the tutorials along the way. They should only guide you on the technicalities of how to use the program and its tools (see Mr.K above).
My perspective is from programming motion GFX but the following should apply as well: Set yourself some tasks which are just slightly above what you're easily able to do. Tasks that then allow for exploration of the stuff at hand. It takes some time but eventually a lot of those pennies will drop.

And don't forget to Just dance![footnote]says Captcha[/footnote]