#What 3D modeling class start out by teaching topology

[oobbbear]

College is funny cause you’ll be taking a class then you see someone in front of you on their laptop real time dropping out of the class

[voix7]

Is maya a good program? :o I'm interested in 3D modelling but literally know nothing about it, closest thing I've used to a modelling program is sketch up ^^'

maya is indeed a good program. at least the versions i’ve used were. i believe they were 2012-2014 student versions. the older one were jank and glitchy sometimes though but when i had a 3d modelling class at my uni the 2014 version seemed to be a lot more stable so they’re probably fine now.

there’s things you gotta ask yourself, though, if you’re interested in learning:

what do you want to do with the skill?

how do you plan to learn, schooling or individually? 

do you want to pay for maya, monthly? 

these things are important, because they’ll tell you whether or not you even need to learn on maya specifically or not bother with it at all. because there’s a handy dandy thing called Blender which is a totally free 3d modeling software that has gotten better by leaps & bounds over time

if you’re learning by yourself, using the internet and tutorials, use blender hands down. its free and because its open source the community is extensive. you can always transition to maya if need-be (blender even has maya preferences to make it easier), but definitely start with what’s free

yes, maya student version is free. you can lie and get it for free. other than autodesk being a bad company to fuck with, there’s also no point in using it and learning maya if you don’t plan to eventually pay for it!!!! because then you’ll just end up with blender anyway and will have to learn brand new software all over again. save yourself the headache!

think about whether you just want to model for fun, work on indie things, or work in the AAA industry. 3d modeling has a steep learning curve, especially in maya. don’t slog through maya if all you want to do is have a fun time. again, save yourself the headache and start with what’s free. you don’t need to know maya unless you want to work on AAA games and the like

now, if you’re actually wanting to take a class for 3D modeling, a college course should be teaching you maya or 3ds max– the industry standards. if they’re teaching blender run the other way, regardless of what you want to do with the skill. blender is fucking free, there’s literally no reason to spend hundreds of dollars to be taught blender. if you’re paying you should be getting the advantage of a) student version software and b) learning the most commonly used professional software

so basically: doing 3d modelling for fun? blender. want to work on indie stuff? blender or maya. want to work in a company or on AAA titles? maya* or learn 3ds max in place of maya. it’s the other big modelling software

also a tip for starting out: learn how to effectively model for games then go from there. while things are certainly changing due to software & hardware getting more extensive and powerful, games still have limits to the amount of polys models can have. models also have to be done certain ways as to not break the engine or programming or cause glitches.

these kinds of limits help form good modelling habits (no ngons, correct topology, starting with general shapes, etc) that you might otherwise skip over. game models actually have to function, not just look good in a still. if you don’t learn function from the outset you’re gonna have a bad time.

edit: also keep in mind 3d modelling programs tend to be on the intensive side, so if you want to do really poly-heavy modelling or any sculpting you’re going to need a pretty good computer and video card for it. especially with sculpting. mudbox for example requires a nividia or radeon graphics card to function properly.