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[Baroque Moon]

Also, it's been quite a long time since I've been here, heh. But yeah! I've modeled some very basic 3D junk back in school, but it was nothing of much substance to help me along now. It's been an equally long time since I've done any 3D modeling in the first place (2 years), but it'd be quite beneficial to get back into doing it. I've kinda started a small project!

I'm kinda in the dark as to where to start again! For engines, I've been using Unity for the time being, and I am in the process of getting Unreal 4 as we speak. I'm down to use either for my project, but it's mostly curiosity on the Unreal side that has me checking it out. I used Unreal 3 in school, but it was...pretty unstable considering my PC setup at the time. If I wanted to make, say, basic character models for the sake of posing/animating, what program should I use? Maya? 3DS Max? zBrush? Blender? Of the 4, I suppose I'm most familiar with Maya, and when I tried to use Blender... don't laugh, but it felt like rocket surgery. If there are any other suggestions for where I should start off for modeling, please don't hesitate to let me know! And heck, if it's Blender, I guess it's time to get going with it. I gotta start somewhere !

Thanks for your time!

[wccrawford]

I've chosen Blender because of cost and how well they've caught up to the others lately.  If you tried it more than a couple years ago, you probably used the older interface (2.48 and older) and it was horrible.  The new one is a lot, lot easier.

But Maya should work perfectly fine for either engine, and if that's what you're good at, there's not really a good reason to re-learn.

[gimymblert]

Blender is great once you get past the initial bump it make the most sense as its consistency allow to understand things you haven't yet tried.

Also if you start and don't know best practice, you should google: quad, edge loop, low poly joint, subdivision, edge turn, N-pole (also called T-pole), E-pole, edge turning.
That will make you on the level of a pro modeler mindset

[oahda]

Blender's modelling pipeline is soooo much better than Maya's. It's ridiculous how ancient it feels for such an expensive program that's also supposed to be an industry standard. Barely any hotkeys and lousy symmetry tools by comparison. Once you get into the flow of Blender it's just so wonderfully smooth. Maya is probably better than Blender in most other areas, but geez, modelling in Maya is like a blast to the past. And not a nostalgic one.

IMO.

[Muffinhat]

Just as a pro tip: always always always draw out your characters out physically. Getting a turnaround of your character helps you immensely in the modeling process. Kind of obvious information, but I know a lot of people who forget to do that. Also, use Blender.

[gimymblert]

Drawing help but nowaday you can just slap volumes together and figure out the 3D form directly and use that as a basis to model a proper mesh.

[Muffinhat]

Drawing help but nowaday you can just slap volumes together and figure out the 3D form directly and use that as a basis to model a proper mesh.

You can do it that way, but many people put together concept art before jumping right into the modeling phase.

[gimymblert]

Yeah i wasn't denying it, just showing a growing alternative

[Baroque Moon]

Just as a pro tip: always always always draw out your characters out physically. Getting a turnaround of your character helps you immensely in the modeling process. Kind of obvious information, but I know a lot of people who forget to do that. Also, use Blender.

I actually do the first part. I did a 15 minute tutorial on modeling characters in Maya, oddly enough I got further with that than I ever did with a book tutorial. I am using my own character as the base, not mirroring the one in the tutorial. And any/all attempts at using Blender thus far have ended with me in Deebo's Pigeon Coop...

[joseph ¯\_(ツ)_/¯]

Drawing help but nowaday you can just slap volumes together and figure out the 3D form directly and use that as a basis to model a proper mesh.

dont do this unless you are a rockstar

Short list of tips:

• google topology and edgeflow for joints. This is as technical as you need to get for now
• Use simple shapes.
• Don't stress out about connecting things.
• Make a few small practice objects to completion, and plan your future meshes based on the pitfalls you faced when UV mapping, rigging, etc.