CompuServe Thread

Andy, << how other people cut their teeth learning the black arts of 3D graphics in general and 3DStudio? .. >> For an insight into the science behind the graphics, try to pick up a copy of "Computer Graphics Principles and Practice by Foley, vanDam, Feiner & Hughes Second Edition" used from a college bookstore. It is refered to as "the (graphics) bible". When reading it, pay attention to the references and try to find a good library that stocks SIGGRAPH papers. Oh, SIGGRAPH.. that's a great place to go (once a year – this year in florida – july) for a close up view of all of the new sw/hw about to ship and a place to hear/read the latest technical papers related to graphics. 3DS… do all of the tutorials. One more time.. do all of the tutorials and read the reference manual cover to cover. Pull up all of the sample projects render them, review them, modify them… Play with it.. look at the world around you and try to duplicate a feeling… and when you get confused come back to ASOFT and ask the world for insights and let the world respond…:-) jonas[adesk]

It's just time, and how much energy we've put into the work. Stick with anything long enough and you figure out some of what makes it tick. Stick-to-it-ive-ness… the secret to success in anything. – G

Andy, For me it's been 10 to 18 hours a day, usually 6 or 7 days a week of pure heaven (and being scared to death of ever having to be employed to do anything other than computer graphics for a living) working fanaticly in 3D Studio since REL 1.0. I feel guilty if any of my computers are not rendering something at all times. Get good? I guess most of my clients think so. I always think I can do better. A little street hockey and mt. bike rides with my buddies helps clear out the cobwebs once in a while. Hey! why's that computer just sitting there just doing nothing?….. Kurt

Andy, obsession and practice plus a little formal study never hurt. 3ds1 took over my life in April 1991 and has been an almost daily obsession since then. Mastery of lighting is certainly a good way to stand out from the crowd.

Hi Andy, I began my personal oddesy into 3DS in Jan, 1991 when I quit my job as an architect to become an independent consultant/trainer on Autodesk products. I was originally an AutoCAD geek who became seduced by 3D Studio. I think that the advice that you'll get most often is Practice, Experiment, and Read. By reading I don't just mean 3D Studio books either. Some of the more useful books that I've studied include The Animator's Workbook, The Natural Way to Draw, Color Drawing, Animation from Script to Screen, and the photographic works of Eadweard Muybridge. 3D Studio is a very rich and powerful program that embodies concepts from many artistic disciplines, you'll want to study them all. You've already taken the most important step towards becoming a master 3D Studio user; you've joined ASOFT. Much of what I know about 3D Studio came from participating in this forum. Good luck, Steven

Gary's response says it all, Andy. I don't know ANYONE who's good at 3D that didn't really, really want it. Like learning a musical instrument, you've "gotta wanna", and dedicate yourself to the task. I really wanted to make "all that stuff fly around" from the day I saw the first 3D logo on TV. -And with 3DS, EVERY day is a learning day. With enough self-motivation, you can do anything… -Alan Iglesias

>> I'd like to know how other people cut their teeth After using AutoCAD since version 2.5, and constantly seeing cool images in Computer Graphics World, I recommended to my boss that she buy 3D Studio to take our offered services to the next level. She didn't take my advice, so I bought 3DS on my own, and quit about 6 months later. I fell in with a company that had been using 3DS since the early days, and that's where I am today. Nothing terribly exciting, I'm afraid. You'll probably fine that most of us just started simply enough, but couldn't give up once caught in the excitement.