#3D Studio Books
16 messages in this thread
Hello!
I'm brand new to this forum. I work in the Media Department of
a Mid-western college. After months of begging I finally convinced
the higher-ups to buy 3D Studio. I'm still waiting for it to arrive,
but in the meantime I'd like to get a head start. Can anyone
reccomend any books that would help me get started?
Harley,
first of all do the tutorials, every last one of 'em, mind! If that's
not enough then there's a bunch of books/tapes out or about to be
released which are either retread reference manuals or have taken a
different approach to give you real world production tips. Some of
the dealers who frequent the forum sell all the books out there and
may jump in. I personally favour the tips and tricks series by
Michele Bousquet and Glenn Melenhorst. What areas are you interested
in dabbling in?
Martin,
"What areas are you interested in dabbling in?"
All of them! Seriously, I come from an art/design background. Aside
from flying logos and such that my department will want, I want to learn as
much as I can. I'd like to convince my boss to purchase a Wacom tablet and
Fractal Painter. After that, the sky's (or the budget) is the limit. In the
long run, I want to get out of Kansas City. I lived in Chicago for a few years
and am dying to get back. I'm hoping that over the next year and a half I can
develop enough skills to get back up there.
We've also recently purchased the new Sanyo SVHS deck with
built in animation control and a Matrox desktop editing system (we
already own and work in the Panasonic MII format). Hopefully these
tools will get me back to my apartment by the lake, Wrigley Field,
Chinatown . . . wait, I'm getting all misty eyed. Any and all tips,
tricks, info, horror stories, work stories, and words of encouragment
would be wholeheartedly appreciated.
So, what's your story?
HH
Sounds like you have access to some fairly decent equipment. I'm a
freelance animator in Laguna Beach, CA (between LA and San Diego).
Originally a computer science graduate (Manchester, UK 1985) I
drifted over "the pond" to LA. After a few years as a
programmer/analyst I saw a demo of 3ds rel.1 in early 1991. I was
hooked and almost immediately bought the fastest 486 I could, 3ds,
animator etc. For better or worse, I dumped my day job and have been
freelancing 2.5 years now, working out of a spare bedrooom or a
client's premises sometimes.
Well, enough of me! This forum is a great place to hang out, as I
found myself. I've been a regular here for almost 3 years and have
learned all kinds of things from hanging out with the big boys. Get
yourself Tapcis or OZcis to minimize your CI$ time and hang around
here. Try to ask specific questions and you'll probably have better
luck than all ecompassing ones.
Martin,
Laguna Beach? Sounds nice!
Neither 3DS, the SVHS deck, or the loaded 486 to run it on has arrived
yet. Believe me, when it does (and I get it up and running) you'll be seeing
questions from me here a lot. I'm currently redesigning our editing-production
room, so it will probably be after the new year before all the new toys are in
place.
I'm impressed with your story. Exactly what kind of freelance work are
you doing?
HH
Harley,
>> Exactly what kind of freelance work are you doing? <<
You name it, I've probably done some of it! At first, I did a lot of
logos and product visualization animations. I've done some
engineering stuff, some TV commercials, quite a bit of architecture,
and this year it's been almost all entertainment industry stuff
(games, interactive kiosks and big screen displays for theme parks,
movie stunt or special effect pre-visualization). The rest of this
year and a good portion of next year will be devoted almost solely to
games (PC/Mac and Nintendo type stuff) – that's where most of the work
will be, especially with more powerful game consoles coming along
(3DO etc) which can actually use 3d-generated imagery. I can't be
very specific about what I'm working on because these things are top
secret and you have to sign all kinds of legal stuff <g>.
Hope that answered your question.
Martin,
Be careful what you say, I wouldn't want to the Nintendo hit squad
paying you a visit.
What kind of hardward do you have? Do you use any other software?
HH
Harley,
>> Nintendo hit squad paying you a visit. <<
Yeah, Mario and Luigi can be rather unpleasant in their methods <g>. I
meant Nintendo generically though (bit of a red herring), since I
can't be specific.
Equipment wise, I have 3 clone systems connected with Lantastic
AI/5.0. A 486/66 with 16mb RAM, a 486/50dx2 with 16mb, a 486/33 with
12mb. The disk space is all over the place but totals about 1.7gb,
the RAM pool I mix and match depending on what I'm working on. 16mb
is enough for most logo, game and broadcast work, but not for
architecture where I'd put most of the RAM I have in 1 system. I have
the usual accesories: cdrom, DAT backup, targa+ 16/32. When you have
a network you can easily share resources and rendering power which is
really nice. I've never bought any broadcast vtr type equipment
because: 1) I couldn't cost justify it. 2) I know more than enough
people who can layoff frames to tape, if necessary. 3) A lot of the
most lucrative work currently never goes to video, it's for
multimedia or game console applications.
I often work at clients who have better stuff than me, so that takes
off the strain of worrying about buying equipment. Especially
horrendously expensive stuff like vtr's and SGI hardware and
software. However, items on my wishlist would be: DPS Personal
Animation Recorder, an Exabyte 8mm tape backup, more RAM, a mega-huge
and fast hardrive, and a year's subscription to "Fish and Ferret
Lovers Monthly" <g>.
I've hear Mario and Luigi are nothing compared to what Sonic
the Hedgehog can do.
How did you get started? Was it difficult finding clients?
Having grown up in arcades and still addicted to computer games, the
thought of game design sounds rather cool. Are you making a living?
I know you covered this in an earlier message, but what was your
background and how long have you been doing this?
Harley,
I used to be a programmer for a software company and made a lot more
money doing that, but it just wasn't fulfilling. I discovered 3ds and
immersed myself in learning it, doing the tutorials and then trying
to come up with some sample flics. I foolishly decided to quit my day
job, much to my wife's dismay, and try to build a self-nurturing,
freelance animation business.
I contacted local CAD and/or multimedia companies and formed an
alliance with a CAD service. They promoted my work for me. That was
only marginally successful and so I jumped from one freelancing
situation to another. Most projects were fairly small and
short-lived, usually less than a week, but a client might supply a
few of them over a period of time. All work has been from referrals
and I've never done any advertising because it would be extremely hit
and miss, and probably a waste of money. It's been tough making a
living, to tell the truth.
It's too early to tell yet but game work may be the golden egg and
change my circumstances. The projects are usually measured in months
or years and the opportunities are booming once you get your first
break. This will be my second game but I did work on another,
although I didn't get credited because I was merely a sub-contractor
for a contractor for a contractor.
Martin,
I think your right about video games being the golden egg. With so many
new developments in video and computer technology, not to mention the
exptremely strong and growing game market, you seem to be in a good position.
I wish you the best. Be sure that you will be hearing from me once I get 3ds
up and running.
HH
Martin,
I was reading your message when I thought "this sounds familiar" and then I saw
who it was from…
After our conversation Down Here I decided to put a chapter in the Technical
Tips book called "Freelancing". It developed a life of its own and is now
about 30 pages long. Do you want royalties? <G>
For about a week after you left the Australian 3DS grapevine was buzzing about
you. Everyone just lerved you and hopes you come back real soon. Little Meagan
wants to know where all "Meagan's friends" went to. Two years old and she
already loves a party! Can't say as I blame her. Hanging out with a bunch of
good-looking 3DS guys over a beer and a barbie is about as good as Sunday
afternoon gets around here.
By the way, Holly *was* at the Sydney user group meeting but she left early.
She said nobody introduced her and she was too shy to go up and talk to you
herself. You big honkin' celebrity you. <g,d and running for cover>
Michele
HARLEY!!!!!!
It's _me_ … Dave! Gaff's buddy. How's it going? Mike's been talking about
your vid-job (not to mention that tape you all made of your recent drink-fest),
but I didn't expect to see you hanging about the 3D Studio forum!
Later,
Dave
PS I've been around Gaff when he's drunk and I'm sober — not something I'd
make a video of!<g>
DAVE??!!??
As a displaced Southern in the Marine Corp once said, "Surprise,
surprise, surprise!" There's no telling who you'll run into on this wonderful
informational highway <g>.
Just what are you doing here? Do you work with 3ds? I have release 3
on order, and am trying to make a few contacts before it arrives and I become
thoroughly confused. Mike says you have quite the Larry Sanders vid
collection. I've missed that show since I moved away from the folks (still
worth it, though).
HH
Harley:
Yeah, I've used 3DS for about a year now. You'll quickly find that this place
(ASOFT) is _invaluable_! I'm glad I started with r2, cause there's plenty of
new stuff to learn in r3 to eat up all my "free" time, let alone having to
start from scratch! (I'll bet you put the pizza delivery guys on your office
speed-dial!) If you've got about 30 megs of disk space free, I'd be glad to
give you a copy of most of the messages from the past 6-8 months.<g>
re: Larry Sanders – Yeah. Mike 'specially gets a kick out of Hank. Just
learned over in the CEFORUM that the new season won't be starting until later
than normal. :~(
Dave
Dave:
Still waiting for 3ds to arrive at the office. It will probably be
after Xmas before I get it up and running, but I can't wait.
I always thought Rip Torn was a riot. Mr. G tells me you'll be up here
this weekend, maybe I'll see you.
Later,
HH