What you did today

[WDeranged]

Had a family BBQ but I don't think any of our hearts were in it, I brought back plenty of food though

 

 

Sometimes I regret working with CG applications. Half the time it just doesn't work.

 

If its Max I feel your pain, if its Maya then you on your own sucka.

 

I Have a question for you guys but there will be prologue 

 

I've dabbled in 3D modelling since I got Imagine 2.0 for the Amiga on a coverdisk when I was a kid, lately I've tried Modo and found it to be as comfortable as a pair of old shoes (including the bugs and holes...on Windows at least) but whenever I try one of the big industry standard packages I feel like I'm eating glass.

 

More than likely I'll never be a professional 3D modeller but if I wanted to try, which program should I specialise in?

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Today I went to work and plan to go out with some friends.

[Orogun01]

Had a family BBQ but I don't think any of our hearts were in it, I brought back plenty of food though

 

 

Sometimes I regret working with CG applications. Half the time it just doesn't work.

 

If its Max I feel your pain, if its Maya then you on your own sucka.

 

I Have a question for you guys but there will be prologue 

 

I've dabbled in 3D modelling since I got Imagine 2.0 for the Amiga on a coverdisk when I was a kid, lately I've tried Modo and found it to be as comfortable as a pair of old shoes (including the bugs and holes...on Windows at least) but whenever I try one of the big industry standard packages I feel like I'm eating glass.

 

More than likely I'll never be a professional 3D modeller but if I wanted to try, which program should I specialise in?

Here's the breakdown: Autodesk programs require a license, so unless you can download a student version (or you are an unscrupulous pirate) they may not be for you.

Max is mostly used within the Game industry for production, is a little hard to get into but once you know the program it becomes a powerful tool for modeling. Just know there is a bit of a learning curve and depending how hard you go at it you will get good results. I'm particularly fond of it for hard surface modelling since you can do pinpoint precision work, although 3ds Max Design is built specifically for that kind of thing (mostly for architecture and industrial design)

 

Maya is favored by animation and the more "artistic" of 3d modellers who are not that squeamish about topology. It's good points are that its easy to code for (which is a blessing since Maya without plugins is horrible, IMCO) and the Mental Ray renderer works like a charm with it. It has an assortment of powerful tools for animation (AutoCad) so if that's your thing go for it.

 

Mudbox was made by ex members from Pixologic (the guys that made Zbrush) its a digital sculpting and texturing program. I use it mostly because of its texturing capabilities, it doesn't do uv mapping but its strength lies in the use of projection and stencils to apply HD textures without having to make them seamless.

 

Zbrush its the ****, the bee's knees, I will marry this program and bear its children. This is the air you must breathe if you want to be a creature/character modeller, it does everything but walk and water (plus its not so good for hard surface modelling) Its the most powerful digital sculpting program on the market. Its a program for artists, so if you know how to sculpt in RL you will have an easy transition. But if you learn how to sculpt in Zbrush you will loathe RL sculpting, I do. 

 

Blender is like the bastard child of Max and Mudbox or a Frankenstein like creature made of parts from other programs that doesn't exactly do anything remarkably well. On the flipside, its free and thanks to it handling Nif. files there is a lot of help online due to the Bethesda modding communities.

 

Sculptris is Zbrush-lite, its made by the same guys and offered free. Sort of like a welcome package for the artist/sculptor who wants to get into digital art.

 

If you planning to use any of the digital sculpting programs you may also want to get yourself a digital pen and tablet, there are probably some used ones reasonably priced right now. My recommendation would be a Wacom Bamboo since you're a hobbyist but you really can't go wrong with Wacom. Aside from that if you need any help deciding you can PM me, glad to hear that you're interested in getting into 3d modeling

[Nepenthe]

Ultra sore throat and splitting headache... Need to drag my ass to get some food before I can really pork out on the sofa. Time to engage the hangover glasses in a non-canonical situation and go for it... Oakley black iridium ftw

[Blarghagh]

 

Had a family BBQ but I don't think any of our hearts were in it, I brought back plenty of food though

 

 

Sometimes I regret working with CG applications. Half the time it just doesn't work.

 

If its Max I feel your pain, if its Maya then you on your own sucka.

 

I Have a question for you guys but there will be prologue 

 

I've dabbled in 3D modelling since I got Imagine 2.0 for the Amiga on a coverdisk when I was a kid, lately I've tried Modo and found it to be as comfortable as a pair of old shoes (including the bugs and holes...on Windows at least) but whenever I try one of the big industry standard packages I feel like I'm eating glass.

 

More than likely I'll never be a professional 3D modeller but if I wanted to try, which program should I specialise in?

Here's the breakdown: Autodesk programs require a license, so unless you can download a student version (or you are an unscrupulous pirate) they may not be for you.

Max is mostly used within the Game industry for production, is a little hard to get into but once you know the program it becomes a powerful tool for modeling. Just know there is a bit of a learning curve and depending how hard you go at it you will get good results. I'm particularly fond of it for hard surface modelling since you can do pinpoint precision work, although 3ds Max Design is built specifically for that kind of thing (mostly for architecture and industrial design)

 

Maya is favored by animation and the more "artistic" of 3d modellers who are not that squeamish about topology. It's good points are that its easy to code for (which is a blessing since Maya without plugins is horrible, IMCO) and the Mental Ray renderer works like a charm with it. It has an assortment of powerful tools for animation (AutoCad) so if that's your thing go for it.

 

Mudbox was made by ex members from Pixologic (the guys that made Zbrush) its a digital sculpting and texturing program. I use it mostly because of its texturing capabilities, it doesn't do uv mapping but its strength lies in the use of projection and stencils to apply HD textures without having to make them seamless.

 

Zbrush its the ****, the bee's knees, I will marry this program and bear its children. This is the air you must breathe if you want to be a creature/character modeller, it does everything but walk and water (plus its not so good for hard surface modelling) Its the most powerful digital sculpting program on the market. Its a program for artists, so if you know how to sculpt in RL you will have an easy transition. But if you learn how to sculpt in Zbrush you will loathe RL sculpting, I do. 

 

Blender is like the bastard child of Max and Mudbox or a Frankenstein like creature made of parts from other programs that doesn't exactly do anything remarkably well. On the flipside, its free and thanks to it handling Nif. files there is a lot of help online due to the Bethesda modding communities.

 

Sculptris is Zbrush-lite, its made by the same guys and offered free. Sort of like a welcome package for the artist/sculptor who wants to get into digital art.

 

If you planning to use any of the digital sculpting programs you may also want to get yourself a digital pen and tablet, there are probably some used ones reasonably priced right now. My recommendation would be a Wacom Bamboo since you're a hobbyist but you really can't go wrong with Wacom. Aside from that if you need any help deciding you can PM me, glad to hear that you're interested in getting into 3d modeling

 

 

I concur. If it's really modeling and texturing you want, I recommend ZBrush which is truly a joy to work with once you find out where the buttons are. It requires almost no technical knowledge to make a badass sculpt. For organic things ZBrush is essentially the end-all these days. The downside of ZBrush is that you can't do a lot of the other things you can do in programs like Max and Maya, such as animation.

 

For all around 3D packages, I'd recommend Maya or Max. Both are expensive, however. Personally, I prefer Max even though it has a slightly higher learning curve - Maya works almost entirely on certain key combinations to find the functions you want to use whereas in Max everything is in structured menus. I just prefer it that way, but honestly both programs can do practically the same thing unless you get really into the technical parts.

 

If you're looking for something cheap and versatile, I do suggest Blender, though. It's improved a lot in the latest versions and it has a lot of things built in - sculpting, an editing suite, even a game engine. If you're willing to deal with the crashing, it's worth your time. Eventually, what you learn in Blender will transfer pretty well to other packages and all 3D programs can crash. Blender just does it more.

[Guard Dog]

Picked my mom up from the airport. She's here until tuesday next week. 

 

Also had a strange dream where my dad (a geologists) ended up using the exact phrase "Sedimentary my dear boy!"

I don't know why but I found that very funny.

[Guard Dog]

I rented a Bobcat to do some grading on the dirt road into my place. With all the rain it's in pretty bad shape. Then tonight I'm taking the GF out for a nice dinner. I was thinking the Peabody. Then after that, who knows.   

[BruceVC]

Picked my mom up from the airport.

 

Oh no that's not good, you know she is going to start judging your lifestyle and where you going with your life. But remember she is doing this as she is concerned and thinks her advice will help you so don't get upset

[Walsingham]

 

Picked my mom up from the airport. She's here until tuesday next week. 

 

Also had a strange dream where my dad (a geologists) ended up using the exact phrase "Sedimentary my dear boy!"

I don't know why but I found that very funny.

 

 

Oh thank god. I thought I was the only one. I think it's a Sherlock Holmes reference.

 

~~

 

Working today, customer facing, I realised that there is nothing in all the world so helpless, smug, and depraved as an English middle class parent. Had to deal with two 'families' today where I was possessed of such a strong urge to vault the counter and punch their children that I had to hand over to a colleague.

 

Everyone else at work hates the chavs, but I don't mind them now I'm used to them. They come in, know what they want, and pay in cash. Then, like as not, they say thank you. Granted they may be a bit warty or be inexplicably wearing a baseball cap, but at least they don't pretend it's some kind of ETHICAL F***ING STATEMENT about the nexus of church and state.

Edited July 27, 2013 by Walsingham

[Hurlshort]

I had a good hockey game last night, we won 4-3 and I had a nice goal, but I also landed on my hip at some point in the game and now I am hobbling around.  Ah, old age.

[Calax]

 

Picked my mom up from the airport.

 

Oh no that's not good, you know she is going to start judging your lifestyle and where you going with your life. But remember she is doing this as she is concerned and thinks her advice will help you so don't get upset

 

Well, for the most part we bought cleaning supplies, cleaned (I'm moving apartments), and then had dinner and booze with my current semi-boss. I say semi because she's technically only da bawse until the 29th when they're handing over the reigns to somebody else, and she's VERY happy that's happening.

[Woldan]

Even though it was the hottest day in the recorded history of Austria I still totally enjoyed riding my bike, did about 60 kilometers with an average speed of ~ 35km/h.

 

What a perfect summer day, no clouds that blocked the sun even once, the water of the Danube river was sparkling beautifully, golden cornfields and gnarled apple trees along the country roads, the smell of fresh-cut hay and flowers in the air, groups of impressive anvil-shaped Cumulonimbus clouds in the far distance..... Life can be so beautiful sometimes.

 

Surely a day to remember in cold dark never ending winters.

Edited July 27, 2013 by Woldan

[Keyrock]

Even though it was the hottest day in the recorded history of Austria I still totally enjoyed riding my bike, did about 60 kilometers with an average speed of ~ 35km/h.

 

What a perfect summer day, no clouds that blocked the sun even once, the water of the Danube river was sparkling beautifully, golden cornfields and gnarled apple trees along the country roads, the smell of fresh-cut hay and flowers in the air, groups of impressive anvil-shaped Cumulonimbus clouds in the far distance..... Life can be so beautiful sometimes.

 

Surely a day to remember in cold dark never ending winters.

Awesome, sound like a great time.  I had the same idea and did a nice long ride.  26 miles (about 42 km) in about an hour and 35 minutes, which gives me an average speed of about 16.5 mph (about 26.5 kmh).  Not too shabby with all the climbing involved.  I live in the hills, around my parts flat roads are a myth.  It was a perfect day for riding, low 80s, still air, fairly low humidity.  Tomorrow looks like a potential wash out, but at least I got a good ride in today.

[ShadySands]

Puttered around St Petersburg a bit today

 

There are a lot more fat people here than the internet led me to believe (that they are all in the US). Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of rail thin model types mixed in as well but I was really caught off guard by the amount of overweight people. 

 

Also, everybody smokes

 

Also, also, just found out that my company is merging and am now wondering what that will mean for me

[Keyrock]

Puttered around St Petersburg a bit today

 

There are a lot more fat people here than the internet led me to believe (that they are all in the US). Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of rail thin model types mixed in as well but I was really caught off guard by the amount of overweight people. 

 

Also, everybody smokes

 

Also, also, just found out that my company is merging and am now wondering what that will mean for me

Even more shocking, the US is no longer the fattest nation in the world.  Damn Mexicans are taking everything from us, first our jobs, now the title of fattest country on earth. 

[Rosbjerg]

A cute bartender got me very very drunk.. Then I don't remember so much. But judging by what I'm being told it was a great night.

[Keyrock]

A cute bartender got me very very drunk.. Then I don't remember so much. But judging by what I'm being told it was a great night.

As long as you can look in the mirror and you don't have any black eyes or missing teeth, and you won't have to pay child support starting in about 9 months, you did fine.

[Woldan]

I'm getting cooked alive. The weather is trolling me, 39 Celsius? Seriously? And the coming week will be just as hot? Temperate climate? Ha ha ha, don't make me laugh.

 

Yesterday a friend of mine was in a restaurant where the waiter -who was from Ghana- complained about the heat-, he said that such hot temperatures were nothing special where he used to live but the close proximity to the ocean resulted in comfortable cool breezes that made the heat somewhat bearable.

 

You know its really hot when Africans living in your country start to complain about the temperature.

[Keyrock]

I feel for you.  We went through 2+ weeks of brutal heat wave over here and just finally got to comfortable temperatures in the last couple days.  Barring temps dropping below freezing during the next couple days (considering what this year has been like I wouldn't be that surprised), this will be the hottest July on record for my area, and by some 3 degrees Fahrenheit.

[Guard Dog]

A cute bartender got me very very drunk.. Then I don't remember so much. But judging by what I'm being told it was a great night.

If you woke up and her number is written on the back of your hand it was a good night. If you woke up naked with her next to you it was a really good night!

[Rosbjerg]

Neither unfortunately .. Slept alone with a bucket next to me. It wasn't for lack of trying though, but I was perhaps a teeenie weeenie bit too drunk..

[Keyrock]

Hmm, t-storms not moving in for several more hours, morning temperature in the low to mid 70s, I guess I will get another bike ride in today, though not as long as yesterday, I need to be able to walk at work tomorrow.

[Azdeus]

 

 

This heat is killing me...

[Rosbjerg]

And sooo humid .. god...

[Azdeus]

Yeaah, 90% here, and it's driving me nuts. I tried taking a dip, but I was soaked again by the time I got back... Have there been any thunderstorms over there?

Edited July 28, 2013 by Azdeus