Gotta loosen up

[ambelamba]

In real life I am a very uptight guy. And I have a bad habit of trying to figure out the exact mechanism of things. That doesn't mean that I am an engineer material. Far from it. I am more inclined to art and craftmanship.

My bad habit took a toll when I try to learn new software. A kind of computer programs that are probably some of the most complex software out there: Maya, Modo, and Zbrush. I bought some copies from ebay.

Well, learning those software is no cake walk. They are meant for artists but I am taking them too difficult. Maybe it's my attitude. The real problem is that I am very curious about the very mechanism of the interface and functions of each command. Maybe I need some classes to learn the basic, but the school is very expensive. (the one in North Hollywood.) Being too literal minded has its downsides. In fact, too many of them. I take things too literally and it affects my learning process. I am a good draughtman, but never a good painter. I have no clue about sculpting either. And learning about CG software is ten times more difficult than learning relatively simpler software like Flash.

My spiritual journey had some similar problems, and that eventually made me drift away from spirituality in general. I tried to make out the very mechanism and all I found was a very mechanistic nature of the universe. That was good enough to abandon my metaphysical worldview. When I teach myself Maya, which is drat near impossible, I am too caught up with the exact mechanism of the functions. I shouldn't. An artist shouldn't be too caught up with the nature of his medium, or media.

I wonder if any of the UM member are proficient with Maya and Zbrush. I couldn't get Bodypaint because I didn't have enough budget. Maybe I can do the texturing with Zbrush and Photoshop. But I have no fundamental skills in them. I use photoshop for digital illsutrations and paintings and that's it...

[ciriuslea]

I use Gimp probably no where near as complex, but for a free edit software package its not bad, but getting to the point I learnt basically from youtube tutorials, and from a quick search they have thousands, it might be something worth checking out ?

[ambelamba]

I use Gimp probably no where near as complex, but for a free edit software package its not bad, but getting to the point I learnt basically from youtube tutorials, and from a quick search they have thousands, it might be something worth checking out ?

In fact there are too many tutorials out there so I don't know where to start. I think I gotta start with the official Autodesk guide.

[ciriuslea]

In fact there are too many tutorials out there so I don't know where to start. I think I gotta start with the official Autodesk guide.

That's probably a good place, I'd also use youtube as a reference as it may give you user tips and tricks not mentioned in other tutorials....but good luck with it...

Edit >>

BTW I checked out your blog...nice artwork

Edited March 30, 2013 by ciriuslea

[Rlyeh]

For sculpting, blender can supposedly do it but I find blender overly complicated. There is also http://pixologic.com/sculptris/

[Orcseeker]

Had a shot at all of them except Modo. You've just gotta do some tutorials that cover the basics and build up from there. With all the functions and such available you'll find yourself getting overwhelmed and unable to get comfortable with performing certain procedures. If you do these incrementally; you will gradually commit each part to memory and you'll know what will to do just as well as if you put pen to paper.