I went yesterday to some college and asked about 3d design courses. They had a course that is consisted of 40 hours of photoshop, then moving on to a 50-100 hours of 3d studio max, and its all one on one... meaning me and the teacher.
Now i want to consult some of the guys here who have experience with these kind of programs, please answer these few questions or just comment about anything you think is necessary.
I want to study this as a hobby and then maybe develop it as a profession.
Is 3d max a good program? Why should i study it, and not Maya or any other 3d prog?
I am paying 50 dollars more or less per hour for this course, 100 hours will be 5000 dollars, what you think?
They said that if i go for 100 hours for 3d max, i will know the program really good and almost every aspect of it, is that right? and will i be able to download some other program and play with it until i figure it out? i mean technically. And yes, i learn things pretty fast.
Well for me to have a free course in Sweden i would need a European citizenship which i don't have, and i probably need to study the language in Sweden, and find a place to live, and buy a flight ticket, etc... which will cost me more than 5k dollars lol
I know this is thread is a few days old but I'll just offer my insight real fast. 3DS Max and Maya are both pretty similar, and both very good programs for modeling. Whether you use one versus another is mostly a small matter of preference, but Maya does have better/easier functions for animation/rendering (in my opinion). My personal preference is Maya, but everyone is different.
In other words, learn whichever one you want, and then you should be able to learn the other with relative ease. In 20 hours you should have a very firm understanding of how the program works and how to make some basic models. In 100 hours you ought to know a lot more intricacies and some of the tricks of the trade, they might even let you dabble with some plug-ins.
Both Maya and 3DS Max can be learned through self-study, but not everyone is up to that. Plus you won't learn a lot of the jargon and other nuances. Self-study in 3D programs is a lot like learning kung-fu from watching movies... it's possible to learn some great technique, but most of the info out there just skims surfaces and it's hard to link it all together. Your best bet would be to find an in-depth tutorial that will take you from beginner level to master level. I'd link you to one if I knew of such a tutorial
$5000 for 100 hours isn't bad, but if you're just doing it as a hobby I wouldn't pay for it. I'd only spend $5000 on it if you're fairly certain you want to pursue it as a career. The downside is you'll never really know if you've got what it takes without getting your feet wet, and you can't really get your feet wet without buying the programs which run about $2000 each.
My advice: Download Blender. Blender is a free 3D design tool with which you can play around and see if 3D design is something you want to do professionally. Plus, if you learn the basics of Blender you'll have a firm footing in 3D design and it'll be much easier to learn the professional programs.
I went yesterday to some college and asked about 3d design courses. They had a course that is consisted of 40 hours of photoshop, then moving on to a 50-100 hours of 3d studio max, and its all one on one... meaning me and the teacher.
Now i want to consult some of the guys here who have experience with these kind of programs, please answer these few questions or just comment about anything you think is necessary.
I've worked in IT for about 20 years starting in tech support for Adobe in 89 and later in engineering and have supported developers, graphics, 3D animators, and CAD on both PC and Mac's. I have also taught IT courses in corporate colleges.
Quote from "Jamoose" »
I want to study this as a hobby and then maybe develop it as a profession.
Is 3d max a good program? Why should i study it, and not Maya or any other 3d prog?
It depends on what your career objectives are and what you see yourself doing in the long run. Degree's mean little in this field, they will get your foot in the door but for what you are considering a portfolio of work will be your biggest aid starting out, so make sure you keep all you do, at least the good stuff.
3D Studio Max is a well respected application and if you learn it will shorten the learning curve on similar applications. There are other well respected apps too each with various strengths, learn their strengths and you will have a better idea if it will work for your purposes. Here are few:
I am paying 50 dollars more or less per hour for this course, 100 hours will be 5000 dollars, what you think?
They said that if i go for 100 hours for 3d max, i will know the program really good and almost every aspect of it, is that right? and will i be able to download some other program and play with it until i figure it out? i mean technically. And yes, i learn things pretty fast.
Any other comments or help will be appreciated.
Thanks in advance
100 hours is really not that much time, but it's about the same as most tech school courses. As an educator I taught 8 week courses to people who were trying to develop a career in IT administration. The courses were $19/k for an AA degree but the truth is this.
If you have a drive to know the material you will do well, an instructor is simply going to get your feet wet in the application, the honing of your skills will take much more time and effort. In my classes 1 out of every 10 students put in the effort to make a career for themselves, the others were wasting their time and money. After 6 years of teaching I had roughly 800 students pass though my class room and I can only think of about 20 tops I would go out of my way to hire today. Even 8 weeks of the courses I taught only allowed me to teach the basics in hands on intensive lab driven classes.
So the moral of the story is if you have a real passion to get into 3D animation or graphic arts there is nothing that will stop you if you are hell bent on it. The other thing to consider is even though these are applications, there is still an artistic bend to it, you still need to have a good eye and an artistic skill that will make you marketable. If you have that already, then application will simply become another medium for you to express yourself.
Ironically I didn't go to school for any computer courses, I started with book's, lots of them and got into entry level positions and worked my way up into more technical positions. To give you an idea when I did support for Adobe we had a crash lab in the back any of us could use and we had PC's on carts we could roll up to our desk with all of Adobe's applications on them.
Most people never used the crash lab and only played games on the mobile PC's, after my shift was over at 10 PM, I would go in the back and teach myself Photoshop, Pagemaker, FrameMaker, etc. for another 3 to 4 hours every night until I knew it like the back of my hand. I also read all the user guides (yes those boring things :D) The same was true in all my positions, that was my college. Some people do well in class room settings, if you are one and know you have the drive for this, then 3 weeks might be just what you need to get started. I would recommend though to check out other schools before settling on one, find out who your instructor is and make sure you have a good rapport with them. Some teachers can suck and nothing will waste your time and money faster than a bad instructor.
@VegasRage: Thanks for the tips man, its great to hear all of this from someone who has such an experience. I am going to start the course today, it will be the first part of the course which is like 20-50 hours of photoshop, and then if i want i will pass on to 3dsmax. Now, i know photoshop but i would like to know it better, and i would like to see how this college is and everything so im giving it a go.
If you have a drive to know the material you will do well, an instructor is simply going to get your feet wet in the application, the honing of your skills will take much more time and effort. In my classes 1 out of every 10 students put in the effort to make a career for themselves, the others were wasting their time and money.
So the moral of the story is if you have a real passion to get into 3D animation or graphic arts there is nothing that will stop you if you are hell bent on it.
I whole heartily agree. I'm graduating in a week with a Bachelor Art degree and so many of my classmates just did not care about their classes.
The only 3D program I've had experience with is Maya. I love it, the learning curve feels pretty steep but once you learn the different aspects of the program you won't even have to think about it. It becomes like riding a bike or driving car.
Best advice is to learn the hotkeys. Hotkeys make life a lot easier.
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Now i want to consult some of the guys here who have experience with these kind of programs, please answer these few questions or just comment about anything you think is necessary.
I want to study this as a hobby and then maybe develop it as a profession.
Is 3d max a good program? Why should i study it, and not Maya or any other 3d prog?
I am paying 50 dollars more or less per hour for this course, 100 hours will be 5000 dollars, what you think?
They said that if i go for 100 hours for 3d max, i will know the program really good and almost every aspect of it, is that right? and will i be able to download some other program and play with it until i figure it out? i mean technically. And yes, i learn things pretty fast.
Any other comments or help will be appreciated.
Thanks in advance
Anyway thanks for the comment.
uuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhh getting paid for studying. OMG I would be so happy.
Good luck, man. Sorry, programming is def not my thing.
Can you say how much money that "escape studios" maya course would cost?
In other words, learn whichever one you want, and then you should be able to learn the other with relative ease. In 20 hours you should have a very firm understanding of how the program works and how to make some basic models. In 100 hours you ought to know a lot more intricacies and some of the tricks of the trade, they might even let you dabble with some plug-ins.
Both Maya and 3DS Max can be learned through self-study, but not everyone is up to that. Plus you won't learn a lot of the jargon and other nuances. Self-study in 3D programs is a lot like learning kung-fu from watching movies... it's possible to learn some great technique, but most of the info out there just skims surfaces and it's hard to link it all together. Your best bet would be to find an in-depth tutorial that will take you from beginner level to master level. I'd link you to one if I knew of such a tutorial
$5000 for 100 hours isn't bad, but if you're just doing it as a hobby I wouldn't pay for it. I'd only spend $5000 on it if you're fairly certain you want to pursue it as a career. The downside is you'll never really know if you've got what it takes without getting your feet wet, and you can't really get your feet wet without buying the programs which run about $2000 each.
My advice: Download Blender. Blender is a free 3D design tool with which you can play around and see if 3D design is something you want to do professionally. Plus, if you learn the basics of Blender you'll have a firm footing in 3D design and it'll be much easier to learn the professional programs.
100 hours is really not that much time, but it's about the same as most tech school courses. As an educator I taught 8 week courses to people who were trying to develop a career in IT administration. The courses were $19/k for an AA degree but the truth is this.
If you have a drive to know the material you will do well, an instructor is simply going to get your feet wet in the application, the honing of your skills will take much more time and effort. In my classes 1 out of every 10 students put in the effort to make a career for themselves, the others were wasting their time and money. After 6 years of teaching I had roughly 800 students pass though my class room and I can only think of about 20 tops I would go out of my way to hire today. Even 8 weeks of the courses I taught only allowed me to teach the basics in hands on intensive lab driven classes.
So the moral of the story is if you have a real passion to get into 3D animation or graphic arts there is nothing that will stop you if you are hell bent on it. The other thing to consider is even though these are applications, there is still an artistic bend to it, you still need to have a good eye and an artistic skill that will make you marketable. If you have that already, then application will simply become another medium for you to express yourself.
Ironically I didn't go to school for any computer courses, I started with book's, lots of them and got into entry level positions and worked my way up into more technical positions. To give you an idea when I did support for Adobe we had a crash lab in the back any of us could use and we had PC's on carts we could roll up to our desk with all of Adobe's applications on them.
Most people never used the crash lab and only played games on the mobile PC's, after my shift was over at 10 PM, I would go in the back and teach myself Photoshop, Pagemaker, FrameMaker, etc. for another 3 to 4 hours every night until I knew it like the back of my hand. I also read all the user guides (yes those boring things :D) The same was true in all my positions, that was my college. Some people do well in class room settings, if you are one and know you have the drive for this, then 3 weeks might be just what you need to get started. I would recommend though to check out other schools before settling on one, find out who your instructor is and make sure you have a good rapport with them. Some teachers can suck and nothing will waste your time and money faster than a bad instructor.
@VegasRage: Thanks for the tips man, its great to hear all of this from someone who has such an experience. I am going to start the course today, it will be the first part of the course which is like 20-50 hours of photoshop, and then if i want i will pass on to 3dsmax. Now, i know photoshop but i would like to know it better, and i would like to see how this college is and everything so im giving it a go.
Again, thanks for all the help guys.
I went today to my first class in the photoshop course and it was nice. After im done with photoshop ill move on either to Maya or 3dsmax
I whole heartily agree. I'm graduating in a week with a Bachelor Art degree and so many of my classmates just did not care about their classes.
The only 3D program I've had experience with is Maya. I love it, the learning curve feels pretty steep but once you learn the different aspects of the program you won't even have to think about it. It becomes like riding a bike or driving car.
Best advice is to learn the hotkeys. Hotkeys make life a lot easier.
Sweet make sure they give you some Image Ready action, that's the bomb for animated gifs and extracting video clip frames.