To any 3D animation guys

[Floodie]

Hi Peeps - bit of a story

Right, since being ickle and on Deluxe paint 3 on the Amiga I've always wanted to get into animation and all that malarky. Was interested in going to Bournemouth to do their specialised 3D animation course but became a bit of a wildchild during Alevels and didn’t get anywhere near the 26 points needed…

Since then I have fallen into sales / recruitment and not been doing too bad. The past 8 or so years have just flown by… I wanna now start (initially as a hobby) to learn about 3d animation and finally get it going!.. But don’t know the way to go about it at all… Do I find an evening course at a collage? Or buy a book? If so, which books for ABSOLUTE beginners - and also what packages are best.. I hear 3DStudio and Maya bounded about all the time but don’t know whats best to start on etc… My ultimate aim would be to be able to create game / movie like 3d animation AND create still photo realistic 3D models.

Also, I realise there was a recent thread about this but a) didn’t want to hijack it, and b) it was kinda off what I am asking.

Any help would be appreciated..
Cheers

Floodie

 

[MattT]

I have a mate who did a Product design degree where we used some 3d modelling packages - Solidworks, 3DStudio, Pro Engineer etc - but we didn't master any of them, simply knew enough to bodge it!
But he now designs computer games - working on quite a few upcoming titles for the xbox 360 - so with a basic understanding of the packages (basic as in self-taught) you can go on to more advanced training courses which will cover in depth the area you want.
3DStudio is a good place to start simply because of its popularity - there are books and free tutorials all over - so that should give you a good starting point for any 3D package.
I've kind of fallen out of touch with the latest packages as the one we use in work is Microstation which is more CAD based with elements of 3D as opposed to full on 3D modelling.

 

[sneeks]

I'm still trying to get my head around basic 3d modelling but I had a go at animation Don't laugh. Obviously I didn't have time to try animate a person or anything that was actually interesting.

 

[Floodie]

thanks Matt, thanks Sneeks.... and i do like the logo

Anyone else got any help?? maybe prices and best place to get Maya / 3Ds and the best books people have used.....