After Attempts at starting in game programming, I took a step back and looked at a few game movies and previews. I realized that I liked the graphical aspect of the game as opposed to the code. I don't wanna be proud of the code sitting in the background (though, yes, i know, It is a HUGE accomplishment for those that do it). I would rather draw in my sketchpad and translate that into a 3d character in my computer that later will run around in a game. I know It is more complicated than That. I am interested in 3D Character Design, world design, and just visual aspects of the games in general. But, being new, its kind of hard to find something that will get you started. The very Basic Is what I am looking for. I read through the starting stickys in this forum, but I got kinda lost when deciding a free program to use. Can someone suggest a program, I have downloaded 3d Canvas, Blender, and a few others, but can someone suggest something good to start on and maybe a good tutorial for iT. Thanks [Edited by - Unseendreams on February 1, 2006 9:26:41 PM]

If you have ever read some howto draw books you would remember that all drawing start out as 3d shapes and we all know the 3d shape are just 2d shapes with depth or extended. thats what modeling is. next you have to know about lights and colors and effect the emotion of the scene. After that you would need to know how to setup the camera position (esp if its not first person).

OK. So first thing first, drawing. Got It. I have all those programs you were talking about.

Ok. Ill work on the drawing. But once I finish a drawing. How do i get it into the 3D program? Since world design is so expansive how would i go about that later on in these programs?

Can someone post some examples of their characters or worlds done in one of these programs or screenshot or whatever. Im more a visual learner.

Thanks in Advance

Learning to draw properly as the foundation towards making producable art is no simple feat. Perhaps if you only want to do environments, its not hard, but once you get into characters and humans you REALLY have to have a good grasp of drawing and anatomy. And drawing, and to some extent painting, is required when you get into any custom texturing, lighting, and rendering.

Getting a drawing into a 3D program is simple, any character modelling tutorial will explain it.

For world building, I'm not sure how it's done, there are a variety of techniques though, from using plugins to standalone programs to sculping for exteriors, and modelling in the program vs. modelling in the editor for interiors/buildings.

When you say drawing in 2D, Do you mean drawing something 2Dimensional, I.E. drawing a flat representation of a tree or a car? Or just drawing in general like on pieces of paper. I actually plan on going to college for graphical designm or this topic, on college. Being Musician doesn't bring in much money.

after drawing modelers would scan their art work into the computer using a scaner or draw it out on the computer using a tablet. Then the drawing will be know as concept and as a reference most 3d modeling program show you how to enter the reference photo. I can't draw that well so i have always struggled to get my artistic ability up and running but this more physcological beacuse some say that after many hour/days/months of hard work I could be quite good

also people use many different reference and are divid into whats call called the front view reference and the profile(side-view refenece)

Well, I don't think I have much drawing talent either. But I'm planning to buy a digital camera, take some pictures around and use them as reference for modeling. I believe it's the smoothest way for me to learn to build good looking 3d models. Photographs will be useful for creating textures too. Also they might give some ideas how to make realistic lighting effects and such.

I'm going to have to disagree with the "learn to draw first" crowd. Yes, being able to draw is a valuable skill, and you should practice it. However, I don't see any reason to think that you must achieve a certain level of proficiency before you start working in 3D. You don't need to be able to draw a correctly-proportioned human to model one -- all you need is good reference.

Of course, if you're more interested in concept art / character design, then by all means focus on drawing. But if you're not sure exactly what you want to do -- and "the visual aspects of games in general" is a pretty big area -- I'd recommend experimenting with everything, so you can figure out where you'd like to specialize.

Two other pieces of advice, for working in 3D:

Expect to be frustrated, especially at first, and expect to put in a lot of time. 3D programs are complicated and not always intuitive, and even once you've got the basics down, things are always going to take longer than you expect.

Save often, and save multiple versions. 3D software -- even professional 3D software, and I doubt the free stuff is much better -- is prone to crashing and even file corruption. You'll learn this the hard way, I'm sure, but being conscious of it may help you develop good save habits sooner.

Oh, and another thing -- it's entirely possible to come out of a program in 3D graphics or what-have-you without sufficient skills to get hired. (It's also possible to get hired without a degree, if you have the skills.) So if this turns out to be something you want to do, it's good that you're starting now. If you're willing to spend some time on it and don't get discouraged too easily, you'll have a big head start when you get to college.

I think know how to draw or be experienced on it has not much influence in 3D modelling/design.

When I was something like 2 or 3 years old I loved to have a pen/pencil and a paper and waste lots of time trying to copy professional drawings of my preferred characters like megaman, sonic, street fighter charactes and many anothers...I loved to do that and then see the final result XD...and the final result was extremelly bad drawings (well, I was a kid and a starter though!) but I loved to do that and this love always impulsed me to continue doing that and never give up...this way I've won a lot of experience and with the help of some drawing magazines and books I learnt many things about anatomy, sketches, lighting/shadow etc, etc, etc...Nowadays, I can draw anatomic bodies, human faces, robots, perspectives, etc, etc cuz I learned and trained too much...

Cuz that, I think you don't need to be good at drawing but you need 'knowledge' about many concepts. And the most important is it: BE CREATIVE !!!!!!!!...creativity is extremelly important indeed...to win it, a good idea is to study creative works...download models from the net or just look at the ones in the games. Pay attention to their structure, design, colors, details, triangulation etc, etc...I do it many times and it is always helping me to learn new concepts...since I got in the 'game development world' I'm looking differently to the games. When I play I just don't play but I LOOK, I PAY ATTENTION to the game design and how the game works etc etc...

The final words: a good way to start is looking at the profeessional works and even try to copy then...usually it takes a lot of time for you to get experience and be a good designer but if you don't give up, Im sure you'll get it.

OK, lets clear something up (and let me speak for Anonomous and owiley). Being good at drawing does not mean only producing pretty pictures. Like Anonomous said, learning to draw means understanding how things look and are formed. This is a neccessary aspect of all art... you are creating a representation of how something looks, either real or in your mind. You have to understand how to transfer what you see (either in your eyes or your mind's eye) into what you produce, how what you think you see is not actually what you see, etc. This skill is not learned by working on the computer, and it cannot be substituted by good reference/modelling photos. Well, it COULD be learned on the computer, but you are developing a concept more accurately, not a skill. It takes alot longer to describe form in 3D than it does on pencil and paper, so your actual experience takes a much longer time to build.
3D modelling is an Art. A background in art, therefore, can only help you improve. Few, if any, Art and Design cirriculums (including CG/Digital Arts) don't involve at least a year in the traditional arts, and drawing is always emphasized. It requires the same background something like painting, or comD, or industrial design, or interior design, or graphic design, all mandate. If anything, it requires a stronger backing because of the added intricacies of the third dimension.
So like has been suggested. If you want to get good at CG, start with the basics and foundations (which you'll likely have to do anyway if you go to school for it). If you want art for your own stuff, and stay at a level where you probably (I'd say definately) won't be able to post something to the ohhhs and ahhhs of CGtalk caliber artists (and won't make a good living, if that's what you plan on), then skip on it. In fact, I can't think of a single industry artist that I've talked to or read about that doesn't have a traditional education (many of them ONLY have a traditional art education, often in something like painting even).