Yeah thanks Dan,

I'm facing a lot of problems now:

1.) Lack of knowledge of different 3d techniques. For example, what exactly is NURBS? I know its more accurate than poly, but ??
2.) Lack of WOW FACTOR! When people see my design document or my storyline (which has taken me over a YEAR to fully plan out, and its still not completely done to my satisfaction!), no one reads the full thing. People want to see nice renders and stunning specifications. They just see a boring ol' GDD..In order to get artists to work with my team, I need to have the WOW factor. Therefore, I must be able to create the WOW factor MYSELF.

It goes on and on. I simply cannot find 2 people to work with (or two types:)
1.) lead artist
2.) lead programmer

I cannot go and tell people "hey yo dude, I have this awesome design, will you make it for me?." That just doesn't work (believe me, I've tried it, and embarassed myself while doing so.)

Two friends of mine are on mid-sized team. Both are the lead producers, VPs, Directors, whatever you want to call it. One of them is in charge of all art aspects. The other is in charge of all programming aspects. It just leads me to believe that I've to pick one of the sides and be able to do something good with it. If I become good at art, then there is the WOW factor. If I become good in programming, then there is the "Hey I'm already 25% done with coding. I coded a lot of it myself" factor.

Problems, problems. I mean, my storyline and GDD is good (IMO), but people just don't care to listen...If there could be like one good artist to work with me for 3-6 months, things would probably get rolling, but even one artist is impossible to find!

..Thanks once again.
I'll look at the tutorials. I liked the Joan of Arc one. I visited the 3d.sk site before, but you have to pay to see the prints (if memory serves).

===============

Let's conclude..

What should I do to improve?
(Do more tutorials, read more books, practice practice but I might be ineffcient?)

Quite the dilemma here. I thought art would just require a lot of time. Not to brag or anything, but I pretty good at hand drawing. I can understand the 3d concept but all the different names like "chamfer" and "mental ray" and what not.. Then again you have the different classes in Dx and C++.

There's a new meaning to writers block..where people are stopping a writer from achieving simply 'cause the writer doesn't have the skills needed to fully write a 3d game with WOW factor. Maybe I should stick to simple 2D sprites? I did make a 2d game with 2 friends of mine, even though it sucked (simcity2000 + starcraft type game).

Thanks everyone

ok, shankar... why are you going to tyr to model humans? not to be mean, but stick with the basics for now untill you get more experience under your belt, i have been modelign for a year and a half now and i have just been able to model humans (check my site in my sig).
firstly, if you're wanting to model something similar to that torret there start with the base.
1.) model very short cylinder, reduce its side count to 6, boom you have the base.
2.) model another cylinder the size that has a shorter diameter, that is pretty tall... but not too tall and also has 6 sides and two hieght segments.
3.) center that cylinder with the base and right-lcik, turn to editable mesh, select edit vertices (the tiny red dots button) and select the top vertices of your second cylinder, right-lcikc, scale, and scale them down untill the diamter of the top is half of the bottom.
4.) create a box that is thin with three height segments.
5.)turn it into an editable mesh, move the centerline of vertices to the to slightly before it reaches the top line. select the two top areas and and move them in the opp direction of the button.
6.) copy and paste this all the way around at each edge.
7.) create another cylinder with 6 sides that is as as wide at the top of your second cylinder and move it to the top, select it and turn it into an editable mesh, select the top vertices and scale them down a bit.
8.)create a long, high box that goes through the center of your entire model so far and goes well above it.
9.) create another box that is more rectangluar that sits on top of the box you just created and has 3 length segments.
10.) turn it itno an editable mesh and select the back end and scale it down.
11.) create another rectangular box, create a cylinder that is in the center of the box and then another cylidner that isslightly larger then your last one and put it on the edge of your last cylinder.
12.)select the mesh you made from step 11 and place it in the order that the picture shows.
13.) you're done
in two minutes i made this.
and from reading my above post you cna see why i don't write tutorials ;)

[Edited by - Jarrod1937 on June 25, 2006 4:24:24 PM]

;) my ratings keep fluctuating. 1004-990-1002-997...Oh well. That's what noobs get.

Quote:

Original post by Jarrod1937 and from reading my above post you cna see why i don't write tutorials ;)

Lol man.
I like your model, and I'll give your outline a shot. But honestly, I'm not THAT much of a noob. I mean, I know my scaling, my meshes etc. I just don't know the nitty gritty stuff. I've done some nice stuff, just nothing GREAT. I suppose this "turret" was extremely dumb, especially since I put only half an hour into it (two hours trying to figure what light is. Lighting really gave me trouble; skylights were working, and omnis were too bright. I realized my multiplier was too high.)
The above paragraph is simply to make sure no one thinks I'm an absolute noob. (I'm not saying I'm an expert at this either..) Just clarification. I'll upload a few pics, just to back up that fact. ;)



Hope it isn't another noob image lol. A few modifications come to mind when I see it. I'm planning on adding a frame to the inner part of the window (the side we see), detailing & maybe texturing the walls, and perhaps expanding it into a room. Someday, I hope to be able to model the full church (along with the outside, small rooms, chambers etc.). Maybe a grave with walking zombies..(now I'm just fantasizing).

i didn't figure you for an absolute noob but when giving a tutorial it is best to assume the other person knows nothing so he'll miss nothing, no matter what his skill level may be.
however i still say, practice the basics, the church scene shows some understanding on lighting and effects but it still shows only a basic understanding of modeling. it would do you more good to learn all of the basics before you move on to sometyhing harder.

Back to square one:
Where can I learn ALL the basics?

Quote:

Original post by D Shankar Back to square one: Where can I learn ALL the basics?

lol, i shouldn't have said all, as there are some basic things that you, as a game modler, won't need to leanr. but i mainly figured it out for myself just by messing with a feature and seeing what it does, however you can just look on the internet for tutorials for everything basics like materials, texturing, basics of box modeling, lighting...etc.
also, don't worry, my rating keeps going up and down too, it happens.

Quote:

Original post by Jarrod1937 also, don't worry, my rating keeps going up and down too, it happens.

lol of course, I'm just kiddin 'round. After all, knowledge matters more than a series of numbers on a computer screen.

And going down the tutorial pathway - that's how it's been for the past 4-6 months. When I look back, I honestly understand Max a little better. I mean, when I first booted Max 7 up, I was stunned. Buttons left, right & top. Ah! That's changed now (for the better). I think my next mini-proj will be modeling the turret the way you suggested Jarrod. Thanks for all the help man.

Cheers,

Quote:

Original post by D Shankar Quote: Original post by Jarrod1937 also, don't worry, my rating keeps going up and down too, it happens. lol of course, I'm just kiddin 'round. After all, knowledge matters more than a series of numbers on a computer screen. And going down the tutorial pathway - that's how it's been for the past 4-6 months. When I look back, I honestly understand Max a little better. I mean, when I first booted Max 7 up, I was stunned. Buttons left, right & top. Ah! That's changed now (for the better). I think my next mini-proj will be modeling the turret the way you suggested Jarrod. Thanks for all the help man. Cheers,

well, i will help you the best i can when i am free, if you have aim you can contact me at metalgearsolido8 and i'll walk you through things. i also use 3ds max 7 so it'll be quite easy to lead you through things.
and yeah, i remember the first time i startedup 3ds max... i was stunned to see buttons everywhere and no end to sub-menus, but you get used to it after a while and learn to ignore what you don't need (certain things are only used for film or post-process effects which have no bearing in real-time modeling).

I generally use GAIM (when on Linux) or Trillian (on Windows), so AIM sometimes messes up. Just in case, my sn is "neximis" without the quotes.

And everyone, thanks for all the help,

I'll use this thread to post any additional models I draw, and any questions I have on improvements, efficiency ;) so on.

@ Jarrod:

I kinda followed your tut (not completely, though) and this is what turned up:
It's 10:50 and tomorrow's a Monday morning (yea yea, gotta get up early - 5.am man! I ain't joking around).

Here's a screenie. Regular scanline, nothing fancy. I just worked on the lighting. I spent more time on lighting than modeling ;). I used regular "marble" for the textures. Simple stuff.



Feast your eyes!