[quote name='RedPin' timestamp='1303422013' post='4801391']
making them yourself is easy. Start in Blender then search around on Google.

Drawing is pretty easy too, you just put a pencil on a piece of paper and go nuts.

For the untrained, yeah you could get up to speed and make simple models pretty easily, but I don't think a dude can go form 0->decent character animation on short notice.
[/quote]
A program like wings3D allows that for just modeling things. Takes like a few hours to get a hang of the program. Then again if you're artistically challenged then that's a problem. It's a nice skill to have though. I'd say it's good to at least know how to open a program like wings3D or blender and make a quick prototype shaped object. Also rigging in blender while challenging can be learned in a few days. It's not as difficult as it first might seem.

[quote name='PropheticEdge' timestamp='1303508416' post='4801758']
[quote name='RedPin' timestamp='1303422013' post='4801391']
making them yourself is easy. Start in Blender then search around on Google.

Drawing is pretty easy too, you just put a pencil on a piece of paper and go nuts.

For the untrained, yeah you could get up to speed and make simple models pretty easily, but I don't think a dude can go form 0->decent character animation on short notice.
[/quote]
A program like wings3D allows that for just modeling things. Takes like a few hours to get a hang of the program. Then again if you're artistically challenged then that's a problem. It's a nice skill to have though. I'd say it's good to at least know how to open a program like wings3D or blender and make a quick prototype shaped object. Also rigging in blender while challenging can be learned in a few days. It's not as difficult as it first might seem.
[/quote]

Modeling a decent character is difficult. Good modelers know about how to utilize poles, face loops, edge loops, etc.

Not to mention...modeling is extremely boring. I think I made a dog once and it takes way to long to do for little results. Then you still have to rig it, make textures, etc. So I'll leave that area to the full time artists.

I'd say it's good to at least know how to open a program like wings3D or blender and make a quick prototype shaped object. Also rigging in blender while challenging can be learned in a few days. It's not as difficult as it first might seem.

It's in fact much more difficult than it first seems. Sure you can get up and running in a few days and even be able to create some acceptable models for testing, beyond the usual teapots and geospheres. And it's certainly a good thing to know, if just to create good testing environments for your game without needing to resort to an artist. But there's a world of difference between the programmer art generated this way and something like this or this. It takes years to master the skills needed to create really good 3D models. And that applies to characters as well as most other complex 3D models or scenes. Keep in mind that 3D art is about much more than just creating the geometry (which is already hard enough). Textures and materials are just as important.

It's actually a major challenge to find really good 3D artists nowadays, even if significant pay is involved.

It's in fact much more difficult than it first seems. Sure you can get up and running in a few days and even be able to create some acceptable models for testing, beyond the usual teapots and geospheres. And it's certainly a good thing to know, if just to create good testing environments for your game without needing to resort to an artist. But there's a world of difference between the programmer art generated this way and something like this or this. It takes years to master the skills needed to create really good 3D models. And that applies to characters as well as most other complex 3D models or scenes. Keep in mind that 3D art is about much more than just creating the geometry (which is already hard enough).

3D modeling gets to be a very technical skill, just as difficult as the programming side. Especially character modeling. You need good knowledge of anatomy, and you have to properly construct your edge loops to follow the muscles so that a model will deform in the right ways.

http://wiki.polycount.com/FaceTopology?highlight=%28%5CbCategoryTopology%5Cb%29
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=46031

In order to animate the model properly, you have to know traditional animation skills. The frame timings for certain actions to be able to be properly read by the viewer. Different personality types have all their motions lead by a different body part, like the hips vs the head, etc...

The rig for a model can get very complex. It starts with a skinned mesh, but the you can have tons and tons of custom controllers built on top of that.

Textures and materials are just as important.[/quote] Yep. In the end 3D models are just groups of planes that display materials. They are just silhouettes that define how a material will be projected into a scene. Materials will make or break a scene.

Materials, like modeling and animation, are a huge subject all on their own. most can't even grasp basic color theory, which is why most programmer art looks horrendous at best. http://wiki.polycount.com/FaceTopology?highlight=%28%5CbCategoryTopology%5Cb%29

I would like to point out that I'm not discouraging anyone to try out Blender. It's a very cool piece of software now that they replaced that trainwreck with a usable UI! I do think that a programmer is better off as a human being if he has some familiarity with the art pipeline and the tools artists use. I'm just saying that if you're looking for high caliber art for a game that demands great graphics, you're not going to be able to pick things up and start pumping them out on short notice.