I wasn't sure if I should make this here or in the 'For Beginners' forum. Basically, I'm planning on purchasing the Game Institute package, but there's one problem: they use 3ds Max and Photoshop in their tutorials for the 'Game Art and Animation' lessons. I can't afford one of those, let alone both. I asked a representative and he said it's possible to follow along with different programs, but difficult. So my question for you guys is: can I follow their tutorials using Blender and Gimp? I know I can look up tutorials for both online, but I don't want to pay for the lessons and not take advantage of them.

Here's a link to the website: http://www.gameinstitute.com/game-development/game-design.php

Thanks in advance.

I don't think you will want to do that. I have used both 3dsmax and Blender, and they are very different. Most software tutorials are "feature based" which means if you don't have a certain feature, you can't do what they ask. If they are teaching concepts, perhaps you could. But, don't spend any money on that. I make it my duty, as the name suggests to find tutorials, but I find good ones that are free and useful.

I am forced myself to use Blender for modeling and creating game assets.

You could checkout cgCookie:

http://cgcookie.com/blender/

Also, for professional help you can try CgSociety:

http://www.cgsociety.org/

Look around before spending money on that though.

Thanks for replying. I figured this would be the case. I still want the package for the game programming content, but I'll find separate tutorials for Blender and Gimp (thanks for the link, by the way). The most alluring part of the package for me is that it comes with digital textbooks. The tutorials just sweeten the deal. Normally it's $100, but it's on sale for $50 until the 25th.

I wouldn't purchase such a thing unless I could use it. Between 3dsmax and Blender there are so many differences, and there are many things that won't directly just transfer over. At the least, many things in GIMP and photoshop can translate to each other, but there will still be things that won't just "work."

You have two solutions, find a way to get 3dsmax/photoshop, or find different tutorials. I think you might be able to use a trial version of both, but those tend to last only a month, which may or may not be enough for you to use those tutorials, depending on your time and the time the tutorials take, as well as how fast you learn and do things. The other option is to simply use other tutorials like suggested above. Blender Guru has some pretty good Blender tutorials, as well as cgcookie mentioned above. And for GIMP, many photoshop tutorials can somewhat apply to GIMP, and moreso when you actually have an idea of where things are in GIMP.

This is for Blender:

http://www.cgmasters.net/training-dvds/

The Blender Foundation also has a "Store" section that sells training material:

http://www.blender3d.org/e-shop/

The Gnomon Workshop doesn't work with Blender, only commercial packages, but they have some theory DVDs that may be worth the purchase. The tutors have a lot of background:

http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/store/product/185/Practical-Light-and-Color

http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/store/product/981/Efficient-Cinematic-Lighting

For the GIMP I think there's enough free material online to become an advanced user of it. Maybe you don't need to spend on professional training.

http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/

You have two solutions, find a way to get 3dsmax/photoshop, or find different tutorials. I think you might be able to use a trial version of both, but those tend to last only a month, which may or may not be enough for you to use those tutorials, depending on your time and the time the tutorials take, as well as how fast you learn and do things. The other option is to simply use other tutorials like suggested above. Blender Guru has some pretty good Blender tutorials, as well as cgcookie mentioned above. And for GIMP, many photoshop tutorials can somewhat apply to GIMP, and moreso when you actually have an idea of where things are in GIMP.

Blender Guru looks useful; thanks.

This is for Blender:

http://www.cgmasters.net/training-dvds/

The Blender Foundation also has a "Store" section that sells training material:

http://www.blender3d.org/e-shop/

The Gnomon Workshop doesn't work with Blender, only commercial packages, but they have some theory DVDs that may be worth the purchase. The tutors have a lot of background:

http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/store/product/185/Practical-Light-and-Color

http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/store/product/981/Efficient-Cinematic-Lighting

For the GIMP I think there's enough free material online to become an advanced user of it. Maybe you don't to spend on professional training.

http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/

I'm hoping there's enough free tutorials for Blender to get good with it, but I'll keep these links bookmarked. Thanks.

In that case, there's the free Wikibook for Blender: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro#Overview

Quite a lot of information. It's a good thing I like to read Are most tutorials (the older ones) still valid? Meaning, are there changes in the current version of Blender that would make older tutorials not useful?

I cannot attest for that, but check this item in their FAQ: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro/FAQ#How_accurate_is_the_information_in_this_book.3F

Without prior knowledge of 2D/3D there's little hope of adapting what you see on one program to another. You should have the basic knowledge on the topic and one of the software to be able to follow tutorials on another program.

IMO when you can't afford Photoshop and Maya (which are totally unreasonably priced for individual learning outside schools that offer student licences) you shouldn't really pay for courses like that either. I wouldn't trust the reviews they have posted there blindfolded. "I got employed by EA" "I made an XBOX 360 game". It is misleading to imply that buying something for 49$ is going to yield you such results. It takes huge amount of time to learn how video games work, how you make them and how you make individual assets for them. Whether you pay 49$ or not doesn't matter, it just takes patience and dedication.

It doesn't matter much which software you use for learning. The free alternatives won't bottleneck the process, these days internet is full of resources to learn the exact thing you want to, for free. Unless you aim to get employed by the giant companies in the field you don't ever have to use Photoshop or Maya to make great games.

So what are you into most? Modeling, textures, game development? You can literally go to YouTube and search "my first 3d character" or "my first blender game" tutorial and get results in hours. That will build you a foundation you can use to build up your knowledge and refine your skills as you go.