Learning 3D Animation
Everyone has been waiting for it… the golden nugget… the one little thing that makes everything click… so here it is at last: The secret to learning animation is that there is no secret.
I know… how Kung Fu of me.
Seriously though, I’ve received a lot of “learning 3D” questions and I never quite have time to respond to properly, so I figured I’d just do one big post and link to it rather than give a half baked answer via email, facebook, twitter, or any of the half-million methods of communication out there. This post also functions as a bit of a catch-all/FAQ for getting started with 3D. I’ll update the post occasionally and put the link in the top right of the main blog page.
Question #1: What software should I use?
This is number 1 for a very good reason. It is hands down the most asked question, and also completely irrelevant. People are so preoccupied with the tools, that they forget that 3D is a skillset. Sure there are some benefits to the higher-end software, but if you don’t know how to drive a car, how are you going to handle a 757? In fact, I’d probably recommend that you start out with something simple. Hell, Google SketchUp is free and extremely easy to use. Sure you won’t be able to make a multi-million dollar film with it, but you can make some cool models and learn the basics without having to deal with inverted normals on a non-manifold polymesh.
Question #2: But don’t I need to know about inverted normals on a non-manhole polymer?
Eventually, yes. But not when you’re just starting out. There is no “right” way to do things so just start playing around and when you run into a problem, see if you can figure out how to solve it. That’s how humans learn. First we scoot, then crawl, then stand, then walk, then run. Show me a baby that can run before he crawls and I’ll show you one screwed up kid.
Question #3: Do I need to go to school to learn 3D?
School is not necessary, but it doesn’t hurt. If you learn better in a classroom setting, then it might be worth it. The important thing to remember is that school is like hiring a guide. They can show you where to go, but you’re still going to have to walk there on your own two legs. Personally, I like to go out and wander around on my own. Sure it might take a little longer to get there and I might even get lost, but I also get to see parts of the city that most tourists don’t even know exists. You find the back alley shortcuts that shave 10 minutes off of your commute, and you meet the mafia boss who can save your butt when a big project is due tomorrow and the renders keep crashing. (I’d better stop before this metaphor gets even more off track)
Question #4: What should I focus on when I’m starting out?
I adopt a very laissez faire attitude towards the educational process. So once again, my answer is that “it doesn’t matter.” Its a great idea to have a goal. Maybe a picture you want to create, or a film you want to make. By attempting to do those projects (and probably failing at first) you’ll do research that teaches you the basics and the different parts of the process. You’ll also find yourself gravitating towards certain things. For instance, I love rigging and when I started out, I didn’t even know what rigging was. It was only by doing a project that I got to try out all of the different parts of 3D and see what I enjoy most.
#5 Do I need traditional art skills?
It’s not necessary but it helps. The big advantage is that traditional training often helps develop your eye. That’s the most important factor. For instance, I don’t draw well at all, but I can look at a drawing and recognize that the proportions are off, or that the background in a photo is so busy that its pulling the viewer’s eye away from the subject. You definitely don’t need to master another medium, but dabbling in other formats will help out immensely. CG has correlations to just about every artistic medium you can think of…
Sculpture = Modelling
Painting = Textures/Lighting
Drawing = Design and Composition
Music = Rhythm and Temporal studies (Animation, editing, etc)
Dance = Kinematics and Pose (Animation)
Photography = Lighting and Layout
This is one of my favorite videos that really sums up my thoughts better than I can myself. Be warned that its PG-13 (but hilarious.)
On a related note, Joaquin Baldwin recorded a quick chat with me about how we got started in animation. (Sorry for the audio, we just grabbed his camera and recorded this before heading to the airport.)
January 28th, 2010 at 1:45 am
Great advice.
And come on, there is no shame in admitting that you use XSI.
Also on great free software for starters XSI mod tool is free version of XSI that people can play with, Blender is free and open but can scare any new user away. And wings3d is a great free modeling program that is simple enough to use and great way to start modeling (it can also handle non quads)
Thanks for the great advice.
I wish I had it sooner, but it is not too late yet
January 28th, 2010 at 12:35 pm
Yeah, I was mostly being a defensive to prove a point. The mod tool is great, Blender is incredibly powerful although I might be a little hesitant to recommend it to beginners in its current state as the UI is still pretty unfriendly and the last thing you want to start out with is something that’s not user-friendly. (I’ve heard the next version should have some major improvements to this though.) I really do stand behind the “keep it simple at first.” My first 3D package was Bryce 3D which only had about 12 modelling tools. I quickly outgrew it, but its really encouraging to be able to spit out decent looking images without having to learn about tuning BSP trees and antialiasing settings.
January 29th, 2010 at 7:05 pm
great post!
yeah, blender is not the perfect program for begginers, i started with it was kind of confusing, and the more lost i got more mistakes i made, but it was good becuse i learned from those mistakes, the real hard thing is to not give up, and acept those mistakes.
now the real cool thing about blender as a learning tool, is that you can follow developers blog, IRC chats, mettings etc, and from that take some key (and advanced) concepts about 3d in general, realy cool.
February 2nd, 2010 at 10:05 am
Going off the topic of creating 3D video, let me give you the reaction of an aging Boomer who knows zilch about video production methods but knows content when he sees it.
I see why you got so many awards. The plot, graphics quality, and action are in a league with big Hollywood productions like “Toy Story,” not to mention that you told the whole story without any dialog. The animation may make the animators drool, but as Pixar showed, it’s the content that sells the popcorn and DVDs. The pigeon story had both.
After viewing it, my reaction was “Wow, this is the new Looney Tunes!” Seriously. And that’s not an insult. The classic Warner Brothers ‘toons had a very long run and still are as funny today as they were then. The ground-breaking “Who Killed Roger Rabbit” showed that the form is far from dead. The real stars were the ‘toons, not the humans, and kids who never heard of Warner Brothers or film noir enjoyed it as much as we informed adults did. (And still do. My daugher, who is 21, has the DVD and we watched it the other night. I had to explain the back story of Los Angeles in the 1940s, but she enjoys it as much as I do.)
Now that you’ve done your 5-year apprenticeship on this piece, if you could find a way to do productions of this quality economically, IMO there could be a market for short-form animations (we called them cartoons but I guess that’s old school) in movie theaters and as “added features” on DVDs.
I don’t know what your career and business plans are, but think about it. Hell, you could become the fifth “Warner Brother”!
February 11th, 2010 at 11:32 am
Thanks for the advice, Lucas, I suspect I could replace “3D” and “animation” with “whatever you’re trying to learn” and it still makes sense. I’m actually going to apply these methods to a project over the next few months.
Oh, and Bryce 3D taught me that the world is composed of mountains, islands, clouds, and spaceships, which is true to some extent.
February 16th, 2010 at 11:35 pm
You forgot toruses and teapots!
March 18th, 2010 at 12:49 am
Definitely a very insightful interview. I really appreciate this video because its nice to see someone who has achieved so much with such a small background in animation. It really gives me hope and I hope that I too can one day make something as good as Pigeon: Impossible (or at the very least know HOW to make it
)
July 30th, 2010 at 2:38 pm
Muchos Gracias for your post.Much thanks again. Keep writing.
August 16th, 2010 at 9:30 am
Would you please translate your blog into Italian since I’m not that comfortable reading it in English? I’m getting tired of using Google Translate all the time, there is a little WP plugin called like global translator which will render all your pages automatically- this would make reading articleson your great blog even more pleasant. Cheers dude, Online Education Guide!
August 16th, 2010 at 9:00 pm
Done, thanks for the suggestion. It might take a while for all the pages to get translated. The language options are in the sidebar.