Question on Splines

[TheSpleen]

I am planning on buying this Animation Master and all the extras very soon. I have watched all the tutorials and the films made by users as well and am very impressed!

So I am already sold on it, But my question is Spline modeling.

I was a professional Cartoonist for 30 years and have some (little) experience in 3d modeling.

I am generally very good at anything I put my hands on and am wondering how high the learning curve is with modeling in this program.

I am recently disabled and and this program is what I will be spending most of my time on. LOL

Just wondering how fast or slow getting good at modeling was for everyone.

Thanks!

The Spleen

[MasterFunk]

It took me about 6 months to get the hang of it. It is crucial to learn continuity. Once that is mastered it is easy to model.

[TheSpleen]

It took me about 6 months to get the hang of it. It is crucial to learn continuity. Once that is mastered it is easy to model.

Ok thanks. I will have many many hours now to practice so hopefully not that long.

[robcat2075]

I think the fact that you are an artist with an eye for what looks right will help you quite a bit once you get over the initial hump of making shapes.

[John Bigboote]

A good choice. Your artistic ability will serve as a great foundation...A:M should serve you well. Have a look at my portfolio (in my webpage) if you have a chance...I got 'in' to A:M to do cartoony 3D animations and somewhere along the line got sidetracked to making 3D graphics and TV-commercial animations to pay the bills.

 

Advice: Watch all the videos at hash.com... join-up with Rodney's TAOAM (The Art of Animation:Master) boot-camp program. Become a regular on this forum. Practice daily. Don't discourage.

 

WELCOME!

[TheSpleen]

A good choice. Your artistic ability will serve as a great foundation...A:M should serve you well. Have a look at my portfolio (in my webpage) if you have a chance...I got 'in' to A:M to do cartoony 3D animations and somewhere along the line got sidetracked to making 3D graphics and TV-commercial animations to pay the bills.

 

Advice: Watch all the videos at hash.com... join-up with Rodney's TAOAM (The Art of Animation:Master) boot-camp program. Become a regular on this forum. Practice daily. Don't discourage.

 

WELCOME!

I have bookmarked your site and will look at it all, Thank you.

[Fuchur]

A good choice. Your artistic ability will serve as a great foundation...A:M should serve you well. Have a look at my portfolio (in my webpage) if you have a chance...I got 'in' to A:M to do cartoony 3D animations and somewhere along the line got sidetracked to making 3D graphics and TV-commercial animations to pay the bills.

 

Advice: Watch all the videos at hash.com... join-up with Rodney's TAOAM (The Art of Animation:Master) boot-camp program. Become a regular on this forum. Practice daily. Don't discourage.

 

WELCOME!

I have bookmarked your site and will look at it all, Thank you.

 

Splines arent that hard. They are somehow even more logical than polys. You have to follow certain rules, but you gain a much less dense "mesh" with it which will help in many circumstances, especially while animating. (not in all, but in most...)

 

To fully understand everything about splines you will need your time, but beginning with it will be fast. And as a cartoony-artist you should be used to animation and working "logical", so I am certain that you will get the hang of it quite fast. If you got Illustrator, FreeHand or Flash-Expierences it will although help a bit.

 

*Fuchur*

[largento]

Welcome to the party, Gene!

 

There's definitely an element of modeling with splines that is a bit like drawing in 3D, which should be a plus for you.

 

My first go at Animation:Master wasn't very successful. I took a "I can figure this out myself" approach and wasted a couple of months doing it the hard way and burned out quickly. The second time around, I made up my mind to learn everything and sought out as much information as I could. Unfortunately, some of the great video tutorials I purchased aren't available for sale anymore, but the main series that helped me the most still is! You can even get them as individual downloads now! Here's the link. I can't recommend it enough for getting started down the path!

 

I'm now over a year and a half into my second go around with Animation:Master and feel "okay" with what I'm doing. I certainly don't feel like I've mastered it, but that's half the fun. I'm enjoying the learning process.

[Jeetman]

Hi Gene,

 

The thing about A:M is the vast versatility of it. You have at your finger tips a massive program that covers so many different applications, it's amazing.

 

When I first started using A:M my focus was on modeling (I do more animation work now). I do 3D mechanical modeling at work using my company's software (Autodesk Inventor) so when I bought A:M for my personal use, I had already had experience with forming 3D shapes to create 3D objects. That's the key in my opinion to 3D modeling; Think of creating three dimensional shapes and sculpting out (through spline manipulation) your idea. Learning about using rotoscoping will help out immensely with modeling.

 

The single most important learning curve to modeling (besides an artistic eye which you obviously have) is creating smooth meshes.

 

Once you fully understand the principals behind splines and the awesome array of tools and methods A:M offers to create and manipulate them, then it's just a matter of thinking about what you want to make.

 

Go through TaoA:M and if you're having trouble check out the excellent tutorials by Holmes Bryant and others and if you having a specific problem that you can't find the answer to, just post it and we'll do our best to help you out.

 

 

George

[HomeSlice]

I'm now over a year and a half into my second go around with Animation:Master and feel "okay" with what I'm doing. I certainly don't feel like I've mastered it, but that's half the fun. I'm enjoying the learning process.

I've been using this program for about 8 years, almost daily, and I still don't feel like I've mastered every aspect.

"Easy to Learn. Hard to Master" - exactly like learning how to draw with a pencil.

 

check out the excellent tutorials by Holmes Bryant and others

Thanks George! I'm glad some people find my tutorials useful

[TheSpleen]

Thank you all! I am probably going to purchase it within the next 2 weeks. And trust me, I will be using all advice given.

I was fairly good at modeling polys. Not great but I could do it. I also know the benefits of great texturing. Textures can be magical at times in making a simple model look complex.

Again Thanks!

[phatso]

If you're experienced at making poly models, you're going to think splines are inferior at first - just cuz of what you're used to. However, there is a fundamental incompatibility between polys and organic forms. About two days after you get to the point where you want to throw A:M in the trash bin, things will click. Three days after that, it will have become so obvious that spline modelling is the right way to do organic forms that you'll never want to work with polys again.

 

To me, making organic forms with polys is like drawing cartoons with a typewriter.

[Gerry]

My background is also as a cartoonist, and having a background in drawing is a huge plus. Also, if you have any experience at all in other 3D packages, the learning curve becomes a lot flatter because you're familiar with the 3D modeling paradigm. I started working in A:M in '99 and it was a couple of years I think before I became aware of the community, which is an enormous asset. Other pluses are the constant development, numerous updates during the year, and the new features that get incorporated.

 

I'm often amazed at the seemingly newbie questions posed by people who I take for accomplished professionals here on the forum. We're all learning new stuff all the time and that's what gives the learning experience so much vitality and makes it fun. When I run into a problem on a project, even when I'm on deadline, I can post a query here and get good advice and information, often within an hour or two. It really is fantastic.

 

Gerry