Beginning to learn how to model in 3d - Blender / Google ske

[Anvils Hammer]

Fleafa has reccommended Hexagon, which Ill download and try out later this week, "free" is a price tag I can work with..

I have no problems with "blender units" as its pretty easy to set one blender unit to equal one millimeter, its just a pain when I want to measure somthing or easily enter exact proportions.

I know there are lots of vids, Ive watched a few and I think if I spend 10 hours watching vids and following them step by step, I will get good at it pretty quickly.

AH

[Fleafa]

None of these programs could be considered CAD. Hexagon is purely a modeling app, like Wings3D and (I think) Rhino. Max, May, Blender, XSI, Lightwave are fully-featured modelling/animating suites. I started playing with Max 10 years ago and have used it in my BSc and MSc courses and have still only scratched the surface. I am trained as a modeller for games though, so my knowledge of lighting and animation is just enough to understand the needs of people working on those aspects.
I haven't played much with Hexagon, but it seems pretty straightforward and I am considering moving over to it for miniature design. Need a few hours to figure that out though. I'll continue to sculpt figures in Zbrush though. Blender's sculpting doesn't compete and Mudbox is too expensive. One day I may try 3DCoat but not for a while.
Sorry if this is rambling; I'm on my phone in my lunch break!

[factor40]

[Deadmeat30]

That 3dcoat looks rather interesting!

[factor40]

Well, I downloaded Hexagon and I may have underestimated it. I just opened it for a few minutes to get a feel for the interface and it's not bad. I'm very big on video tutorials, so I found a decent source . They have a main series on Hexagon and 3 supplemental bundles of "weekly tutorials" that seem to cover a whole host of objects and functions. They are also reasonably priced and are downloadable upon payment.

Hope that helps, I may dive deeper into this and see what it's like.

[mangozac]

[Fleafa]

[factor40]

[Anvils Hammer]

So Im pretty damn pleased with myself...

My new approach of "model untill you find somthing you cant do, google how to do it, continue" seems to be working! Ive learned how to snap vertices together, separate and join objects, extrude along specific axis, use the mirror function etc etc, every new thing I figure out makes it slightly easier!

I spent 3 hours this morning bashing together most of the body for a new Ion Rifle Im designing, and its actually looking pretty respectable.

Its only half done, took forever and is not printable, but Im getting there!

I reckon another 10 hours of solid practice and I will have sufficient knowledge to be able to model anything mechanical.

Ill get a photo of my first "complete" design up soon!

AH

[Deadmeat30]