maybe some game engines are worth a look? There comes an editor and there are hobbyists.
I heard some architects start to use these for visualising buildings over standard 3d engine programmes like Max, Maja or Softimage.
Game engines are worth much money(billions?) and do the job allegedly better than those architect´s softwares (reason being games are highly sought after and much more work can be put in in comparison)
That being said, I have no real clue about any of those (unreal engine? cryengine).
Then: 3d is a very large field. I am no expert. For some 3d - effects like matte painting you do not need 3d programs(as you surely know).
If you are good at texturing then you could test uvw - mapping maybe you love it?
I think the key word here is regular basis. Each Saturday you use up 2 Hours to do something 3d ish.. OF course if you hate blenders UI and unintuitiveness (does not seem too good ) then do use something else.
If you say you want to apply for work within either game design, TV special effects production, or something along those lines. and learn appropriate skill sets.
1. You cannot do a whole TV spot on your own. As noted somewhere, by cows, there are specialists :
modelers, texturers etc. A modeler knows how to texture, but will probably not do that.
Therefore you should get an overview of all areas 3dish and then concentrate on e.g. textures.
This means photographing of surfaces of all sorts (old, scratched and blotted paint on used vehicles)
minute detail of optimal usage of space; some working with alpha maps and so on,as said I am no expert.
painting 3d is another field.
then you must know what effects animation will have on the textures(stretching or squashing and results on eg armpits)
if the model will be animated at all.
In that regard: What limits does the game(or ...) ultimately have? Sometimes you can only use very rough models and comparatively rough textures (World of Warcraft)
(for high end movies like the lord of the rings, maps have 4000px X 4000px and more, so it depends )
with textures, as a texturers you know how 3d models should be modeled (where to cut it open) - in short what works and if not why not and how to improve it.
talk to modeler for improvement or problematic areas . and so forth.
As an animator, you have to get a grasp on how things behave in the real world. A bowling ball will bounce differently on the ground compared to a sponge ..
anyways: Games tend to have somewhat restrictions. or they are getting insanely complex and you need many people( enter some new game here like Dragon Age 2 ).
In a smaller Game, like Tower Defense with 3d graphics used for flash or browsergame one person can probably do the complete job,
on 400 men + games you tend to do a very specific job over and over again (eg. only modelling , because you know how to do that and bcs your fast etc)
If there is some bullsh*t I wrote here, please correct me
So tell us, what you specifically want to do or what particular plan you have.( the start you already made, etch it out some more)
First I want to learn how to ..
If you say learn 3d then this is too complex.
more specific and small parts can be helped more easily.
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