Recommendations for a good Beginner tutorial into 3DSMAX and 2D texturing?

Quote from FMPONE

Title says it all! I'm starting the journey of learning to do both so I'd really appreciate any input

I tried learning some 3d modeling a while back and found CGCookie. They had a lot of good tutorials for Blender and they have a whole section on 3DMax as well. Hopefully that helps a little bit at least.

I'm with you on the 2d texturing, I really want to learn to make some customs for my upcoming map. =D

penE Shawn is breaking up with you ! awe !

I recently adventured into 3ds Max, too.

There is a whole new sereis that Isaac Oster did over at 3D Total recently that is perfect for any beginner in 3DS Max. Alternatively if you are willing to put down some money than you can get the 3D Buzz 3DSMax: Mastering The Fundamentals vtm's for around $100 I believe on DVD (I bought it a few months ago -- still working through it but it is FANTASTIC!).

As for texturing -- that's just practice and learning some good stuff. If you're looking into game asset texturing than I suggest the help section at cdg.net as there are plenty of tutorials in there (although completely unorganized) that will help you to learn how to create things like metal, wood, synthetics, and cloth textures (diffuse) -- if you are wanting AO maps and specularity, again refer to Isaac Oster's vtm's at 3D Total.

I think the key is just cleaning up your geometry as much as possible and making it in quads instead of n-gons before you UV map it.

3D Motive also looks like a good option. I have only watched a couple of their videos so can't say for certain how helpful they will be to you. But might be worth a look

https://www.3dmotive.com/library_guest

Hit me up if you need any character modelling tutorials. Got a great series a friend of mine did that isnt published anywhere.

I started with 3DBuzz many years ago and I can still recommend then. I believe they've since rerecorded their intro to 3dsmax series, it's hours and hours of content, get some popcorn, relax, sit back, and learn! Fun times!

Eat3D also has a pretty comprehensive intro to 3dsmax series.

3D total got some nice tutorials: http://www.3dtotal.com/index_tutorial…=1&detailsoff=0

However I started with the 3dsmax 5 Bible. Still using it once in a while.

Hey. I don't know if you saw this but apparently Valve is working to distribute Blender on steam and offer some kind of support for it in Valve games.

http://lists.blender.org/pipermail/bf-c…ust/041483.html

http://vimeo.com/10941211

Been learning the same thing this summer. Here's some stuff that really helped me:

Polycount - community of 3D artists, many of whom are professionals. If you run into a problem, polycount will have an answer. Great place to get feedback on your work, too. Their wiki is brilliant, also.

http://www.polycount.com/forum/

http://wiki.polycount.com/

If you're willing to shell out a few dollars, I do recommend getting a one month subscription of 3DMotive. There's not a lot of videos (so one month should be enough time to blow through them), but I recommend Don Ott's intro to Max and intro to high poly modeling, and Alec Moody's suitcase video (it covers the entire art pipeline from modeling to texturing to importing). They are very detailed and clear, and they teach some very good habits.

https://www.3dmotive.com/library_guest

If you get more serious, the Gnomon Workshop and Eat3D are a great place to pick up a lot of efficient and effective techniques to polishing off your skills. They are certainly worth the investment.

http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/

http://eat3d.com/

Hope that helps at all.

Quote from MrSkellyBones

Hey. I don't know if you saw this but apparently Valve is working to distribute Blender on steam and offer some kind of support for it in Valve games.

http://lists.blender.org/pipermail/bf-c…ust/041483.html

God for-fucking-bid.

Blender is a massive piece of shit, just like XSI was. Why don't they just build their own modelling tool and base it off a decent program.

Yeah but Blender is free and Linux-based. Makes sense to push it to the community.

Internally I remember they said they used XSI and Zbrush at HL2 time, but I guess they use all the standard programs depending on the task.

+1 blender can go eat a dick. you never use blender in a production environment, just like you would never use gimp.

my opinion anyway.

Quote from kanine01

http://vimeo.com/10941211

Oh yeah, I loved this! This made me understand what sub-d REALLY is.

Quote from Rick_D

God for-fucking-bid.

Blender is a massive piece of shit, just like XSI was. Why don't they just build their own modelling tool and base it off a decent program.how anyone can stand working with Blender, I don't know. It took me just a day or so to figure out enough in Maya to make something decent, and despite trying to learn several times in 4 years or so, I still can't figure the program out for the life of me.

I was also wondering how to get started with texturing. All I've done is generate crappy filter textures and poorly cropped photos, and I'm wondering how to turn that into something at least decent.

I tried to set up an Indie on 0 software budget (Linux, Blender, Gimp)

0/10 Would not recommend

Quote from Marcem

I was also wondering how to get started with texturing. All I've done is generate crappy filter textures and poorly cropped photos, and I'm wondering how to turn that into something at least decent.

Finding tutorials on straight texturing is a little more difficult because, often times, it goes hand in hand with just proper reference sourcing and good painting techniques, which are generally more vague than simply "model a so-so tutorial."

Get a free account at CGTextures and use it religiously for photo-sourcing. Avoid the temptation to just use the unmodified textures - you should try picking specific detail from them (ie I like the color from this metal sheet, and the detail from this metal plating) and then work in layers to achieve something that matches what you wanted.

Also not a bad idea to try straight hand-painted texturing first with no photo-sourrcing. Gets you in the habit of learning Photoshop brushes and how they stroke. If you have any friends that work professionally in art or are art students, ask them for a copy of their brushes. Photoshop's default set is sorely lacking.

This was a pretty good starting point for me:

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/7334/painttut.jpg

http://wiki.polycount.com/TexturingTutorials