»»» When I first started dabbling with 3d I was completely stumped, x axis, y axis and all the buttons just plain threw me off. I was fascinated with the fact that you could gives shapes ( any shape ) perspective or lighting effects, or a transparent effect.

Little did I know what is actually involved in making an image, even the most simple image in a 3d program was so *tough*. It was easy I thought ( know photoshop I can do anything LOL ). I downloaded Blender (link), a free 3d program that was about 2 megs in file size. I was very excited, I was going to be able to manipulate shapes *whoohoo*... I installed it and then opened it..

Let me just say " Someone went a bit over board with all the buttons ".... There are more buttons on the screen then I had monitor real estate. I was a bit perplexed, I was able to drag out a circle/sphere or a square shape and that was about it.. bye bye blender! I guess for a free program it's pretty damn good though.

Uninstalling blender was easy LOL.

About a year later I was able to try 3d Studio Max, at 1st I was also thrown off by all the different sections and buttons ( no where near as many as blender ). 3d studio max is one of the most popular 3d applications on the market along with Maya, Lightwave, Cinema and quite a few others. Max seems to have alot of 3rd party plugins as well as online reference material such as tutorials and learning websites. This was a plus for me.

3d consists of making 1 final image using many smaller pieces. Then giving each piece a texture your final product is (a) realistic master pieces or (b) a scary un-named blob.

Strangly enough I have more fun making the Blobs!

3D MAX's learning curve is not easy, but having such a huge following gives you the student the ability to learn from online resources. Plus with websites like this one you can find excellent tutorials and get help by using discussion forums with any question you may have.

Just remember these 3 basic ideas when approaching anything 3d:
1 -- Build it using shapes. ( cone, square, spline, letters, sphere )
2 -- A shape can be rotated, extruded, sized, chopped, diced (LOL), squeezed, you name it.. basically it's like clay you cannot physically hold.
3 -- Textures make a 3d image come alive.
( start collecting textures for your projects now )

P.S. Start simple LOL

Until next time.. Have fun
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Written by Yury Rush Copyright (©) 2002 motionrush media labs (link)

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