Hey (anyone) I'm going through the blender basics and almost through 2."Editing objects"
I have literal hopes and dreams via blender and they are feeling impossible right now, mostly because I am getting terribly bored watching and doing the tutorials, I think the reason why is because the projects I have in mind are way far off (because I am not skilled yet) I think I really need a boost of some kind, like a small victory, a small project that would show me some satisfying progress. This probably sounds really lame. But I am used to building with my hands and actually making progress. So when I don't really see any here it's hard to stick with it. I'm going to keep pushing, maybe I'm wondering if there is a small project I can complete with the skills I've gained so far? Any help is much appreciated, I'm not about to give up, but I am looking for some way to work on it more than just 30 minutes twice a week do to lack of motivation. Thanks in advance,
Ford.
I have been learning blender since the pandemic and animation about a year later. It can be very daunting and feels impossible for me today still but what keeps me going is that I know it will provide a job for me one day once you know enough even if it takes years. Took me a couple years to understand the bouncing ball fundamentals but we do need those small victories now. Take a big idea of yours and make it small and manageable even if its built together piece by piece. Do what you can, learn from your mistakes, push yourself, but don't over exert yourself and get burnt out either. There is a fine balance between all of that. For me to stay inspired with animation I have created endless pages of quick story ideas to tackle when I am ready and how to make money off of them, as well as saving my favorite netflix shows and a playlist of probaly over 100 videos from youtube that inspire me to animate. We all need that inspiration and pep talk as well time to time, finding a group of friends with similar goals to keep pushing you and each other along the way makes all the difference as well! Create a channel and showcase your work on socials as well and make a timeline of your progress! Always make goals for yourself that are manageable now and goals you want to achieve in the future and find stuff constantly that inspires you to continue learning blender. Also that cheesy stuff about sleeping good, eating right, and working out gets your mind ready to learn and absorb information as well, it is all connected!
Hi Ford Ford ,
The Basics Course is indeed a lot of information, without actually making something.
Although I do not recommend skipping it, in your case, when you are in danger of losing your motivation, you might want to start with the CORE: Fundamentals of Mesh Modeling. which is more 'hands on'. After that, you can do the Press Start Course.
It's a bit like a baby in their crawling phase, wanting to run a marathon. They might think something like: "Hey, I understand that I can't run a marathon yet with my current skill set, but I'd like to at least be able to run small distances, even if I'm not going to be very fast.". Unfortunately for the baby, they will have to learn to walk first, boring as that might be, especially for one with marathon aspirations.
Please don't give up, it'll be worth it, I promise!
Hey Ford! Ford
Have you got discord? You could jump on to the CGCookie discord channel. You'll be able to find a few chat groups there where you'll see a bit of a buzzing community going - if not for posting anything you make yourself, you'll at least get amongst a group of likeminded creatives!
Working away on one's own can feel difficult at times. But being around others can immensely help give your spirit a much needed boost!
As for making projects - it's great that you're able to recognise that you're still in your early days. But that's it - you're only in your early days. Imagine where you'll be with enough given time.
Keep pushing your way through the Blender Basics. If anything, just watch through them like a movie - and choose whether or not to actively follow along in blender yourself. At least that way when you move on to the Fundamental course, and Press Start, you'll by that point already be "familiar" with the tools that you can use.
If you wanted to, you could also look at the Macro courses which are designed around completing projects in a short amount of time.
But again, while seeing results WILL give you a boost, engaging with everyone here will also give you that additional boost - so my last bit of advice is to say hi all the time!
I think what I can add is that that's how learning usually feels like. It's a hard thing to open Blender or a tutorial and start watching and practicing, specially today when there's so much stuff competing for our attention. It's a drag man, it's not like in the movies where you see people so motivated and they say they can't wait to jump back at it. That's just movie magic, the way they do with martial arts movies, that's not how real fighting looks like, how they portrait romance, that's not how real relationships are like, and so on and so forth. You have to open Blender and tutorials even when you don't feel like it, specially when you don't feel like it. And it's not just Blender, it's like that with any skill you decide to master. So that's just to dispel the illusion of how it should feel like, losing steam and wanting to procrastinate it's actually how everyone in the world feels like, and it's something we have to overcome over and over. So you're not alone, you're in good company feeling like that.
Here is a playlist that can help once you get the basics of mesh editing down.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLn3ukorJv4vuchEeJ3a6tIAVlWZZ_5fi0&si=vUyNye6hQ1Fw9402
Hi Ford,
I can confirm what was said already.
The course you are mentioning did give me the same feeling, though essential for knowing the software. Or at least, get acquainted with its functionality.
After this course I did the Press Start course followed by the Core fundamentals. Great to follow and this is when you get actual results and gain knowledge about the technical aspects of modelling. You can post your results in the gallery for feedback.
What helps me a lot, besides following courses, is to set myself a personal goal / project and work towards that. When I first started, I wanted to model a simple Apple TV remote. Sounds simple right? I had some challenges with it and with those challenges came the questions. That is when I started learning more and more and looking at things on how to model them. Maybe you can also pick an object of that size as a small project for yourself.
Give yourself the time to master the aspects that interest you, go for it and don’t hesitate to ask a question.
Omg thank you guys so much for all the help! I will be applying all of this to help me keep going! I really appreciate everyone's input!