10 tips to Improve your 3d modeling skills

greetings this is a video for those of you who are aspiring 3d artists who are looking to improve your 3d modeling skills so far maybe you're only proficient at modeling a few objects like an anvil a donut and now it's share but you lack the confidence when it comes to taking on other design tasks in 3d I too began with the basic modeling tutorials on YouTube and steadily built up from there until I felt comfortable enough to take on a design challenge without the guiding hand of a tutorial to lead me if you're someone who has a hard time finding where to start a project or you find that you have a hard time getting your models to look right in 3d these are 10 steps that I believe will help drastically improve your 3d modeling skills the first two steps pertain to learning to visualize in 3d which can be broken down into learning to see forms in the everyday world and how to measure and compare proportions first off learning to see forms in the real world involves taking everyday objects and deconstructing them to their simplest volumes if there's one thing you should have taken away from modeling your own breakfast it's that everything can be broken down into simple forms and shapes while being able to compare and measure proportions means you're better able to understand the three-dimensional space that the object occupies while there's a lot of overlap in this area one of the key differences is whether you're able to visualize a subject in 3d when you only have a 2d representation of it for example I'm actually cheating in the gun demo you see playing on the screen right now you see I own a one-to-one replica airsoft gun of this same weapon and I actually have that in front of me and I'm using it to model a lot of the parts I can pick it up rotate it and examine the scale and proportions for myself as where conversely with the vehicle designs I've done they're slightly more because I only have whatever reference I've gathered from the internet to go on that's why it's more important in those instances that I have a good idea of scale and proportion in order to be able to accurately recreate what I only have a 2d representation of often I find that being proficient in one of these areas and lacking in the other is a key difference in whether you're able to model from A to D concept this brings me to the third step and one that I could honestly make an entire separate video on and that's learning how to use reference reference is actually a creative tool much like the program's you are modeling in whether you're creating something from the real world or you're working from an imagined concept having a firm understanding of what it is you're trying to create is highly important even if it's something that's highly stylized in its execution personally I think your ability to gather and compile good reference is crucial in your development as a 3d modeler in my own work I often like to divide my reference between three categories of form function and material and texture reference exploring the real world and building your visual library of reference will help you to quickly develop your own design aesthetic and style of modeling likewise it's important to vary up the sources of reference that you're using otherwise you run the risk of simply repeating tired and overused design tropes this is especially applicable when it comes to any sort of imaginative concept the fourth step is learning to deconstruct other people's work well you can do this by watching online tutorials this process often involves a closer examination of the techniques and design choices that an artist makes in their own personal work while watching tutorials I often fell into the trap of only knowing how to create the one thing that was being demonstrated to me typically this was a result of having not fairly studied the fundamentals beforehand now I'm more interested in examining the technical design choices that artists now I look for how artists create their topology or what do their materials look like this is why I love websites like sketchfab where you are able to use the model inspector tools to closely examine all the intricacies of the 3d artists work to finally start talking about 3d modeling the fifth step would be to start from a block out this is the stage where you put your free divas Asian skills to the test it's best to take a fair bit of time in this stage especially if you are still practicing your free division skills when it comes to building forms and creating accurate proportions just like the fundamentals of any other skill not spending enough time in the blackout phase can lead to a lot of frustration and time wasted later on in time you'll be able to decide whether a project is working or not based on its blockout alone once you have a solid block out you can move on to step 6 which is to refine in passes while the method I typically use for hard surface modeling involves breaking off parts and working on them individually I'm always focused on bringing the entire model up to an equal level of refinement for example I could have spent a lot of time at the beginning just on the rifle stock alone and bringing that up to a very high resolution but should I find that I have an issue with it later on and that it doesn't work in conjunction with the other parts of the gun then I could be stuck or just have wasted a lot of time on something that could have easily been foreseen and corrected earlier on that's why focusing on the model holistically and refining in passes allows you to correct errors or any minor issue that you might have before it causes you greater headaches later on speaking of headaches step 7 is to keep your models flexible which means you retain the ability to edit and make changes for as long as possible so you can continue making alterations on a need-be basis in the case of blender having a thorough understanding of your modifiers such as your subdivisions and boolean modifiers will allow you to work with higher amounts of geometry and more complex Misha's without committing anything too early on step eight is learning how and when to reuse parts this is applicable whether you're a character artist environment artists or a hard surface artist while it's important to gain a thorough understanding of the fundamentals and you should always use assets that you own or created yourself at a certain point it doesn't make sense to constantly build everything from scratch again now reusing parts can pertain to borrowing simple forms that you've created in one area and applying them to another area where the scale and proportion matches what you need to straight-up kit bashing from previous models that you've created likewise it can apply to other areas such as texture art where I find I continually reuse a lot of the functions and processes that I write once in substance designer to create several different texture sets for example you'll see me continually reuse cylinders vertices and borrowing small parts from within the model I'm currently working on and reusing them in another area I could also tear off parts of the weapon design itself and use them in an entirely separate design on its own at the same time you don't want to be over reliant on just reusing parts you've already created and never being able to actually create something new on your own that's why we've step 9 you want to have a workflow and that is the plan or process by which you are going to create your model often is a good idea to actually create a flow chart of the process you want to use to create your model for a game asset this could include starting with a block out refining impasses creating your high poly model baking your textures texturing and then importing it into your game engine and finally step 10 is to make a lot of mistakes and fail faster now I know it sounds extremely cliche but the faster you get for your failures the sooner you'll reach success when it comes to 3d modeling and that's because 3d modeling is really about problem-solving the better you get at problem solving the faster you'll get at your 3d modeling abilities but in order to get there you need to learn what doesn't work for you to further drive this point home in my stream you'll see me constantly attempt to create something one way fail at it start again attempt to create it another way fail at it start again until I finally find a way that works for me now tutorials are beneficial because it allows you to see other people's methods of problem-solving but one person's method might not be appropriate to the project of which you're working on or the method of which you are used to modeling so it's a good idea to experiment with and practice as many methods and workflows as possible while you can early on so you can eliminate what doesn't work for you as you continue to form your own method and style of 3d modeling so these are 10 things that have helped me improve my 3d modeling skills recently if there's anything else you think that I may have missed or that have been beneficial to you in learning 4d modelling comment below I'd love to hear as well as if there are any other topics you'd like me to cover in future videos otherwise I'll cut this video off here if you enjoyed it feel free to subscribe that really helps me out and consider hitting the bell icon to be notified when I upload another video there's also links to my social media in the description below thanks for watching

Channel: Tosmo

Views: 48,682

Keywords: Blender 3d, 3d modeling, 3d art, 3ds max, maya, modo, substance painter, motivational, game design, game development, weapon design for games, vehicle design for games, timelapse, hardsurface, art stream, 3d modeling software, advice for 3d artists, how to improve 3d modeling skills, blender tutorial, 3d art fundamentals, 3D art tips, 3d art skills, how to learn 3d, best advice for 3d, artist talk, how to import 3d model in blender, blender modeling tips

Id: otCOwJ1z4qs

Length: 10min 4sec (604 seconds)

Published: Sat May 09 2020