Multiple questions, help me!

[MrJoey]

Okay so first of all I'm new here. I'm a 18 year old ICT student from England with a passion for games and a dream to be in the industry (doesn't everyone?). I've been thinking long and hard and I think I want to do modelling and environmental art, etc as my career choice, maybe the likelyness of me reaching this goal is low but I like to have goals never the less. So I'm planning to learn myself how to model and texture in 3D (I'll get to this in a minute) and I'll also do a degree which will help me with this.

First things first I'm probably going to be applying for a degree in animation. As a ICT student (Doing a BTEC National Diploma in ICT) will I even be considered for the course? Often on the requirements section of the degree it lists 'art or media prefered'. I'm worried that I'm not going to be able to get onto the degree plainly for not having relevent education. Any guidance here would be greatly appreciated.

Secondly, I want to learn myself how to do these things before I even start my degree (If I can..) so I want to learn how to model characters, environments, etc. so what software should I begin to learn? bare in mind as a student I have zero money. I've already began learning blender and modelled small objects but modelling environments in blender will seem like a mammoth task so I was wondering if there are separate software packags for each.. I've heard about zbrush but I'm not quite sure what it's primarily used for. Also what software can I learn once I want to texture my models? The texturing in blender seems a little basic to say the least.

As you can see I'm mainly confused about just what I should be learning, and how the process goes etc.

Thanks for reading, any guidance you can all provide would be fantastic.

[Adrir]

Originally Posted by MrJoey

I'm planning to learn myself how to model and texture in 3D and I'll also do a degree which will help me with this.

Awesome.

Originally Posted by MrJoey

As a ICT student (Doing a BTEC National Diploma in ICT) will I even be considered for the course?

It depends on the institution you are applying to. The best way to find out is to search UCAS for relevent courses then look at each individual entry requirement. If you are not sure, then phone the admissions tutor.

How far are you into your BTEC? I know at my school we had the choice of doing 4 A2s plus an AS or a BTEC plus one additional A2. Is this an option available to you?

Originally Posted by MrJoey

I want to learn myself how to do these things before I even start my degree so I want to learn how to model characters, environments, etc. so what software should I begin to learn?

The defacto standard packages in the games industry are Maya and 3DSMax. It might be an idea to goto a university that uses one of these packages as part of the course or at least can provide them in computer labs.

Unfortunately, Autodesk no longer provide the "Personal Learning Edition" versions of their software and it costs a few £100 to purchase an educational licence.

Originally Posted by MrJoey

bare in mind as a student I have zero money.

Unfortunately I am only aware of a few free alternatives like gMax, Blender and Milkshape. Does anyone know of any others?

Originally Posted by MrJoey

As you can see I'm mainly confused about just what I should be learning, and how the process goes etc.

I reccomend reading the following articles:

• How to Learn 3D Animation Without Leaving your House (Part 1)
• How to Learn 3D Animation Without Leaving your House (Part 2)
• How to Learn 3D Animation Without Leaving your House (Part 3)
• Game Art and Animation, An Introduction
• Game Industry for Entry Level Artists: The Portfolio
• Artistic Enterprise: Advice on Portfolios, Software, and Schools

[ladyaurora]

Free 3d software:
XSI Mod Tools http://www.softimage.com/products/modtool/
Truespace 7.6 http://www.caligari.com/ this package is not as steep a learning curve as blender.
Bryce 5.5 http://download.cnet.com/Bryce/3000-...-10696716.html good for environments.
Vue PLE http://www.e-onsoftware.com/try/vue_7_ple/ also good for environments.

Learning a 2d software program will help with your texturing:
Photoshop or a comparable free version of the 2d software is Gimp go to http://www.gimp.org/

ZBrush is a sculpting and painting program. Blender has basic sculpting features that will give you a good idea of what zbrush is about.
You can read up on it here http://www.pixologic.com/home.php
Mudbox is also similar to Zbrush http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mudbox

[MrJoey]

Thanks alot for the help, I guess I'm on the right track in learning blender until I can go to university and have access to the higher end packages. I have plenty of time to do so, I'm only just coming to the end of my first year, another year to go before uni.

I'll also give Bryce a download, if it's good for environments.

Thanks for all the help, I'm gunna go ahead and read those articles.

[Adrir]

SoftImage Mod Tool