Deleted11834868User Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 First of all I'm brand new here so hello. I've enjoyed MMOxReview's modding channel on YouTube for a long time, and decided to buy the Skyrim Legendary Edition and do some modding. Maybe I'll be good enough by the time Elder Scrolls VI rolls around lolAnyway I've been doing some browsing but a lot of tutorials seems to expect you have a working knowledge of Photoshop or Blender, etc. From someone with zero experience, where the hell should I start? Any suggestions for the best tutorial videos? Thanks guys :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rovelius Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 for 3D I would recommend 3dsMax, just sign for their Student program and it's free. 3ds has the largest support community out there of all the 3D applications and Blender sucks anyway <-- strong opinion based on personal experience You should also get out there with a camera and take pictures everywhere to start building a texture folder if you don't have one already, trust me you'll need general experience with lots of small projects if you want to make any large projects one day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deleted11834868User Posted April 23, 2014 Author Share Posted April 23, 2014 On 4/23/2014 at 1:35 PM, Rovelius said: for 3D I would recommend 3dsMax, just sign for their Student program and it's free. 3ds has the largest support community out there of all the 3D applications and Blender sucks anyway <-- strong opinion based on personal experience You should also get out there with a camera and take pictures everywhere to start building a texture folder if you don't have one already, trust me you'll need general experience with lots of small projects if you want to make any large projects one day Excellent. Will replace Blender for 3ds. Can I still get it if I'm not a student? It seems to ask for some specific information.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matth85 Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 (edited) Hello, newcomer! As Rovielius said, use 3DS Max. Blender is all right, but why go for anything but the best?Also, get Photoshop and Zbrush. If you can't afford them, or can't get a student version, get GIMP and Sculptris. I would not recommend running out and snapping photos. Simply because you need a really good quality camera, and know what you are doing. Get some light on it, or at a wrong angle, and you waste your time. Instead, get an account at CGTextures.com and get your textures there! It's hard to tell you what to do, since 3d is a broad subject. You got to learn:1) Low poly modelling.- Plane modelling- Box modelling- Spline modelling2) High poly Modelling.- Hard surface- Organic3) Optimizing- Quads, tris, endgons, holes4) UVW unwrapping5) Baking- Inside 3ds max- Inside Zbrush- Inside any other package6) Texture- Difuse Map- Normals map- Specularity map- Gloss map- Environent map- Glow map7) Zbrushing- Importing and exporting between 3ds max- Polypainting :cool: Nifskope- Exporting models- Getting the models working in-game9) Animations maybe?10) Particle effects maybe? BUT, to give you a priority list: 1) Learn 3ds max and Photoshop. Zbrush can wait.2) Have fun in the start! Learn the UI, the shortcuts, hotkeys, what each button does.3) Set up reference image in 3ds max, learn how to manage multiple objects and how to work with materials.4) Learn how to work with Tris and Quads, and how to really work with an object,5) Make stuff! No matter how bad it looks, just make stuff! Start simple though. Famous models are the crate and the barrel. Get used to the primitives!6) Learn UVW unwrapping. Youtube it. Learn to work with it efficiently, learn to hate it! 7) Repeat step 5, but unwrap everything decently. :cool: Texture time! Learn how to manipulate images, how layer effect works and generally how you can get whatever effect you want in Photoshop. Youtube it!9) Repeat step 5 - 8 a few more models.10) Learn to export into Nifskope, and get it in-game. This is the most frustrating part in the start! After that you should:1) Doodle in Zbrush.2) Learn High Poly Modelling in 3ds max.3) Learn how to make a high poly model low poly4) Learn how to bake details from high poly to low poly5) Learn to bake. This can be either frustrating, or smooth. Depends how much effort you spend on it! I know this seems like a LOT of stuff to learn. But trust me, I started learning a few years back, and I do not regret it! It's such a good feeling working in 3d, and even better seeing a finished model! If you want pure tutorials, check: 3dtotalEat3d3dMotiveDigital_Tutors (HIGHLY recommended if you can afford it. A month is all you need!) if you have any questions regarding anything in 3d, don't hesitate to ask. Edited April 23, 2014 by Matth85 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deleted11834868User Posted April 23, 2014 Author Share Posted April 23, 2014 On 4/23/2014 at 2:16 PM, Matth85 said: Hello, newcomer! As Rovielius said, use 3DS Max. Blender is all right, but why go for anything but the best?Also, get Photoshop and Zbrush. If you can't afford them, or can't get a student version, get GIMP and Sculptris. I would not recommend running out and snapping photos. Simply because you need a really good quality camera, and know what you are doing. Get some light on it, or at a wrong angle, and you waste your time. Instead, get an account at CGTextures.com and get your textures there! It's hard to tell you what to do, since 3d is a broad subject. You got to learn:1) Low poly modelling.- Plane modelling- Box modelling- Spline modelling2) High poly Modelling.- Hard surface- Organic3) Optimizing- Quads, tris, endgons, holes4) UVW unwrapping5) Baking- Inside 3ds max- Inside Zbrush- Inside any other package6) Texture- Difuse Map- Normals map- Specularity map- Gloss map- Environent map- Glow map7) Zbrushing- Importing and exporting between 3ds max- Polypainting :cool: Nifskope- Exporting models- Getting the models working in-game9) Animations maybe?10) Particle effects maybe? BUT, to give you a priority list: 1) Learn 3ds max and Photoshop. Zbrush can wait.2) Have fun in the start! Learn the UI, the shortcuts, hotkeys, what each button does.3) Set up reference image in 3ds max, learn how to manage multiple objects and how to work with materials.4) Learn how to work with Tris and Quads, and how to really work with an object,5) Make stuff! No matter how bad it looks, just make stuff! Start simple though. Famous models are the crate and the barrel. Get used to the primitives!6) Learn UVW unwrapping. Youtube it. Learn to work with it efficiently, learn to hate it! 7) Repeat step 5, but unwrap everything decently. :cool: Texture time! Learn how to manipulate images, how layer effect works and generally how you can get whatever effect you want in Photoshop. Youtube it!9) Repeat step 5 - 8 a few more models.10) Learn to export into Nifskope, and get it in-game. This is the most frustrating part in the start! After that you should:1) Doodle in Zbrush.2) Learn High Poly Modelling in 3ds max.3) Learn how to make a high poly model low poly4) Learn how to bake details from high poly to low poly5) Learn to bake. This can be either frustrating, or smooth. Depends how much effort you spend on it! I know this seems like a LOT of stuff to learn. But trust me, I started learning a few years back, and I do not regret it! It's such a good feeling working in 3d, and even better seeing a finished model! If you want pure tutorials, check: 3dtotalEat3d3dMotiveDigital_Tutors (HIGHLY recommended if you can afford it. A month is all you need!) if you have any questions regarding anything in 3d, don't hesitate to ask. Thank you very much! Yeah, all this is might as well be Sumerian to me just now. It's a good thing I'm fairly patient :) First stop, getting all the programs as free/cheap as possible. Thanks again. A big help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matth85 Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 No worries!If you hit a bump on the road, just PM me, and I'll help you out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AfroGamerNinja Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 Can you upload mods that you made there even if you have a student license? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matth85 Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 Yes.You don't earn anything from modding, so you are not stepping on any toe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AfroGamerNinja Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 On 4/23/2014 at 3:29 PM, Matth85 said: Yes.You don't earn anything from modding, so you are not stepping on any toe. I'll guess I can safely attempt to replicate Ritter Steel's Vampire sword. Thanks. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terra Nova Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 (edited) Quote Digital_Tutors (HIGHLY recommended if you can afford it. A month is all you need!) I wouldn't 'highly' recommend them, but I still recommend them because they do teach the basics. Look for tuts by David Marshall and Joshua Kenny. DT is good but the max forums there is useless, and it doesn't teach you all the things Matth85 has listed that you gotta learn. (Don't say it does. I was a member for 3 months. They leave you in the dark about a lot of things, possibly because the work flows involved, like baking, is too much of a hassle). After awhile you will find yourself relying on google/youtube to learn a lot of the stuff he has listed. Baking tuts is gonna be scarce, even more so if you are using 2012 that everyone seems to be moving away from. High poly modeling in max can be risky because it has a polycount limit(it will crash when it's reached) and it starts lagging the closer it gets to this limit. Priority in my opinion is learn how to crunch down high poly count without the topology and geometry suffering too much. Learn/master UV unwrapping. Edited April 23, 2014 by Terra Nova Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts