Digital humans the art of the digital double
Ever wanted to know how digital doubles are created in the movie industry? This course will give you an insight into how it's done.
# 1 16-11-2016 , 11:09 PM
Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2016
Posts: 2

New to Maya

Good day,

I am not quite sure where I could post this and, honestly, it's kinda of a stupid question, but I'm new to 3D modelling.
As silly as it might sound, I'd really like to make a career out of 3D modelling, but I don't quite know where to start :s I've been using Maya for a bit now, but I'm not sure what to do, what "path" to follow, and where I'm currently studying, the 3d Modelling classes I have are...not really that good.
I'd like to focus on making models of objects and characters to be ported to Videogames.
How did you guys started? Where do you think a person like me, with no big experience, should begin?
Thankyou for your time, and my apolagies for my english.

# 2 17-11-2016 , 12:19 AM
MrYeti's Avatar
Lifetime Member
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Down Under
Posts: 245
Hey strawberry,

Firstly welcome! And it's not really a stupid question, Maya can be quite a handful and it's hard to know where to start. I'll give you a look at how I've tackled that question so far but as you can guess it's different for every person.

Personally I began by getting a couple of books (introducing Autodesk Maya 2012 by Dariush Derakhshani and Mastering Autodesk Maya 2012 by Todd Palamar and Eric Keller) giving a whole overview of Maya and worked my way through the different projects supplied to get a feel for what I wanted to specialize in.
Other people use youtube and whilst it's a bit hit and miss there are some good tutorials out there - it's just trying to find them.

After working my way through the books which gave me a wonderful grounding I decided I wanted to specialize in modeling (same as yourself) but with a swing towards characters and sets for animated movies.
So I went looking for online tutorials and found this site and must admit I absolutely loved what I saw. The models in the tutorials where all beautiful high quality and appealing and so I bought a lifetime membership and can honestly say that that has been fantastic for my development. You can go at your own pace - the forum is fantastic if you get stuck and the instructors know their stuff!

After about two years of following tutorials from Simply Maya I made a big decision and signed up for an online course with AnimSchool to do their 3D character program.
This is a 21 month course split into 7 x 3 month terms which you take with a tutor from a different studio around the world (during my time I had teachers from Dreamworks Disney and Blue Sky) and they mentor you (via online meet-ups) through modeling characters, rigging characters and modeling environments. It was tough, especially working with crazy time zones as I live on the other side of the world to America but it took my modeling to another level again and know I'm in the process of making a demo reel to start applying for jobs.

The biggest thing you can do is keep working at it. No matter what you do as long as you're learning something from the process you'll keep getting better and better.

Here's a couple of pics of what I used to model like when I first started (the first two) to now after five years of study and practice (the last two)...

Attached Thumbnails

Cheers, the Yeti.
# 3 18-11-2016 , 05:13 AM
Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2016
Posts: 2
Wow those look amazing!
I'm afraid I might not achieve that kinda of professionalism, not even in 10 years :s But thanks for sharing, I think I have kinda of an idea!

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