> I think some peoples brains are just more efficient at creating things 3 dimensionally than others, or at least that's the excuse I use :P

Martin! :-/


What most people that struggle with 3D have is a lack of the ability to visualize 3D in their heads.
Since you say you can, you have the upper hand.


I said the same thing for nearly two decades, but programs like SketchUp and MoI made the process easier enough for me to discover that I could.


For you, and naturally - the lot of us, your path to success will be ultimately be paved with the stones of 'procedure' and 'persistence'.


The personal motivating factor behind the tutorials I make is the discovery of the steps and procedures required to make an object I see in my head come to life, but don't necessarily know how to make. And you guys don't often see the many iterations and failed attempts it takes me before I'm able to figure out the in between parts to build the tutorial.

You may have noticed that you haven't seen me produce any videos... there's no way I'd be able to produce a model without spending way more time editing and back-tracking. I actually have bad hand-eye coordination!

Give yourself enough time to repeat practice solutions over and over again (in any application you work in), until you can't help but to consider that particular solution when it arises in a model's creation process.

You notice how I use those crazy blends for everything? Yup, one of the solutions I got practiced at.


I was the "art director" a couple of years for the first company I did graphics for... through attrition of course. Believe it or not, each of the six artists that followed my lead was way better at something than the next guy, and stunk at something else.
I had two veteran sign painters with around 15 years of experience each - but they would not and could not use a computer! (this was the early '90's).
However, one guy in particular, was trained at an exclusive studio in Manhattan where the instructor would strike their hands with a wooden ruler if their technique wasn't up to par! And continued to abuse them until they got it right! They needed the credentials, by the way... the sign guy had an extreme wealth of 'old-school' knowledge in composition and layout, and he made sure to drill me on a different aspect each day!

I didn't know PhotoShop when I started there, but after all the procedural practice, by the time I left, you bet, I could do anything from hand-scribe serif fonts with a SpeedBall to show you the intended infusion of early century Russian Constructivism in modern-day soap packaging! ;-o


I have one suggestion of advice for you... please excuse me if this is 'old hat' to you:
Thumbnails!
Yes. No matter how advance the computers get you rely on. There's some kind of strange visceral connection between the eye and the hand.
You may notice how some of the most renown industrial designers of the world still make tons of sketches. Why? Computer apps do it all now! They let you sketch stuff right on the screen now and there's the one app that turns you sketches into curves!

Whenever one of my artists had a problem getting a concept to the screen, I reminded them to work it out with thumbnail sketches - the one guy I talked about taught me first. ;-)

Burr got it right > Envisioning those pieces "before" you model the part is the key to starting.


Carry a sketch pad around, and work those crazy geometric conundrums out first, then break it down to those practiced steps you're familiar with.

If there's one thing that keeps eluding you - sketch it to death! Demand that that problem will be solved, and take note when you figure it.


Again, you'll have to excuse me for my lecture. It's the teacher in me. ;-)



I got faith in you, Martin! Stay positive. Just follow the tuts and you'll do fine!