3dementia

Hi my name is Mike White (3dementia). I am a 3d generalist, and graphic designer currently employed in the industry. I specialize in motion graphics for educational videos and logo design, but recently landed a full time gig as a character designer and animator (again for educational purposes, specifically financial education). I have used all of the 3d apps, but settled on Blender as my preffered choice, it's really the best fit for a small studio, IMO. As far as sculpting, I use blender's sculpt tools quite often, and I have created some decent stuff with sculptris. But I have always textured in Photoshop, and I am looking for other methods that are more hands on. I also am hoping to increase my sculpting skills, the freedom that voxels offer is very tempting. So I have an edu license of 3D-Coat for now, after I gain some skill and can show some results, maybe I can talk my company into springing for some licenses for the designers and start using it in my day to day workflow. But for now I am having fun learning and playing.

Well I got on the task of uploading before I saw this post. Uploaded the first video to then after it was uploaded, I found the channel from the suggestions. Looks like the videos are already there!http://www.youtube.com/user/PILGWAY3DCoat#g/u No need to duplicate the effort.

Greg wanted to say thanks again, I've followed completely through once, I am going to give it another go and maybe have results worth posting . I have a fellow Blenderhead which really wants to watch this series but is having trouble with the download, I must admit it was cumbersome for me as well (slow down speed, some files were corrupted and I had to re-download). Any chance of uploading them to youtube or vimeo? I will upload them if you want. Everyone can benefit from this tutorial, and it should be more accessible.

Too true. I shouldn't make such a sweeping statement. I'll rephrase: "I find Blender's workflow with the NLA editor to be the fastest method for me of any program I have worked with. The ability to have complete control over timing by refining your individual actions, while being able to see and control the entire sequence in the NLA is seamless, and you can achieve very refined animations quite quickly. Combine that with Blender's impressive linking system, and you have a lean machine built for animations of any size. IMO." Of course I am looking at productions involving several sets and characters, Daz/Poser may be better for smaller projects, I just find the interface clunky. Can't say much about Maya, never used it, but I prefer Blender over the other major packages. (C4D, XSI, 3DS)

Getting started with this software is not easy, I appreciate this leg up. =) Wanted to join in saying that Blender is actually the fastest animation software around once you know how to use it.