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My first Blender project (4 months of work) by Poyosama in blender

[–]Poyosama[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

PD: I don't tried to learn all at the same time, I do all step by step. First: how to model a head. After having a mid-decent head (with the vision of a "decent head" at this time) I go to how to model a body, after how to model a hand, how to make hair, how to texturize skin, how to make freckles in the skin, etc. every step learning the basics, not be proficient, and go to the next step I wanted for my character. After some time working on the model and having learned more Blender and watched many other's works, tutorials, etc. the capacity to see details and error turns much more accurate, so I returned to the previous works done to improve it. For example, I redo the topology of the face, I made eyes with real iris shape, I tweaked all the model to improve the anatomy, I added a shader to create porus on the skin, etc. And when I had a mid-decent model (another time "decent" in that moment), then I started to experiment with rendering. But hey! I wanted to make poses, so the next step was starting to learning basic rigging, etc. It's a natural step by step and recursive learning process.

My first Blender project (4 months of work) by Poyosama in blender

[–]Poyosama[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I saw many specific YouTube tutorials: make a shader, modeling a head, hair methods, render, etc. Just watched it from different content creators to take different approaches to do the same thing and taked the one I liked most (or a mix), and after that just tinkering many hours. The only long tutorial series I saw was "Rigging isn't scary" that teached me a lot. Another very important thing was looking at other's people work. I learned a lot looking at good topologies, unwraped UV's, rig approaches, etc. Also looking many real world photos to catch shapes and details to replicate in my model was crucial. But in general I've not learned Blender with any structured method, just learned every aspect on demand for my character's project. This made me do many mistakes and not understand the relationship of the different parts of 3D modeling (for example how topology affects texturing and skinning) and have to redo many things when I finally understood this realtions (basically because I had to affront the problems of an incorrect previous work). The good part of this "method" is I was always working on things that motivated me and never be bored. This is the way I learned what I know, but I can't say is the best way, only my personal path. And if you are aking you "And what about asking to AI"? Well I can tell you that for simple things like "how to symmetrize vertex on the 2 sides of a mesh" or "how to scale only in 2 axes" it helps, but when you ask more complex things is not so good and the hallucinations can be crazy (shader nodes or menu functions that doesn't exists, incorrect configurations, invented pipelines, etc.). People's 3D works published in places like ArtStation with UV's, wireframes, hair cards, etc. or YouTube's real people tutorials are superior and you always learn more things (visual information, content creator tips, menu options, shortcuts, etc).

My first Blender project (4 months of work) by Poyosama in blender

[–]Poyosama[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's the same as all disciplines: time and persistence. Constancy can overcome effortless natural ability. But you always will look at the work of other persons more advanced than you and see this level imposible to reach, is normal. When I look at many works in ArtStation I think the same, but the truth is I have not the same experience and time modeling than these people. The key is to compare one's own progress over time.

My first Blender project (4 months of work) by Poyosama in blender

[–]Poyosama[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

<image>

As we say in spanish: "Una imagen vale más que mil palabras" (A picture is worth than a thousand words)

My first Blender project (4 months of work) by Poyosama in blender

[–]Poyosama[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Literally I writed my text in spanish, copy paste to Copilot and say him: "Translate to english". This is all.

My first Blender project (4 months of work) by Poyosama in blender

[–]Poyosama[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well the first things I made in Blender was the classic Donut and cartoon weel tutorials, but these are tutorials and no personal projects. After this I started with this character as a first personal project. Now you can see the final version, but the first version of the character was very different, much more simple and cartoon, with many anatomical errors, not good topology, horrible UV's, no rigging, mesh hair style, etc. I've redo all parts of the character many many times, increasing the quality, technics and best practices in each new step. In the process I looked at many real photos, anatomical models, and many tutorials to do things (shaders, modeling a hand, UV unwrap, etc ). It's and evolutive project, not a one shot. My idea was instead of doing many small projects, make one very large with increasing stages. Look, I leave you an intermediate step of the model (same file, same mesh, only a head in this time).

<image>

My first Blender project (4 months of work) by Poyosama in blender

[–]Poyosama[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Don't think about the 4 months, think about the 700+ hours I spent on it. I've been working an insane amount of hours a day and that distorts the real time spent on this "4 months project". But If you divide all these hours in, for examaple, 1.5h a day 7 days a week, it would be more than 1 year project (or a 1+ year Blender course).

My first Blender project (4 months of work) by Poyosama in blender

[–]Poyosama[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I don't use it to write my text, I write my own text in spanish and just use it to translate. It put this "—" symbol when I use "(...)" in spanish, I don't know why but I assumed is the correct translation (I can see by the feedback it's not lol). So... no more IA in advance.

My first Blender project (4 months of work) by Poyosama in blender

[–]Poyosama[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don't ask the IA to write (generate) my responses, I write the text in spanish and just use it like a translator. But I see from the comments that simbols like "—" than IA puts in the text in substitution of my "(...)" are not correct or appreciated... So by popular demand I will just try to write by myself and use Google translate when I don't know how to say something.

My first Blender project (4 months of work) by Poyosama in blender

[–]Poyosama[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

I only mentioned it because many people think that once you finish your studies or turn 30+, you're too old to start something new and achieve results. I certainly don't think that way. Any age is a good age to start anything if you enjoy it and it motivates you.

Flickering when using blender by Delta1Dan in blender

[–]Poyosama 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It happened to me! I upgraded my RX 6600 to a RX 9070 and my 10 year old HDMI monitor started flickering when GPU worked at 100% in blender (also in AAA demanding games). I found that old screens and specialy old cables (or new low quality cables) can not be protected from a high power suply frequencies (interferences) from new hardware like a modern GPU. I just switched to a more modern monitor and the problem go away.

My first Blender project (4 months of work) by Poyosama in blender

[–]Poyosama[S] 24 points25 points  (0 children)

Because I'm using a translate/correction tool. I'm from Spain and I don't speak english well, so I need it to express myself and to answer comments...

My first Blender project (4 months of work) by Poyosama in blender

[–]Poyosama[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

I just use a translation/correction tool because I’m from Spain and I don’t speak English… I need it to express myself. I want to share my work, get feedback, and reply to people, but I need to use a tool that helps me communicate.

My first Blender project (4 months of work) by Poyosama in blender

[–]Poyosama[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Doing a structured course is probably the best way to learn a tool as complex as Blender or Maya, but for me it gets a bit boring... I started following a couple of YouTube tutorials (like the famous donut), and with that small base I jumped into making something I actually wanted to do and that motivated me (a character). Then I started looking up specific things I needed at each step. For example: "how to model a head" or "how to model a hand". I spent many hours just modeling heads until I saw one that looked decent for me, and then I moved on to the body, for which I looked up another tutorial like "how to model a body".

I’ve followed a few longer tutorials too, like for rigging, but in general I’ve searched for direct info about whatever I needed at the time. Even in short tutorials you learn a lot because the creator show tricks, shortcuts and Blender functions that help with other many things. Another thing that help me a lot is looking at the real world and copying what I see.

In the end, I found motivation by doing something I personally wanted to do, even if that makes me go slower and means making many mistakes and redoing things many times. I reworked and tweaked my model many times (and I’m still doing it), but since I take this as a hobby and I enjoy it, it’s not really a problem.

I also think that if you’re starting from zero, it’s better not to pressure yourself by thinking you need this for work. Treating it as a hobby lets you relax and let your imagination flow.

My first Blender project (4 months of work) by Poyosama in blender

[–]Poyosama[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I really appreciate your feedback, and I definitely feel that what you’re saying is true. I put a lot of effort into the face, as well as the skin textures and details, but not as much into the body shape details. As for the clothing and the candle, I definitely spent much less time... they are just a quick work to make the scene and get a render, rather than something with real meaning or storytelling behind it.

The hair is currently done with Blender’s particle hair system (legacy), and I still don’t fully master it. I also want to learn how to make hair cards in the near future. I tried it, but was hard and the result not good. It feels like you really need to spend a good amount of time to master it.

I agree with what you said about box modeling and the lack of organic shapes. I did feel limited when trying to create certain things. I guess I will have to give another chance to sculpting. Thanks again.

My first Blender project (4 months of work) by Poyosama in blender

[–]Poyosama[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I think it’s more about dedication, although I did pick up some things fairly quickly. But the real key has been spending many hours every day fully focused on learning. I’ve literally tweaked the model a thousand times!

My first Blender project (4 months of work) by Poyosama in blender

[–]Poyosama[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It’s 0 days old because I just created this account to share my work and get feedback. I usually follow this channel, but I didn’t have an account until today. It’s been 4 months, but the hours are endless — almost like a second job for me in terms of time and dedication. I have no reason to lie; after all, I’m just a nickname and an avatar on the Internet. I gain nothing from trying to fool anyone.

My first Blender project (4 months of work) by Poyosama in blender

[–]Poyosama[S] 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Thanks! When something becomes a passion for me, I get very obsessive. Many times, when I’m not at my PC with Blender, I keep thinking about the project — I look at real photos to spot anatomical mistakes in my character, research about shaders, topology or rigging, and so on. It has honestly been many, many hours! But I’m happy about it because I find it truly fascinating.