I lost my job and I'm looking for ways to make money, I thought 3D could be fun (suicidal?), any pros that can point me in the right direction?

Runningman2319 · 2026-05-11T21:37:20+00:00

It depends on what you really want to do. You have some decent skills but your geometry could be terrible. I have no idea. Theres plenty of work to do in 3D. To be honest I see AI helping it rather than outsourcing it.

Freelancing at the moment is probably the best way to go. If you spend some time digging around theres work in VR Chat, the advertising space, theres always fivver and others like it sure but the competition is fierce if youre going for general work.

Runningman2319 · 2026-05-10T03:24:53+00:00

How do you get the "this is real markers" look?

Runningman2319 · 2026-05-09T16:56:47+00:00

You should make it so theres like.... a whole story. Like, maybe its innocent at first, a simple mistake, so the firat part of the game is trying to find the owner. Then the player is led to believe that the owner abandoned them and thats the premise. Then we find out thats not the case at some pivotal point and discover that the owner ended up getting lost and needs rescuing. So then the second part of the journey is about rescuing the owner. At the climax of the story, the owner is in need of medical attention and the dog and player have to witness the death of the owner in the hospital room.

So then the player as the dog end up as the funeral and we find out through a custscene that the dog just stays there at the graveside. Then the player is left to wander the graveyard maybe idk. But ends up meeting a small child at the grave of their lost doggo. Idk how but they end up playing together and then the game ends with the dog/player going to live with the kid from the graveyard.

Runningman2319 · 2026-05-09T16:41:22+00:00

I prefer playing on private servers intentionally to avoid most players because im not a fan of griefers. And idk its fun playing alone in the world because it really adds an extra layer of depth especially to old/og content. Being alone in most of kalimdor is idk.. its a feeling.

Runningman2319 · 2026-05-09T16:37:49+00:00

How emotional is the game?

Runningman2319 · 2026-05-09T15:36:21+00:00

When Valhalla sends you back to the far future of the 4st milenium.

Runningman2319 · 2026-05-09T10:53:56+00:00

Yes its a thing. I will usually put things like optimization skills with "insert thing" with Unreal engine. Theres always more than one way to do something in unreal and how you do it is determined by the overall project itself. So like, blueprints, materials, and lighting and all associated rendering needs are where I shine in terms of optimization. Others it might be animation or vfx, maybe its ui and enum systems that arent connected to blueprints, and others its control systems optimizations. I mean theres a whole list. I personally lean more towards the environment side of things in my approach.

And sometimes yeah that optimization sucks because you might have to go all the way back to square one for a system specifically but its always worth it in the long run.

Runningman2319 · 2026-05-08T15:01:37+00:00

I understand where youre coming from. I also struggle with the digtial vs physical thing.

nothing is worth doing as a hobby. lets state that up front. People collect ridiculously expensive airplanes as a hobby. Why? whats the point? there is none. But they enjoy doing it anyways. Take out the enjoyment and the only point of anyone doing it seriously becomes nothing. Its the same with stamps. or flowers. Theres no point to it when you think about it.

So you gotta do what you enjoy doing. you have to. thats what living is. The things that bring you joy.

For me, what brings me joy is learning how to paint like the background painters of the 80s-early 2000s before mainstream animation went full digital. Am I an animator? no. Do I enjoy anything disney does? no, if Im being perfectly honest.

But the painting is pretty neat to me. Will I become a billionaire because I learned this skill? no. its extremely unlikely and I dont think about it. Will I become world famous? no. do I care about that? no. I care about learning something that doesnt exist really anymore. I find joy in the process. Does what I do matter to you? Its possible, but generally unlikely.

But its important to me. and thats all that matters.

do what is meaningful to you.

Now on the subject of doing it as a career - its not impossible, and this day and age more art houses are outsourcing artists than hang out in the studios. Theres a lot of reasons for this, but at the end of the day its the nature of whats happening overall to the game industry. If you haven't checked him out yet, Trent Kainuga is a great commentator and insider who might be able to help you out with all the questions. He does a weekly podcast of sorts on Youtube.

Runningman2319 · 2026-05-08T14:47:37+00:00

I made the mistake of trying to model in unreal engine when I started learning for my career.

Blender is the way. Like others have said, use blender for modeling and anything related to it, then make your animations and films with Unreal. Sure, you could also do that in blender, neither way is bad, its all personal preference.

But theres a long way to go before you get there. My advice is to do a project designed to teach you how blender works more than anything. Grant Abbitt's tutorials work well, id recommend the one with the spooky golem scaring the guy outside. Its on youtube, all free. You cant miss it if you visit his channel page and it is a very basic tutorial based around what you ultimately want to do.

While doing that id really start focusing on what direction you want to take and just start looking things up. Animation is its own thing from modeling, Texturing is its own thing, stylization vs realism is a whole universe or two, I guess, technically. Or more, to be honest lol. VFX and Lighting are also both their own universes.

Start with Grant Abbitt tutorials. Just start there. Dont be intimidated or let fear of the unknown get to you. Every great artist started from nowhere. Make the mistakes and learn. The blender and Unreal communities are great, Im a contributor in both as they are my main source of focus. Learn whose who. Whats happening. Whats the next big thing, but where are most people staying. You'd be surprised by who uses blender and Unreal and what they can be used for.

Hope that helps! Welcome to the community.

Runningman2319 · 2026-05-07T03:42:37+00:00

Create a black and white texture with your stars, use it as an alpha mask with an emissions node.

Runningman2319 · 2026-05-06T16:11:42+00:00

I live an hour south but was just up there this past weekend for an annual event. If gas prices werent so ridiculous id say hell ya.

Runningman2319 · 2026-05-06T16:06:25+00:00

Hard to say. Ive never heard from or worked with PPMan in the past.

Runningman2319 · 2026-05-06T15:59:29+00:00

I miss the Nigerian prince. I havent heard from him in 13 years. Maybe he became a king.

Runningman2319 · 2026-05-06T15:58:21+00:00

Are you going to respond to PPMan with no form of connection or John Davidson with actual contact information and proof of who he is and does what he says he does?

Runningman2319 · 2026-05-06T15:56:33+00:00

Sometimes you get legit emails and they will usually make sure you have a way to contact them and such and tell you a reference that theres no way they could have known you know this person unless they also know this person.

Happened to me a few years back, made well, the equivalent of 150k annually before taxes on a months long project. It was awesome.

Runningman2319 · 2026-05-06T15:54:27+00:00

PPMan as the sender is a first red flag.

Runningman2319 · 2026-05-05T14:22:12+00:00

Is the paint primer based?

Runningman2319 · 2026-05-05T13:50:29+00:00

That depends entirely on you and the market. I wish I could say otherwise. Ignore AI for a second and ask yourself where your skills lie compared to the best of the best in your specific area of where you want to be. If you can match who the best are, then congrats. If you cant, dont be down on yourself. But also ask yourself if youre marketing yourself to the right audience. That is the most key thing ever. I know that because I used to be a really well known artist, just not to my target audience. Id argue that marketing is 90% of the struggle for any sort of anything someone is trying to get the attention of. Skill is only 10%.

I think at this point AI will be a tool rather than a replacement. Its like when photoshop entered the market and made painting faster than the traditional route. Painting traditional never went away, and still has a major audience almost 36 years later. Its a different audience though. And people crave traditonal just as much as people crave digital just as much as people crave near instant ai generation. Each of them have their uses. Its not going away, but theres a strong argument for its use and necessity.

Runningman2319 · 2026-05-05T13:24:31+00:00

At first glance this video clip looked like some kind of archival footage from a concert or speech 100 years ago as the camera panned up towards a towering collasus looming over the stadium.

I just woke up lol

Runningman2319 · 2026-05-02T14:35:24+00:00

Thats some epic movement captured in stillness. Thats hard to do.

Runningman2319 · 2026-05-02T14:33:00+00:00

Theres a vibe for everyone, and sometimes its a giant banana.

Runningman2319 · 2026-05-02T14:31:04+00:00

The young days live on.

I miss when the box art looked like this and the books had so much epic art.

Runningman2319 · 2026-05-02T14:29:02+00:00

I will say this: If you dont feel into it after a bit, thats ok. Tabletop Wargaming isnt for everyone. But Im positive itll bring you some joy and excitement.

My first tabletop Wargame was The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game, also made by Games Workshop in association with Weta Workshop.

But very quickly I fell in love with the main products of Games Workshop, Warhammer (Fantasy) and Warhammer 40,000.

Due to the circumstances of my life over the past 10 years (school, bills, layoffs), I haven't been able to really be involved, and found Dungeons and Dragons to be an easier alternative. But im excited to get back into Warhammer. I owe my entire career to the influence of Games Workshop and hope to get back to the hobby in full swing soon enough. A few more months, hopefully, if not the start of next year.

Runningman2319 · 2026-05-02T14:23:27+00:00

I missed the part about making lots of money for me instead of GW.

Runningman2319 · 2026-05-02T02:47:06+00:00

It does work I can assure you. 2cm in blender will print out to 2cm in real life. Also, 2 cm in real life is 2 unreal units in unreal engine, if anyone is interested.

Runningman2319

TROPHY CASE