So I decided to try to learn 3D modeling/animating

Mike403

Using a software program called Blender. It is 100% free and sustains itself off of donations. You can create studio quality CGI animations with it.

This is my very first model I did:

I haven't learned animating yet (learning the basics and how to model first), but this is an example of animation that was done entirely in Blender which is incredible:

sunnysideup

Looks neat!

Hell yea! I went to school for Compuer Animation albeit twenty-years ago, but I'm a fan of anyone doing something creative. There's always a grind with it, but if you stay disciplined to it, it will change you. Hope you stick with it!

Mike403

Here's a link to the mentioned software:

https://www.blender.org/

I'm learning how to use it on https://www.udemy.com/course/blendertutorial/

The software is free. The course you have to pay for, but I'm sure you can also learn on YouTube.

quixotic_life

That's a cute video. I might just have to challenge myself with this (with the expectation it will look nothing like that and will take 100s of hours for less than a minute of content). It would be super fun though!!

Mike403

@quixotic_life - Take a look at this tutorial on how to create and animate a realistic tornado. It'll give you an idea of what goes into creating something. It should be a lot of fun once you take the time to learn the software.

quixotic_life

Okay... that is amazing!!

And scary realistic!!

MxSmith

I'm also dipping my toes into animation! But not 3D. Although very, VERY simplified. I don't know if this even counts, it's basically animated slides you can choose. Disclaimer, this is an advertisement I'm working on. I use Renderforest as a building platform and they have 3D options too. If you are into this sort of thing, it might be fun to mess around with.

Mike403

With 3D animating, even a crappy computer can render the scenes. It will just take lower end hardware longer to render each frame. It doesn't need to be rendered out in real time like video games. If you don't want something tying up your computer for several hours, you can pay a rendering service to borrow their hardware to render your scenes.

TheFunCartel

@Mike403 So what kind of hardware do you use?

Mike403

@funcartel - Intel i7-11700K, 32gb of RAM, and an RTX 3070Ti graphics card. It takes my PC as low as 15 seconds to as long as 5 minutes to render each individual frame depending on the complexity of it. If you're rendering at 24 frames per second, you can do the math on how long it might take to render 1 minute video.

Mike403

My graphics card is a mid-range card. Games work in real time because it uses a lot of smoke and mirrors techniques to improve performance. For example, lowering the resolution of further away objects that aren't as important. A 3D animation rendering engine makes everything look the best it can be, but it takes awhile.

It's like the difference between cooking something in a microwave or an oven. The microwave is faster, but the quality isn't as good.

MCcuddles2

Is blender similar to grindr?

Mike403

@MCcuddles2 - Not sure if you're serious or trolling. I assume the later.

MCcuddles2

I'm just joking man. Your animations look good. I see you're sporting 3070 which has ray tracing capabilites.

Mike403

@MCcuddles2 - I think the RTX on those cards are just a gimmick. True ray tracing struggles to perform in real time even on huge render farms.

Mike403

Unreal Engine is also another one I'm trying to learn a little. It's a game development engine which is also free unless your game sells and makes over $1 million in gross revenue, then it's a 5% royalty fee after the first $1 million which is royalty free.

MCcuddles2

I like unity, it easily integrates into VR.

JasonCuddles

Yeah ray tracing isn't something I currently care about. The performance tanks hard. Maybe in five or six generations it will be better, if it sticks around.

I have done some video work in the past and yeah render times can be pretty nuts. If you do end up doing a lot of the I bet the next gen of ryzen CPUs will be really nice. The current blender champ is the 5950X. But who knows, intel 12th gen was a solid improvement over their previous CPUs so maybe they can come out on top with their next release? It's nice to have some actual CPU progress being made after a decade of stagnation.

Mike403

I recently upgraded the graphics card in mine from the RTX 2060 and I initially had an overheating problem. The internal temperatures reached 100 degrees Celsius(as hot as boiling water). I had to have my entire PC rebuilt into another case just to help with airflow.