How To Tell If 3D Animation Is Right For You?

free 3D software - yours to try for free!

What is involved in a career in 3D animation?  A lot of what animators do day to day involves solving software problems, trying to make stuff work on a PC or a Mac, and cursing our computer when it doesn't.

Becoming a successful digital artist raises many challenges.  One way of finding out if this is something you would like to do for a career is to do a couple of tutorials online.  A great place to start is with the 3D software Blender - it's completely free, and there are many free tutorials out there to get you under way. Here is how to get started.

Free Blender Tutorial at YouTube

To begin, go to the Blender homepage at www.blender.org and download their free software.

It's easy to do, and quick to install on your laptop, or your friend's laptop. Any reasonably modern machine should be able to run Blender.

Next, go to YouTube and search for Basic Blender Tutorials.  What you want are the most basic tutorials available, that teach you the really simple stuff, assuming absolutely no prior knowledge of the programme. Below is one we like, which teaches you how to model a coffee cup. To do this tutorial you will need a PC (it's not so good on a Mac) and a three button mouse (or Wacom tablet).




If you're running a Mac, you might try this Mac-friendly tutorial below instead. The author gives instructions for both platforms (Blender is slightly different on a Mac vs a PC), so if you are on a Mac you are more likely to be able to follow the tutorial without running into problems.



If you can follow one or both of these tutorials without giving up in despair and wanting to chuck the computer out of the window - a career in animation might be for you.

A willingness to learn, an openness to embrace new software, the desire to combine technical and artistic skills - these are the hallmarks of a good digital artist.  If this sounds like you - you will most likely enjoy the course at Escape Studios!

---Alex