[Kamikaze]

I have Lightwave and Blender and hae been wanting to be able to effectively use the programs to create some art... however I'm not quite sure where to start. I can go buy a lightwave/blender book (I have a blender book) however most guides to programs/languages I've seen are quite inefficient at what they do.
They're more of references than guides...

So the question is: where should I start? and what kind of process should I go through then?

It'd be appreciated if you directed me to a sort of guide rather than tutorials, those are fine but usually are more of a tips/tricks sort of thing rather than explanatory.

[Warlock]

Well ... I don't use either of those so I can't help with program knowledge. Also.... what are you wanting to get into .. actual modeling and then rendering the models, or just using downloaded models to set up scenes?

[Carl]

i can tell you how to get started in three easy steps.

1. buy software

2. mess with it

3. repeat

that's how most of us did it.

[Kamikaze]

I'll try that Carl (that's what I did with photoshop)


Warlock:
I probably want to do both modeling and rendering... modeling first though.

[Warlock]

Originally posted by Kamikaze
I'll try that Carl (that's what I did with photoshop)


Warlock:
I probably want to do both modeling and rendering... modeling first though.

Ok then i'm not any help to you I still can't model for ****  lmao

[mikhael]

Originally posted by Carl
i can tell you how to get started in three easy steps.

1. buy software

2. mess with it

3. repeat

that's how most of us did it.

What Carl said. Nothing short of getting elbows deep into the tool will teach you how the software works. Once you're cool with the environment, and have a good grasp of the basic tools, start looking at those tutorials again. Believe it or not, most tutorials I've seen are actually just that: how to use basic tools better and how to use intermediate tools and advanced tols in a basic way. Then you go back and do the play around and screw with it thing some more.

[Kamikaze]

Okay, cool I'll try to get used to 3d modeling tools - thanks for the advice

BTW: any good places to learn what the tools are, how to use them etc.? Or at least an explanation of buttons? ( a guide to the jargon like raytracing, UVmapping etc. would be useful too)

[mikhael]

Originally posted by Kamikaze

BTW: any good places to learn what the tools are, how to use them etc.? Or at least an explanation of buttons?

My first thought is to tell you to look at the manual, and its the one I'll stick to for everything but Lightwave.
Lightwave v5, v6 and v7 have all had manuals that were utter ****. Try finding a useful description of "bandsaw" in the Lightwave6 manual. The tiny entry on S6.4 tells EXACTLY what it does, but doesn't make it clear how to use it, nor does it tell you all the little nitpicky details about how it works (especially when using more than one poly). So, in the case of Lightwave, I'll tell you to get Inside Lightwave 7.0. It's pretty good for 6.5 and 6.0 as well.

( a guide to the jargon like raytracing, UVmapping etc. would be useful too)

For jargon, I refer you to the Internet. It has all the answers.