What is "CG Cookie?" Ever Used It?
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I've been trying to learn 3D CG for a year or more. I spent a few months with Poser, then a few months with Carrara, and now it's DAZ Studio. I know more now than I did a year ago, but I still can't do anything. Not what I want to do, anyway.
I miss the traditional ways. I miss classrooms and books. I miss two-way communication. YouTube videos put me to sleep. I'm not a stupid man, I should be further along than I am. And, I've learned that everything comes down to models. I'm particular about figures, clothing, buildings, and even if I had unlimited resources, the things I want aren't always available. I'm going to have to make them.
At first, I thought Hexagon would do the job, but I realize Blender is the real deal. I won't live long enough to learn Blender by watching YouTube videos and asking for help on bulletin boards. I started searching for traditional, professional training. All I came up with "CG Cookie."
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Can you tell me anything about this? Is it anything more than a glorified YouTube? Is two-way communication available to any real degree? It's cheap enough (almost too cheap), but when I look for particulars, all I find is marketing hot air.
Webex and its lookalikes have been around for quite a while now. It makes for a decent virtual classroom, when it's used. Even Skype is better than nothing. I can't find anybody using it. I can't find any real-life seminars either.
Am I looking in the wrong place? What would you do?
Thanks.
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Comments
CG cookie is one of the best sources for free Blender tutorials. You're not going to find a lot of two-way there because that's just not how it's mostly done.
If you're more comfortable with text, I do some of those on my blog. They're more oriented toward clothing and smartprops, but they ARE for Blender-to-DS and might be better than nothing.
http://sickleyield.deviantart.com/journal/Tutorial-G1G2-Clothing-in-Blender-1-428585748
http://sickleyield.deviantart.com/journal/Tutorial-Creating-A-Smart-prop-With-DS4-5-Pro-367622372
I would have been surprised to hear otherwise, but it's better to ask than to assume.
Thanks for your help.
I've had a paid membership to CGCookie since January. It's an excellent resource. I initially got the membership to help me learn Blender, but I tend to spend more time on the Concept Cookie part of the site- this is where all of the 2D magic happens, digital painting, concept drawings, etc. A lot of the free videos are just bits from a larger course that contains more videos, but can't access unless you have a paid membership.
The tutorials on the CG Cookie network are videos, but you do have some two-way communication with them. Each video has a comment section, and an area to upload your own works utilizing that tutorial. They also have Exercises. These may or may not have a short video associated with them. They're usually a small tutorial to help skill expansion.
You're not going to find any Poser/DS specific tutorials. Most of them are aimed at game asset creation, but you can still take the principles and apply them.
Right now they're doing their Summer Extravaganza, where they release a new artist/tutorial every week during the summer until late August.
http://cgcookie.com/concept/2014/06/05/summer-extravaganza-page/
The Blenderartists.org forum kind of goes hand in hand with CGCookie.
I just stumbled onto CG Cookie today. I found it via blenderartists.org, and registered on both sites. How long has CG Cookie been around? Do you know? I listened to Jonathan Williamson a bit. He's articulate, and he seems to be using a script. That's something. Very few people are able to make a professional video tutorial by speaking extemporaneously. And thankfully there is no "background music."
Overall, I'd say it's the next level up from YouTube. I'm not ready to give them money yet, but anything is possible.
Thanks.
They've been around for about 6 years, but started as a link hub for other tutorials. Somewhere along the lines they turned into Blender Cookie and focused only on Blender. I'm not sure when they turned into a full network with multiple app focus.
/edit
Their about page has a road map from over the years.
Great tutorials and great help when you reach out to the admins. They have never left me wondering for days for help, unlike other places I've been a member of! I pay them $10.00 for premium, perhaps that's the reason why but iirc it was good help even when I was a freebie member. Go for it. ESP if your learning Blender, you can't go wrong!
How in the world did you swing $10 for premium? I paid $172 for a year and that was with a discount from pre-paying 12 months (standard is $18/month).
/edit
Oh wait, are you locked in from before they raised the price?
Perhaps, I don't know. I just know I pay !0.00 a month! lol
Without teachers per se, forums are indispensable. The best tool ever made is useless if you can't learn how to use it. Right now, I think this forum is the best one I've seen. I have high regard for the people I've met here. I often think about how most here have struggled through learning this subject the same way I am. When I look at their work I know I will succeed given time.
I'll probably never figure out why we have chosen to ignore certain valuable learning tools. My best guess is, many are afraid of video phone. As a volunteer ESL tutor, I find it invaluable. As a long time sci-fi fan, I'm still waiting for a full size holographic image of my caller to materialize in my home office.
Ever see The Count of Monte Cristo? He exchanged tiny paper notes with another prisoner for maybe 10 years, before ever seeing him or hearing him speak. Sometimes this reminds me of that.
I have also located a meetup.com Blender group near me, and joined it. Typically, they have 45 members but only 3 attended the last meeting. Still, meeting even one helpful individual could result in learning something it would take me a year to discover otherwise. I may meet this group later this month. Every little bit helps.
If they nearly doubled the price in one swoop, they're making decent money. Way to show Google how it's done.
If they nearly doubled the price in one swoop, they're making decent money. Way to show Google how it's done.
Except CGCookie uses the funds for good and not trying to take over the world. Lol
Google has become too big for its britches, no doubt about it.
Nobody makes proper manuals anymore. Things change too fast, and too few people actually know how to structure complex concepts and write sentences with more than five words.
That leaves us with video tutorials that are impossible to random access through efficiently, and narrated by heavy accents fueled by gallons of caffine; or
wiki forums that are hopelessly incomplete; or
user forums that are long, random, and unwieldy.
But, two way tutorials. 8-o What a wonderful idea! It's like apprenticeship. A great way to learn but very rare to find, probably because it seems to me to be very difficult to create.
Sorry, no useful advice from me. :-( Except that I thought that a "CG Cookie" might be a "Chocolate Guacamole Cookie" Mmmmm... Yum!!!!!
I'm glad you said this, and not me. I think you were charitable.
Ever sat in on a Webex presentation? I use their name because they're the oldest, but there are now free alternatives.
Let's say 30 people attend. You don't need to listen to them jabbering, the instructor controls the audio. You do see and hear the instructor, who has full control and access to every tool there is - whiteboard, video, you name it. It's a virtual classroom. It has everything we are accustomed to today, and adds the invaluable ability to ask questions. In the past, I attended a lethal number of these. I've seen PPT presentations with live Q&A, videos, etc. I've met with people from Cal, Chicago, NY, London and Eastern EU, all at the same time. It works.
This kind of tool has been around for years. The advantages over a prerecorded video are obvious. It's not clear to me why nobody uses it. Even the Google+ Hangout would be better than nothing.
As for professionally written, up-to-date user guides, you can't imagine how it saddens me to see what has happened to computer documentation in the past 15 years. You see, I worked 20 years as an engineering technical writer. I know just what it takes to create and maintain useable and current docs. The disappearance of these resources is, IMO, due to the replacement of engineers by marketing people. They like to say, "We sell the sizzle, not the steak!" Ugh.
But, it is what it is. As I said before, if the excellent artists and illustrators I see here can learn this way, I can too.
I used to go to SeaBug. It's a Blender learning conference here in the Seattle area. It tended to focus on things that were only relevant in-engine, but I learned to strip model from one useful tutorial, for instance. You can always google Blender Conferences for your area, maybe there's one close to you.
I'll be attending my first meetup.com Blender group meeting the 28th of this month. Maybe I'll get some info there.
Thanks.
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