True, but when people say that I can totally understand.

remember my first attempt? I dabbled for three years and after posting that POS Shadow000 logged on and posted after 3 weeks and nailed it first go.

Kinda depressing when you realise you have no talent at all and get eclipsed by someone who picks it up at lightspeed.

But that's ok cause everyone is different and good at something... Not everyone is suited for 3d.

But people shouldn't be penalized for that either.

Dabbled for three years with what proggy?

Well he mentioned the .DES file format in that post - and a bit of digging reveals that may come from some sort of PTC-Pro related CAD program.

So my guess is that he's had a play, or maybe even fair experience with a CAD type proggy, but not really free-form 3d modeling in a game related sense. There's a big difference between the processes involved, but it is still 3d modeling.

That said, I don't get it when peeps say they wish they could model but can't. If a then-school-student like me with minimal experience in computers as a whole can learn to do it, anyone can.
If one gets a powerful proggy like Blender or 3ds Max, sits down and just learns it, anything is possible.

It does take a certain 'knack'. I started when I was about 19, oddly enough in the Amiga version of Lightwave 1, so the modelling side of Lightwave is, at least, pretty much an old friend, however, there are people that can get on great with things like Truespace, but cannot understand Lightwave for the life of them when the opposite is true for me.

Particuarly with 3D modelling, it can take a certain mindset, because you need to be very patient, and think in a certain way about the model you are making, you need to make stuff in a certain order, map things before you rotate them etc. Some people, like you, have a born-in knack for modelling,

I remember when you started in TI a long time ago, so I've seen how your modelling has progressed, and it's been startling to say the least

Heh, thanks - but I'm still unconvinced about the knack part.
For me the quality level someone can produce is simply a combination of experience in the program they're working in, a bit of creative flare and most importantly: how much time/effort they're willing to put into their creation.

On the program side of things, I tried lightwave and am kinda still trying Max, and I really like both of them. I think if I sat down and properly taught myself how to use them, I could become decently competent with them. Free time is the limiting factor there though.

I guess all I'm saying is that I think if people have a decent program, are willing to sit down and put in the time and effort to learn how to use that program, then anyone can learn to model and texture.

I know that in my case, it isn't the technical knowledge involved that's the issue, it's the creativity. If you sat me down in front of a modeling program and taught me how its basic controls work, I'd probably just continue to sit there, with no idea whatsoever on what to model. I consider all of you to be artists in the truest sense of the word, since you're able to sit down in front of a blank screen and bring to life a ship that I couldn't have imagined in a hundred years. I guess my brain just isn't built for that sort of work.

I find paper & pen to be a huge help when designing stuff. There really have been times (like here) where I'm just scribbling random shapes without thinking, look at the thing and go
"oh. ship.

........cool."

Once you have a concept to work from, the modeling just flows.
It can be a highly detailed concept, an incredibly vague scribble - doesn't matter. Just have something to get the ball rolling and then go with whatever feels right after that.

I know that in my case, it isn't the technical knowledge involved that's the issue, it's the creativity.

Me too. It helps to be "in the groove". I've had sessions where I sat for hours in front of FRED, trying to work on one of the ST:R missions that needed doing, and getting nowhere. Other times I've had sessions where I crank out an entire mission, start to finish, in about six hours straight. You just need to figure out how to get the creative juices flowing.

(like here)

Oooh, PokéDemon...