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[Moogie]

I want to start practicing 3D animation, but lack an appropriate motivator. Simply opening up Poser or Max and playing with keyframes isn't enough- I need some sort of purpose, or end-goal to it.

I got pretty good at Flash animation, thanks to a certain website where users can create and sell content. It gave me a focus- a place to learn from others, and a means of getting feedback and reward for my efforts. What I'd really love to find now is a similar place where I can do the same thing in 3D.

Maybe Second Life? I tried to get 'into' that a couple of years ago, but it had a terrible UI and was extremely laggy. Can you even make animations for SL, or is it all just textures and models? Can you sell animations? Is SL free if you want to be a content creator?

Are there any alternatives, or even completely different sites where I can practice 3D animation?


Thanks for your helps.

[Blargityblarg]

My friend's dad showed me this, and seemed pretty positive about it, though the public page looks almost like a Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff spinoff.

[Glowcat]

Maybe you could help people who've got programming projects by creating resources for them.

Or just create some general resources that any DF-inspired programmer would use. It might be fun to create 3D Dwarf Fortress objects since there's a chance people could use them in the future. This would add a purpose to your learning but you probably won't be able to make too much money off it, if any.

[rhesusmacabre]

Second Life is free to use but uploads, be they animations (.bvh) or textures, cost L$10 (~4¢) each. More info here and here.

[Moogie]

@rhesusmacabre, thanks for the details. Sucks that uploading costs money, but if I were able to sell them in the marketplace, I'm sure I'd be able to recoup the costs. I'll investigate it more closely now.

Maybe you could help people who've got programming projects by creating resources for them.

Or just create some general resources that any DF-inspired programmer would use. It might be fun to create 3D Dwarf Fortress objects since there's a chance people could use them in the future. This would add a purpose to your learning but you probably won't be able to make too much money off it, if any.

I hadn't thought about it, but that's an extremely good idea...! Money's not really the goal, but it's always nice to be earning while learning, so to speak. I'm focusing on the rigging and animating side of things, so perhaps I could help out a modeller who doesn't enjoy that side of the job.

@Blargityblarg, that looks... er... huh. It has an interesting early 90's feel, anyway. From peeking at their forums, it looks like there's very little - if any - activity going on behind the registration wall (last post occured back in May). Are you sure that site's still operational?

[Blargityblarg]

@Blargityblarg, that looks... er... huh. It has an interesting early 90's feel, anyway. From peeking at their forums, it looks like there's very little - if any - activity going on behind the registration wall (last post occured back in May). Are you sure that site's still operational?

Hrm. I didn't get much of an indication of how active it was from aforementioned mate's dad, but he showed it to me back in March, so it may have died since then, though with that kind of site design, I'd have expected it to be indestructible.

[Moogie]

Seriously. It's like a time capsule, only it was never buried... but it should have been.

Well, erm... I'm just going to leave an invitation here to any Bay12'ers who may be 3D modellers, and whom wouldn't mind sharing their files, so I could take a stab at rigging and animating them. In the meantime, I'll take a look around the modding forum and see if any 3D projects are underway. :]

[chaoticag]

No sure if this helps, but I know it's possible to get animations and models off of some videogames, like the last two fallouts. A friend of mine used Blender to modify some clothes in there.