Just Curious

[jason b]

I have been modeling this building most of the day. I am just wondering, is 6hrs a long time to model something like this?

That probably seems like a strange question. I know each person is different and skill levels vary; I just want to get an idea on how well my modeling and efficiency skills in Blender are coming along

I found a couple of low poly renders on Pinterest and I decided to replicate them for practice.

About 45-1hr was spent trying to get the fancy window dressing on the second floor into a clean model.

Any and all feedback is appreciated

Thank you!

(My model)

(render found on Pinterest)

(Blender timer)

[Leo]

If you want an honest opinion, I would have said 6 hours for the building is a bit much BUT that shouldn’t matter. I think it’s like anything else, you can always take it easy and slow in the beginning and not get into bad habits. And above all, have fun. Speed comes with experience or as a wise man once said:

Slow is accuracy and accuracy is speed

btw. beautiful building

[Omar Domenech]

As Leo said, don’t worry about speed just yet, in fact be grateful you can take as long as you want. When you have client work and they’re like yeah, we want a jet, a submarine and a king Kong like creature and we need it for tomorrow and you already said yes and we payed you in advance, so try not to fall asleep on the keyboard, have a good 24 hours, ok bye bye then.

You’d think that’s why you need to develop speed by then, because how are you going to deliver if you haven’t develop speed? But you need to take it chill before you develop it. It’s tricky, but you have to know your way around 3D or Blender to gain speed, if you focus on speed you wont get to know your way around Blender because things will whizz you by and that’s not how you retain. And then the environment of a deadline will be the thing that gets you speed and that comes when it comes. 

Just a long way to say, just enjoy the learning, because you are making progress, only you don’t notice it. It’s not like when you’re playing an RPG and you level up and there’s fanfare and sparks fly all over. I’ll leave you with a Orwell quote:

[jason b]

Thank you both for the input! I do obsess a bit about things being perfect, imperfectly of course. I’d rather take my time and not get into bad modeling habits. 

Using the skills I have learned over the last few weeks have really helped me feel much more confident about doing projects on my own. 

Someday I hope to have a some clients. Hopefully they don’t have deadlines like you suggested but, I always go for a challenge.

It’s a different ballgame when you have to figure it out on your own opposed to watching a course and following along. I can’t wait to share the renders with everyone.

[Sascha Feider]

All good things have been mentioned already. To add to that, I keep saying: “Never compare yourself to others, only to yourself from yesterday.”

Now with that in mind you have a good way to gauge your personal progress here, even more so since you didn’t have to come up with the idea, but worked off a reference. Since you timed yourself with this building, make notes of that. Move on to other projects, keep learning and progressing. After a while, maybe a month or so, of more learning, do the exact same project again, no iterations, just a carbon copy and time yourself again. I’m gonna bet you will be faster and notice more efficiency in your workflow. That is of course if you have targeted your learning.
If you still run into the same issues as before, you’ll know that you have to refocus your learning. Either way it will give you either confidence or direction. Or both. 🙂

The important thing is not how long it took you, but if you had to do it again, would you still have the same struggles or are you improving from the first go-around.

[jason b]

Thank you for such a great idea Sascha! I am going to do this. 😁

[Paul Caggegi]

That’s an amazing render! The only time you should be concerned about how long it takes is if you’re getting paid for it. I tend ot lose track of time as I model/draw/create. Your workflow will evolve over time, also. Things you did this time that took hours, next time you might consider a different approach to achieve the same goal – do you use modifiers? Do you begin to save elements of this to an asset library, and have them ready to go for your next model? There are so many options.

If you want some practical advice, I’d say the first model always takes the longest. You’re exploring techniques, making mistakes, working through trial and error. When you recreate a similar structure, or use the same techniques, you will be MUCH faster at it.

[jason b]

The only modifiers I am currently using are two array mods and two mirror mods on the building embellishments. I appreciate the feedback.   This one is coming together quite nicely. I look forward to sharing the result.

[jason b]

Getting there. Little by little. 

[Author]

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