How to practice 3d for free?

[The Devo]

Hey all,

I'm speaking to a group of underprivileged kids (about 7-8 years old) about working in the video game industry. I have a few ideas of what to talk about and some stuff to show them, but I'd like to give them some programs that they can download or take with them to play around with. I'm thinking Blender and Photofiltre or GIMP. Anything else you guys might recommend?

I plan to talk about the importance of traditional art skills, which of course are free to learn. I'll also be showing some of my work and some stuff from the game that I'm working on (plug: www.fallenearth.com). I might even show them this site. Any other topics you think I might touch on?

Thanks,
Chris

[JacqueChoi]

7-8 year olds?

I'd say bring em a box of comic books, and give them some Paper and Pencils.

:D

Heck sculpy might even be a fun one to start with.

[The Devo]

Hmmm, you make a good point. I originally thought it was going to be teenagers, so I was already thinking older. I don't know what the hell to talk about with 3rd graders, though they probably know more about computers than I do:lol:

Hell, now I'm rethinking some of the creatures I was going to show. I don't have a clue what kids are into these days. I know I won't be talking about GTA4, but other than that I haven't got a clue.

Chris

[chai]

Ye, would have been nice for older teens, but I think if you show 3d programs to kids that young, you might only end up confusing them - I know if I was that age, I wouldn't want to see a dude moving verticles in a 3d program heh.

Show them more traditional art maybe (sculpy was a nice idea, but would there be enough for all the kids ?) unfortunately you probably can't demonstrate 2d digital art because you'd need a lot of tablets ;)

[Aftermath]

Play-dough will saffice thats where alot of us got our true roots into modeling from as kids anyways :). Make them sculpt something in play-dough. Just my 2 bits on a cheap way to have fun with the kids and teach them some things about the industry.

Bring some of your own art to show them, maybe even bring a set of pens or pencils with paper and throw down some art for them. At that age kids would think that its cool, You could ask them about what games they like to play then go from there so you dont feel so inclined to jump right into gta most likely they will be rockband or guitar hero players.

Comic books always are cool too like Joxx said thou.

[sprunghunt]

something like teddy (http://www-ui.is.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~takeo/teddy/teddy.htm)would be cool. Get's the kids used to the idea of using outlines to define shapes and so on.

You could also try google sketchup:
http://sketchup.google.com/

They even have a page which talks about sketchup for primary school educators:
http://sketchup.google.com/customers/edu/primary.html

[cookepuss]

I say get them started with Wings3D (http://www.wings3d.com). There's nothing superbly complex about the app that a determined 8 year old can't handle.

Wings3D, as many of us know, is a clone of Izware/Nichimen's old Nendo application. What some of you may or may not know is that a version of Nendo was produced, though not released, for the Nintendo 64 as Mario Paint 3D. So, my logic is that the core design should appeal to a wide audience - kids included. Wings3D isn't hard to use, but it is powerful. More over, it's fun.

The fact that just about every feature is available via RMB should make teaching it easier. No deeply nested groups of parameters or anything like that. You can focus on teaching them the basics of modeling and the key terminology.

7 and 8 year olds are a lot smarter than some people would like to think. As long as you present the material in age appropriate chunks, Wings3D is probably your best bet.

I'd avoid something like Teddy. It's not reliable. Even its Magical Sketch derivative, part of the Shade 8 modeling package, is woefully cumbersome. Sketchup is nice, but Wings3D is probably a nicer "gateway drug" into CG since it's as fun, but not necessarily as dumbed down.

Like I said, give the kids some credit. There'll always be a couple of kids who don't get it, but that's par for the course. Any kid interested enough to stick with it will dig in. Just remember what you were like when you were that age, especially with the stuff with which you were most passionate about.

[Ged]

lego and play dough probably inspired me when I was small. most people get pretty excited when they try 3D sculpting as its less technical, if blenders sculpting is easy maybe they can have a go at that or a zbrush demo version? A work mate had a kid here at work recently and he just loved playing in zbrush.

[The Devo]

I guess I should clarify that I'm not teaching anything. I was asked to speak for about 15-20 minutes about what it's like to have a career in the game industry. They want me to show some pictures and get some kids excited about a career they may never have though possible. It was my idea to give them a handout or a cd of a few programs and websites they might try and play with IF they even have a computer (which I'm told some of them don't).

That doesn't make any of your suggestions less valid. I think there's some good ideas in this thread so far. But I didn't want it to sound like I was teaching some software or art techniques to anyone.

Thanks to everyone for the replies so far! Keep them coming!

Chris

[MostlyToad]

I think at this age I was interested in legos... So thinking along those lines while trying to tie closer to game development... I think Spore (pc game by Maxis) would be a good introduction to 3d modeling for them if they have a computer. or even just the spore creature creator might be better.

I'm pretty interested in hearing more about this.. I hope you post how things pan out.

[Shadownami92]

At that age I think I was watching my friend's brother working with Lightwave, he gave me a copy of it at some point and my dad bought me an instruction book for it. Although almost all the poly modeling was too complex making space ships out of spheres and stretching them a little to make basic heads wasnt too hard.

Overall I dont think you need a good explaination but a good presentation. If you show them some you made or make something simple it sort of makes kids think that its really cool with a hint of a "magical" feel.

although comic books, videogames, play dough, legos and straight up drawing were pretty much what I did normally xD

[Vig]

My 2 cents: (haven't read the replies)

I'd really stress the importance of 2D traditional art. You can underscore the dependency by holding up a tablet and a sheet of paper and say "if you can draw on this (paper) you can be shown how to use this (Tablet) pretty easily. If you want to use this (tablet) you should get cracking on mastering this (paper)."

Whatever you do don't get bogged down in any kind of technical BS unless they ask for it.

Outside of stressing 2D traditional art, also try to open their eyes that things in games are made out of basic shapes. Street signs are cylinders with a box on top. It will help them get a handle on some pretty basic concepts as well as help their 2D skills.

[Green]

how about this, have the kids play with playdough and sculpt like a bear or a helicopter or whatever kids that age are into these days =)

and like on a big screen like have a projector showing yourself modeling or sculpting a bear on the computer or something? who knows

7-8 is kind of young i think what you want to do is expose there minds to the possibilities and maybe leave the adults info on blender and give those adults a way to get in contact with you should any of the kids say they are interested 2-3 years from now

it's important that you let them know they can contact you in the future and that you are looking forward to speaking to them even if it is years later


but yeah programs I'd recommend

Blender
the GIMP

that's a good place to start I think xD

[Vrav]

Having someone learn Blender at a young age is interesting—you know, before they're too used to the more familiar interfaces, have them learn this one that's really unique—could see if the intuitiveness it claims to possess carries through. I mean, I believe in Blender, but I can't be arsed to learn it myself.

I show the three-year-old my CG stuff and explain the way a texture wraps onto a model. And I show her my object space "rainbows." :D She always wants to watch me draw, but doesn't really understand textures. Even so, she brings in her pencils and colors with me. :)