so you're a maker and you want to get started with 3d modeling and 3d design but you have no
idea where to start and everyone's telling you different things and you just want to
know the truth of it all well let me tell you my experience and hopefully that will help guide you
where to start for 3d modeling for makers now considering you're asking yourself this question
i'm going to guess that you're pretty new to the 3d realm so i've got to let you know that there's
actually two very different ways of creating things in the 3d space one is called nurbs
modeling also known as non-uniform rational b-splines this is very complicated math to create
the objects through basically equations it's really quite incredible stuff and the other one
is polygon modeling also known as mesh modeling this deals with vertices corners edges and faces
to create a model as a whole so those are the two sort of kingpins of 3d modeling they both have
some incredible pros and cons to one another but that's the number one mindset to keep yourself in
so in an ideal world both of these would be merged together into one program and that there would be
the incredible workflow that you want to learn unfortunately that is not where we are in fact
there is sort of the opposite of where we are there's this big rift that there's sort of this
precision modeling that needs to be done with nerves and then there's artistic modeling that
needs to be done with polygons and the truth is that neither of them are correct they can both
do each other's work just as well sometimes even better than one another depending on the situation
now let's talk a little bit more about this so nervous based modeling you need to tell it all
the rules the mathematics the equations to go and create the things and then it sort of just
catches you and just creates the things sort of for you now it's technically not real because
it's all just maths so you need to eventually turn this into a real thing for instance in 3d
modeling you need to export this as a 3mf or an stl that actually turns it into a polygon that's
sort of it sort of hurts your head a bit to go so wait i'm doing it modeling in this way
and then you're going to turn it into that anyway and then here's the catch-all that
once you have that let's say you've lost your file of making this or you've got another stl
online if you want to actually turn that into something that was nurbs based well you now
need to convert it and there is always precision lost in that converting there have been leaps and
bounds in technology especially in fusion 360 to actually change that back that way
but that's just something that i've got to keep you sort of in your head that sometimes
things don't work out how you expect now let's switch on over to polygon modeling
which is in my opinion sort of the kingpin of all because you can do anything in here and with
the developments of blender which is completely free by the way oh my goodness things are getting
very interesting i can now do completely parametric modeling in there unfortunately
it's not nervous based yet and i'm hoping that one day nerves will come to there
but you do need to keep in mind about the rules of mesh faces have a front face and a back face
edges and vertices need to not really cross each other and need to sort of be laid out nicely how
do you have two edges crossing each other in the real world you don't so that breaks things in that
environment you don't have problems like that in the nerves environment because the maths is
there to catch you so which one is better there is no one that's better that's a ridiculous way
of thinking of a 3d space unfortunately that is sort of the mindset that a whole
bunch of the entirety of the internet is sort of stuck in because in the past this was very much
the precision world and this was very much the artistic world and they did not want
to interact with one another that is no longer the case though with visual effects especially
there's been a whole bunch of procedural work being done and when it comes to procedural work
you need a lot of precision sometimes so there's been this gray area that's starting to come out so
let's answer that question then where should you start i'll give you my absolute honest answer if
i could go back to seven years ago where i first sort of started really getting into being a maker
if i could tell myself hey look don't learn these other five programs that you know yes i've spent
way too much time learning so many programs and i could just tell myself one program to go with
i would go with blender now that is not discrediting
any of the parametric programs out there like freecad openscad fusion360 rhino and all of that
just that oh my goodness me the power of blender is mind boggling now there is a lovely catch right
there it's not going to be easy if you're looking for something that's going to hold your hand so
you can like make some nice pretty round edges go and make your life simple go and get yourself
free CAD to go and get maybe open scout i haven't got much experience in openscad or fusion 360 and
then you can round any edge you want go for it there but if you want to truly be sort of
unlimited in the way of rendering out however you want animating it however you want dealing with
stl straight off the internet being able to create anything really and soon parametrically in any way
you want with add-ons like cad sketcher as well as geometry nodes and using the modifiers well
you're pretty much getting into a full parametric workflow within the mesh environment and sort of
just going you know what i'm not going to rely completely on the Maths of this to help me along
now by no means am i discrediting nurbs modeling it is incredible and i wish so badly that that
was inside the blender and that actually worked nicely but the truth of it all is that kernel the
code to do all of that maths has taken 25 years to get to this point and they're still working on it
no wonder they don't want to give it to an open source free program like that is a lot of hard
time and labor gone into this so that's what i've got to say to you if you're looking to make
money from things just be aware that a lot of these nurbs based card programs well you
know usually can't go above making a thousand bucks a year from him so you're gonna have to
pay for it if you don't mind paying go for it absolutely love it just make sure that you spend
the time and effort to really truly understand whichever program it is that you're gonna go into
now when it comes to mesh modeling blender wow wow you're going to be able to get a lot out of that
trust me i'm three years into this learning and i still feel like i'm only scratching the surface
and then there's a whole other area that i haven't even touched yet it is incredible stuff so to go
forward from here if you're looking for a free nerve space workflow there is two that i know of
which is plasticity which is free for now and then once it goes out into its first release it
will be paid but it will be a one-time payment not this whole subscription thing and that is
linked down in the description if you want a free way of doing it i just have a short little
Free CAD course that's also linked down in the description just be aware that free CAD also has
its problems you can go and see that video down there if you're looking to learn blender then you
can go and check out mine gigantic courses and by the way i really am not being biased here i
just want to tell you my honest opinion so yes i have my courses my paid course and all of that but
i really want to help the maker community and that's why i'm making this video to try
and help you out so there's an entire free course to learn everything you need that is linked down
in the description if you want to learn through actual 3d printing projects i have my paid course
that's also down in the description but there's no need to i have my entire free course just be
aware that you only make one tiny little model in that and that's pretty much all i've got to say
i wish you the absolute best of luck going into your 3d journey there is so much ahead and just
be creative that's the number one thing find what it is that you want to make and just get
making a huge thank you to my patrons you guys are absolutely awesome and without you i truly
would not have been able to make maker tales a big thank you to my vip makers that is jem oscar
and david fernandez and if you're enjoying what i'm making here i would love to see you there too
if you think i deserve your support thank you for watching keep making and let the quest continue