My Resource Collection

This page is here to showcase all the things I have found over the years that have helped me learn and grow as an 3D Artist. If you have any suggestions to this list, feel free to let me know!

The #1 Thing

The Manual

Find the manual for whatever you are using and read it.
Read from beginning to end, or if you don't have the motivation, read a random article from it.
If something more interesting catches your eye, read that.
And read it regularly.
The idea is if you read the manual (even the parts that are boring to you), then when you have a problem, you'll have an idea of where to look for help. Maybe you'll remember that the manual talked about the issue, maybe the manual will have some clues that will help you in your Googling adventure.
The point is, I've never come across someone who told me, "I wish I'd never read that manual!"

Software

Blender 

A free and open-source 3D modelling program that can do more than just 3D. It can do 3D modelling, video-editing, 3D animation, and rendering. It may seem complex at first, but it's way of working with 3D is actually easier than other 3D programs I've used.

Gimp

A free and open-source image manipulation program. Basically, it's a free alternative to Photoshop, however, not as powerful. For most users who aren't professional photographers, Gimp usually is fit for the job.

MyPaint

A free and open-source drawing program. The main feature of this program is the infinite canvas. But my favorite feature is once you open the program, you can just start drawing!
Awesome for jotting notes in, and doing some quick drawing.

Inkscape

A free and open-source vector graphics program. A free alternative to Illustrator.

Affinity Designer

A paid vector graphics program with some raster image editing tools.

Substance (Painter and Designer)

Both are paid products.

Painter is a texture-creating tool for 3D models. It can adapt the textures to the model using ambient occlusion, normal maps, and more to create very convincing effects like scratches, dust, dirt buildup, etc. Then on top of that you have layers, PBR support and more. You could say it's just a Photoshop for your 3D models.

Designer is a node-based material creation tool. It can create procedural materials which can be used in Painter, or exported as textures and used in programs supporting PBR textures.

Olive Video Editor

A free and open-source multi-platform video editor. It's the best video editor I've ever used on Linux.

Websites

CG Education

Very recommended. Neil Blevins is a 3D Artist who has written a wealth of articles about 3D which are excellent.

Polycount Wiki

Another very recommended website. The Polycount wiki is host to an abundance of articles.

Pixar in a Box

A course on Khan Academy that goes through most areas of 3D, like particles, models, lighting, and more. Recommended for beginners.

Artstation

A portfolio website for visual artists. A good place for inspiration. Very talented artists post there.

Sketchfab

A realtime 3D model viewer inside your browser. Another good place for inspiration.

Google Fonts

A great place to find fonts to use in your projects.

Pixabay

A site for stock photos that are CC0. Great place to find photos for your projects or just find some inspiration.

Pexels

A stock photo site like Pixabay that is also very good.

Unsplash

A free (not CC0) stock photo site like Pixabay, great quality photos.

HDRi Haven

A site for high-quality, free HDRis.

Texture Haven

A site like HDRi Haven, but for free CC0 textures.

CC0 Textures

Free CC0 textures, great quality.

Texture Ninja

Free CC0 textures

Texturer

Free (not CC0) textures

CG Bookcase

A texture site like Texture Haven.

Adobe Color

A color picker tool by Adobe. Lets you find color schemes with different color rules.

Youtube Channels

Arrimus 3D

Arrimus 3D is a 3D modeller who works mostly in 3DS Max. He creates tutorial videos on how to pull off different effects, however, his videos are so well made, you can follow them even if you aren't using Max, I followed quite a few of his videos in Blender and had a great time. I'd recommend watching his videos if you consider yourself an intermediate in Blender.

Blender Guru

Blender Guru is a Blender tutorial channel. I used this channel when I started learning Blender and really enjoyed it. The videos created in Blender 2.6 are still worth watching, just keep in mind that tools and menus won't look the same in 2.7 or later.

Creative Shrimp

Good tutorials, gives you different ways to think about lighting and materials.

GuerrillaCG

A channel that explains 3D things, like subdivision, polygons, smooth-shading, and more.

Harvard Photography Course playlist

A very recommended Youtube playlist if you want to know more about photography.

Cynicat Pro

I recommend his videos because he shows different ways of working with tools, and explains things pretty well.

Derek Banas

Blender Series

Inkscape Series

Derek Banas' tutorials are well explained; he even has videos that teach a programming language in one video. Great for people that are new to Blender or Inkscape.

PHLearn

PHLearn is a channel about Photoshop tutorials

FilmRiot

FilmRiot is a channel mainly about video production and cinematography.

Get Learnt

High quality Substance Designer tutorials.

Alan Becker Tutorials

Tutorials from the Flash animator who created the amazing "Animator Vs Animation" series. I highly recommend watching his 12 Principles of Animation.

Mandala Motion

Creator of the Daily Blender Tip series, which is a great series if you use Blender. 

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