Gnomon videos?

[steveblake]

I've heard they are very good. They've just ordered the skinning series here at work and some of the guys who've seen them find them extremely helpful.

From the few quicktimes I've seen, it's what's said as much as what's shown that gives the information. They certainly know their stuff. Alex in particular is a very good trainer and great at keeping the pace up but still having time to thoroughly explain what he's doing.

I'd say that if you're new to maya or just want to get some insight into new tried and tested workflows, get 'em. It's like sitting next to a pro for an hour or so and getting some one-to-one.

The only downside is the expense of having to get more than one in each series, so as to get a proper overview of the subject. It just seems that they're split up a bit too much. You just have to get as many as you can afford. Maybe building up a catalogue over time or buying with friends?

I just can't help thinking because of the nature of CG it's so much easier to see happen it on screen rather than read it from a book...the same info is there, it's just a more effective way to take it in..

Perhaps if they had pictures of football players on the front covers and a free piece of gum inside, we'd all be encouraged to do swaps ...

hope this helps.

[parel]

SOrry to butt in on this thread. I am considering registering online with Gnomon. Are the lessons available online at Gnomon any better than the tutorials on the web-like at high end. If you have taken the classes online- how did they measure up to your expectations?

[FBMachine]

I'm registered at Gnomon online, and the videos they have there are pretty good. I'm a visual learner, so I would say they are much better than any tutorial on highend3d. Also they don't really teach you things that should be obvious after reading the manuals, they tend to point out solutions to things that are not so obvious, which is more than I can say for alot of the web tutorials out there.

I'd like to get their organic modeling tapes as well, but since you have to buy both for them to be of any use, it's a bit pricey.
Dan

[Raji]

I was going to ask the same question about the online stuff. Although I am not a gnomon online member, I would most probably agree that their tutorials there are better than anything else on the web. I say this simply from seeing some of the free tutorials they have at the beginning of their lists. Even those are frankly quite impressive. The only thing I don't like is that they seem to have a lack of balance between all their subjects. They have a ton more modeling and texturing tuts than they do rigging tuts. It's stuff like that that bothers me with Maya's online learning. I still haven't found anything online that really satisfied me as far as rigging goes. Or a bit of animation for that matter.

Anyway, thanks steve for your info on the tapes. When I have the money, I'd rather buy a bunch of things in one blow. The character bundle seems like it's what I'd wanna go for. I just find it weird that they didn't include the deformer series in it too considering how they cover blend shapes and stuff. I was seriously thinking of just going for the entire tapes at once. Again, when I have the money. :thumbsup: Anyway, thanks for your input guys!

Raji

[SheepFactory]

Gnomon online is well worth the money.

they have a free tutorial avaible in each section now , why dont you guys check em out? , it'll give you an idea about the quality of the tutorials.

A|i

[Radnor]

Are the tutorials listed under the subscription section all that is included in membership, or are there more to see once you subscribe?

[FBMachine]

What you see there is all you get. There are new videos coming in though, about 1 a month I think. It's definetly worth at least one month membership. I'm not sure if I'll keep going when my subscription ends next week though.
Dan

[parel]

Very informative thread. Do any of you connect with dial-up? My cable wont be installed for sometime. Does Gnomon have pdf or html files in addition to the quicktime videos? Or are the options shown on the website the only option?

[FBMachine]

They have some written tutorials in html at their other page:
http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/tutorials/tutorials.html
Some of it covers the same stuff as some of the videos, some are just quick tips. That's all free though. The videos are pretty big for 56k'ers, even the small ones, but they are not really streaming, they are quicktime, so you can just let it download, then watch it, so there are no dropped frames or anything.
Dan

[Raji]

I'm also on 56k because cable still isn't available in my area and doesn't look like it's going to be anywhere in the near future!:annoyed:

At work we have a fast connection though, so I did get to check out the biggest sizes for the free tutorials. Very very insightful stuff, but I'd still rather get a set of tapes and watch whatever I want whenever I want, instead of having to download every time I need anything. Plus if you're like me, you don't get stuff done till three days before membership is over. Either that or you feel obligated to get stuff done cause you don't wanna waste a month. All in all, I really would prefer the advantage of having the tapes available to me at all times.

Thanks to some of your input, I have decided that when I finally get enough cash, I'm buying as many tapes as I possibly can. Gnomon's training just looks fascinating and very professional etc.

:bounce:

Raji

[instal]

if you are looking for really good maya training videos, you should check out www.3dbuzz.com, they offer the best training vtms for all the big 3d programs. They currently have 2 vtms for maya, totalling about 10 hours worth of content. Their 3d max vtm is about 4 hours long, and their XSI vtm is about 6 hours long. XSI also has buzz on the front page of their home page. The best thing about these vtms are they are FREE. Just sign up and he will send you what you want. Check it out. way better than gnomons stuff, but thats my opinion.

[FBMachine]

I just said this in another post, but again, the buzz vtm's that are out so far only cover the fundamentals of the programs, it's hardly fair to compare the buzz cd's to gnomon's tapes.
Dan

[phatgroovn]

I have most of the Gnomon tapes - and they are very much worth the cash, especially at the new lower price. I even base some of my lessons (instructor) around Alex's demo's - it's the way I learned and it's a style which just about anyone can learn from. Check em out !!!

:drumrock:

[steveblake]

>I'd still rather get a set of tapes and watch whatever I want >whenever I want, instead of having to download every time I >need anything.

No need to keep connecting to view same quicktimes over and over. Just grab 'em from your temp internet directory.. view as many times as you wish. I think all the other online stuff is in the same format, no?

[Raji]

I hadn't thought of that steve, that's a good idea, but I'd still rather have the tapes. At least I don't have to spend forever downloading a large tutorial with a 56k modem and hope I remember to back it up later on... I don't know, maybe I'm just fussy, but I'd still prefer the tapes over the online stuff. And I say that even if I could get dsl or cable. :p

Thanks

[Sieb]

Ive got two of the tapes, the intro to maya tape and the first of nurbs modeling. Alex is great at explaining things and I learned so more from that first intro tape than the book that came with maya. Darrin is a little harder to listen to though, he tends to go off on tangents and get all technical, for about 20 mins, he was deep into the hypershader in the nurbs tape and about put me to sleep. hehe I highly recommend them though as opposed to the A|W ones that are more expensive and from what I hear, a little less informative sometimes. They are meant for classroom type stuff I suppose.

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