3d Modeling: A Creative or Technical Skill?

#10

3d modeling, Emmm…:hmm: ,It’s a mix of creativity and technical. But,I think,in 3d modeling process,we have to be more creative(:lightbulb) than technical.

#11

I think 3D modeling has more in common with sculpture. Nobody argues that sculptors aren’t creative. In sculpture, you start out with some ideas and a concept drawing. Thats where the creative process is in gear. Then you have to mold or chisel or bake or whatever, but thats the technical process. There are times when you say, hey pouring this liquid into a mold is not creative at this point in time. But you need to look at the big picture. The basic creative process is thought, concept, technical execution, refinement, finished product. So how is 3D modeling any different? I would have to argue that modeling that mustang is still creative as long as you’re not designing it from blueprints as you would in autocad, then thats just punching in numerical data which requires no choices to be made by you the artist.

#12

That, I don’t agree with at all, just because you do SOMETHING doesn’t mean that it’s “creaitivity”.

#13

quoted for agreement

#14

Well yes, doing something is not necessarily creative, but anything can be done creatively. For example, frying an egg is a technical skill. Not exactly a creative outlet. However, if you fry the same egg while experimenting with adding additional content, that’s being creative with a technical skill.
It’s the same with modelling. Modelling a car is a technical skill, but you combine the use of splines, patches, box modelling etc. in your own fashion. That’s being creative with your technical skillset. Not many people model exactly the same way unless they’re following a tutorial.
Even maths is creative. Given a problem there are many technical ways to solve something, but it’s a creative process to use those skills to your best advantage.

#15

frying an egg ISNT a technical skill u see … everyone can fry an egg given the tools
NOT everyone can model a 3d something given the tools…

thats maybe the point here dude…

#16

Yes, everyone can fry an egg, but not everyone can do it well. Everyone can model something in 3d and not do it well. Skill is usually required in even the simplest tasks.
But that is not the point I was making. Skill is skill, bad or good. Creativity is using skills in a unique or varied way. Drawing is a skill we are born with. We hone that skill over a lifetime, but what we do with the pencil is the creative process.

I guess all i’m saying is anything can be done creatively. Not everything should or will be, but it can be. Modelling on a whole is a technical skill, but it is used creatively more often than not.

#17

sorry mate i dont agree

not everyone can make a 3d model…

i couldnt when i first started 3d … its impossible to be creative in CG arts field which is what we ae referring to afterall without a skill level to carry out that creativity…

i think…:shrug:

#18

Just because you’re doing something doesn’t mean you’re creative. You can use the tools creativly but in the end what you’re doing is not being creative. it’s two different things.

A carpenter can be creative with a chainsaw and rebuild it to a furnice, but in the end… making a chair from a blueprint handed down to you is not what I define as “being cretive”. That’s craftmanship.

#19

So does that mean that mona lisa isnt a creative painting because the artist painted it from looking at a person?

What about a sculpture from ancient greece who used a human reference was he not creative because he sculpted from something?

Modeling is the same thing. Unless ur reference is very precise and perfect like car refs I would say some degree of creativity always goes into it.

But if we are talking ideas then thats another ballgame.

Personally I was always very good with ideas and only recently did I decide to add to my skillset with 3d modeling etc.

For me its a way to visualise my ideas. Its a way to sculpt and create worlds and characters and things from my imagination.

Even concept artists are often drawing from a different kind of references. They use the ideas and descriptions of the gamedesigners to visualize their characters.

So does it mean they arent creative either?

I think every layer of creation that takes place from thought to finalized game is noteworthy.
Ideas, concepts, scripts, modeling, texturing etc etc.

#20

Creativity is using skills in a unique or varied way.

There are several definitions… to simply create something is also to be creative. That’s why it’s called creative.

making a chair from a blueprint handed down to you is not what I define as “being cretive”.

Yes, creating a chair is being creative :>

#21

It isn’t just a yes/no type thing. If you play a jazz solo, and you’re improvising, no doubt that’s creative. If you’re the drummer in a band and someone else wrote the music, there’s still room for creativity. If you play in an orchestra and your instrument has to work with all the others the way the conductor wants, much less room for creativity. That’s the way a lot of tasks are ~ you get different amounts of creative freedom and different amounts of input into group projects.

Modelers need to make some things up as they go ~ even if there is concept art it probably doesn’t show every tooth inside the mouth, every angle, every facial expression ~ so I expect some of what they do will showup on screen and could look a little better because of their contribution than if someone else had done that modeling work.

LT

#22

In fact when there are many many artistic constraints the highly creative modeller is the one you want. You are not creative because you simply do something, but how creative you are will determine the quality of the work produced.

#23

My view on this is: does it really matter? Do you have to peg a grey area to either white or black, or can you just do what you enjoy doing without attempting to define it? Whether it’s artistic or technical doesn’t have any affect on why I model, or how I model, so I feel as if the argument is moot.

#24

I tend to agree with Brent. Besides, the word is already defined, and it includes several meanings.

Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

1cre·a·tive Function: adjective
1 : marked by the ability or power to create : given to creating <the creative impulse>
2 : having the quality of something created rather than imitated : IMAGINATIVE <the creative arts>
3 : managed so as to get around legal or conventional limits <creative financing>; also : deceptively arranged so as to conceal or defraud <creative accounting>

Function: noun
1 : one (as an artist or writer) that is creative; especially : one directly involved in the creation of advertisements
2 : creative activity or the material produced by it especially in advertising

Dictionary.com

cre·a·tive
adj.
[ol]
[li]Having the ability or power to create: Human beings are creative animals. [/li][li]Productive; creating. [/li][li]Characterized by originality and expressiveness; imaginative: creative writing. [/li][/ol]
n.
One who displays productive originality: the creatives in the advertising department.
You pick which ever definition you like.

Regards,

#25

…which was my point exactly

#26

On a side note:
Why are those encouragingly given the title ‘A(The) Creative’ usually inept in their drawing abilities, and devoid of imagination and humour :shrug:

#27

Maybe this is the point; we should think about the word “create”. As I read on the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, and in othe Italian dictionary, “create” is to produce something, something that didn’t exist before, bringing into existence something new. Everyone can make “something new” manipulating, for example, a given piece of clay. The point is: does that new shape of clay touch our souls? Does it give us some kind of thrill? Maybe everyone is creative, more less are the “Genius”, people that can make you thrill and think using music, colors, clay or pixels.

#28

It is both like a pencil drawing or a painting. Both is needed for a sucessful image.:thumbsup:

#29

Creativity is probably inherent in those with simple cognition (i.e. humans.) That is if you think that creativity is some sort of process of creation.