3d Modeling: A Creative or Technical Skill?

#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.

#30

the way i see it modelling requires equal parts of both. creativity is useless without the skills and the skills are a waste without creative output. creativity makes the task more enjoyable without it we would be wasting our time. while you may be working from drawings or a model/sculpture you will still be making some creative changes to improve the character(without losing the essence of the origin. directors generaly dont like it when you do) :thumbsup:

#31

When you got it you got it… ahem… or so they say…

For me, modelling is one of the greater challenges 3d presents… Making a bunch of little squares all cling together in space to create form… Love it!

#32

think in the way that japanese sword are made, where the main design or the concept is completely understand but each blade is a unique piece where details speak for them selfs, a truly work of art where you can see the greatnest and the creativity of the art process beyond a simple but beatiful form. In a way skills by them selfs can be a creative when you achieve perfection having a goal beyond the constriction of forms. Another example are the Ghery buldings like the museum of bilbao, this “architect” makes a model of trash and cardboards and I think a few sketchs but then a team of truly achitects made the hard work of stand up that anti-structures, and finally , of course, the “architect” gets all the credits and even won the pritzker price(like the nobel of architecture).mmmm…

#33

It is both.
You cannot be creative w/o being techical, and you cannot be technical w/o being
creative. The ability to bring to form a creation from the mind’s eye is creative endeavor,
but without a thorough understanding of the medium you choose to express that vision
will limit your ability to be creative (that takes technical skill).

You can have a great idea an not be able to express it,
Or, you can know all about the technical aspects of an idea, but w/o the idea,
you cannot execute it.

It doesn’t matter if it’s art, music, construction, etc…
It all applies to the same rules.

Greg.

#34

If it matters, 3D modelling is certainly creative, in that something new is created from something else. As others stated, the technical skills allow us to be creative.

However, more interesting is the question; Is the type of 3D modelling that begins with someone’s concept drawing artistic? Sure, its creative in that something is made, but how much artisitic expression can be added by the modeller when frequently the task is to make a 3D model just like the concept? Are we being artistic in creating something that is a 3D replica of a drawing the modeller doesn’t create?

These are interesting questions that plague most 3D (and most artistic) workers. How much art is individiually possessed when working in a team? Whew that’s alot of question.

Jeffrey Baker
Dancing Bear Graphics, Inc.

#35

Here is a simple answer.
First, you are putting too much thinking into simple actions. The theories behind
the process can shift with the wind. There are never any satisfactory answers.

Next, if you are a parent, why not think of the work it took to create a child.
Was it techincal skill? Was it creativity? Were you really thinking about the
theories and philosophy during the “act?”

Was there artwork involved? Sure, someone had to choose the partner, therefore
the general look of the child.

Were there technical skills involved? ( Sure there was) < albeit: low level skills.>
(thousands of books written about that subject…LOL!)

Maybe others were involved in the decision making (example: Parents asking
“Where are we going to have grandkids?” OR friends: " I think Pam is just your
type of woman." )

Still when it comes down to it, it took colaboration to make things happen.

Do you really think about it? No, you just do it. And hope the result is satisfactory.

Greg.

Secondly