Review purchased training series - What have you learned?
Review purchased training series - What have you learned?
The internet is full of downloadable products and training services. Is it worth spending your hard earned cash on a series? Or if you dig long enough can you figure it all out for yourself? Before the boom in online screen casts some of us would read actual books in an attempt to enlighten ourselves in the art of computer graphics and work flow.
I'd like people to add to this discussion with their reviews of any training series or books they've bought, free ones are OK too I guess, and any books which have helped or hindered your progress thus far.
This discussion in open to all 2D and 3D platforms.
The internet is full of downloadable products and training services. Is it worth spending your hard earned cash on a series? Or if you dig long enough can you figure it all out for yourself? Before the boom in online screen casts some of us would read actual books in an attempt to enlighten ourselves in the art of computer graphics and work flow.
I'd like people to add to this discussion with their reviews of any training series or books they've bought, free ones are OK too I guess, and any books which have helped or hindered your progress thus far.
This discussion in open to all 2D and 3D platforms.
Views: 5
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Harry Frank on -
I'd be curious to hear about this, too. I'm more on the development side.. not that I am "above learning". But, I spend more time developing training than going through it. What's been the best training you've gotten?
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Permalink Reply by Joel Dubin on -
I'd highly recommend FXPHD, that is, if you have the time to keep up.
Tim Clapham teaches some great motion design oriented classes for both Cinema 4D and AE. There are quite a few other relevant motion graphics classes offerred as well (or have been offered in the past) on everything from design to color theory. Lloyd Alverez is teaching a course on AE scripts this term which Im sure will be good. There also have been some exceptionally great classes on compositing from vfx artists in the industry as well. If you are a member now, it was just announced that they will also be offering a selection of past classes for download at an additional cost. I prefer the structured linear flow of FXPHD, moreso than just finding the time to view random online classes. That said, it can be a bit of a challenge to keep up if you already are already busy with your career (not to mention family if you've got one). I needed to sit this term out for these reasons, but hope to be back in the spring. Once you have the material (high res video presentations and project materials) you can go back to it later if you havent gotten through it all.
As for books, I've been reading Mark Christenen's AECS4 Visual Effects and Compositing. Even if you arent a vfx artist,
we all still need to do our fair share of roto, keying and color correction at one time or another. i really like the flow of this book and it does read like a lively presentation, rather than a dry manual or instruction book, like many software related books tend to.
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Permalink Reply by Patrick Mattison on -
Here are some of the training classes I've used:
1. FXPHD
This is my favorite for many of the reasons Joel mentioned.. Tim Clapham, the assortment of classes. I feel this one resources has contributed to my overall knowledge more then any other. I also like that they offer 3 classes to choose from so you get a nice variety.
2. Cinevercity
Awesome resource for those wanting to learn C4D, tons of helpful tutorials. Everything from project based tutorials to videos on what each button or feature is. i spend about as much time here as I do on FXPHD.
3. Lynda.com
Lynda doesn't have nearly the amount of project based tutorials I'd like to see but what i really like about this site is the breadth of training available for such an inexpensive rate. The Creative Inspiration videos are also amazing. The other thing I like about this site is how easy it is to satisfy my curiosity. I'm always finding something new I'm interested in learning a bit more about, from motion graphics, to web design, to photography. It's all here even Facebook training, WTF?! That's my point.
4. Total Training
I found this one the least useful because they didn't have nearly as many tutorials or as many applications as lynda.com and yet the style of training is very similar (non-project based). Since Total Training hasn't differentiated themselves enough i feel it's only worth getting one or the other, not both, and Lynda has a ton more videos to learn from as well as the Creative Inspiration series.
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Permalink Reply by Felix Lau on -
I'm taking several C4D/AE courses with Tim Clapham right now on FXPHD. I'm still in the first week of this semester but I have a feeling I'll get my money's worth.
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Permalink Reply by Lawrence Taylor on -
Like Patrick I find Lynda to be exceptional value for money, even just in terms of the breadth of available programs, I had to switch from Maya to C4D and back again one year and a huge amount of what I needed was right there. Need a website? Boom! Dreamweaver, or flash if you like. All in depth stuff explained and delivered in a well thought out sequence by specialists in that field.
I like Cineversity as well, I'm not a full paying member, but just as a registered user there are some brilliant project based tutorials there available which I've found extremely useful, especially the promo bumper breakdown with all the multipass rendering techniques and camera export tips - I know there's dozens now but a couple of years ago this was certainly the best for my money.
Finally I'd like to talk about Cmivfx.com, I bought a stack of training off these guys just before christmas with a view to completing it all during my break. I got 'The Ultimate training system' vol 1-5 and also the surface modeling training. I mentioned in another post, which actually prompted this discussion. I had mixed reviews on that so I thought I'd expand on that in as balanced a fashion as possible. In short I was slightly disappointed, but I can strike this down largely to myself getting a little over excited about it... So far I've watched 1-3 and the solid surface volume and my first criticism would be that although it's not project based, there is (in vol 1) alot of time looking at a blank screen whilst the host talks about what the buttons do without doing any practical examples, which is ok I guess, if you already know what it means, but if you didn't would seem a little abstract, then there are renders which are used as screen shots in the promo stuff that don't appear in the actual training, the subject matter does, but the final renders never are. It just seems a little odd when what your being taught about is not shown in a finished state. The other main problem I have with it is that alot does get covered, which is great, but the fundamentals are shown in such great detail, and are given so much time and things that are of great use to someone with a intermediate knowledge are almost rushed through, making it difficult to take notes or process properly on the fly.
That said, the plus sides of this system are pretty strong too so I'll happily mention some of those as I've found them. The delivery format is good, although you don't get to download anything - as far as I know - you can add bookmarks and footnotes in the timeline and save where you left off on each vid if you don't finish it. The interface is slick and faultless, the support is second to none ( I couldn't log in one day so I emailed through and the guy got the servers back up and running properly from his iPhone in under an hour and emailed me to let me know). Above all else the content is there, it just seems parts of it could be much shorter and others could do with being much longer. Some of the longer parts are also like sitting over a pro's shoulder watching them work, which can be quite beneficial. On that note I suppose it could boil down to personal needs and no fault on the behalf of the training provider. I still have to vids left to watch and I don't regret spending the money, it just isn't quite what I'd imagined when I ordered it.
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