Tutorials or Guides for Beginners?

[Revanna Mistwallow]

I have been looking around the internet for tutorials or guides to get started creating mesh here in SL. I went to school for web development and graphic design so I am familiar with the texturing aspect of creation but I would like to move into making things more complicated. I have viewed the Blender tutorials and most seem much more complicated than what SL will allow. Is there a resource that I can go to to learn about things specific to SL? Thanks in advance!

[Chosen Few]

Don't make the mistake of presuming "I just want to learn to do ______," no matter what the blank happens to be, when it comes to this stuff.  There's no such thing as "mesh modeling for SL".  It's just mesh modeling. 

It's a big subject, and it's absolutely a bottom-up learning process.  If you try to start from the top down, to skip around just to things you think you need to know, you'll experience little but frustration, at each and every turn.

Since Blender is your tool of choice, I'd suggest you get started by stepping through the Blender Basics, at cgcookie.com.  That will give you a solid understanding of the fundamentals of the program, as well as introduce you to some need-to-know foundational concepts of 3D modeling in general.  Watch each video, follow along, and absorb all the information, regardless of whether or not you think it's relevant to what you right now think you want to do.  It's all relevant, even if you don't yet know enough to see all the connections.

Next, I'd suggest you go through the mesh tutorials at machninimatrix.com.  The Machinimatrix team are all SL'ers, and the tutorials are geared toward SL users.  These tutorials will build nicely on top of what you already learned from CG Cookie. 

When you're done with the the Machinimatrix stuff, you'll be well on your way.  This might be a good time to go back to CG Cookie, and take a look at the more advanced material that's on the site.  While not every last thing will be directly applicable to SL content, all of it will help you increase your skill set as a modeler, and that in itself will improve the things you do make for SL.  Again, it's not about "modeling for SL," it's just about modeling.

 

Since you have a degree in web design, this might help drive the point home.  Do you learn web design by asking how to make one website?  No, you learn web design itself, and you apply that knowledge to building any and every site you might ever want or need to make.

It's no different with 3D modeling.  You don't learn it by focusing on any one thing.  You learn 3D modeling itself, and you apply that knowledge to any and every model you might ever want or need to make.

[Dilbert Dilweg]

Chosen is right

Every tutorial out there will give you insight and techniques to the modeling process. Tutorials do not need to be SL specific altho you can find some on youtube.

The key thing to remember about modeling for SL is keeping things low poly as possible. So as you learn the techniques on modeling. you also learn how to make your high poly models into low poly models for "in world" game assets. and how to dance around Sl material limitations.